How to contact your MP:

To find your Victorian MP’s name and email address, click the following link, type in your address and click on your district and region to find out who they are:
https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/which-boundaries-cover-where-i-live

To find how many sexual offences were reported in your local government area in 2023 and download the corresponding social media tile, click here. You can include this tile in your email and/or the information in the tile where we’ve indicated below.

You can use the email below as a basis to share our campaign with your MP. Please feel free to adapt it in your own words. We’ve also indicated a space where you can share any personal reasons that you wish to call for action.

Thank you again,

SASVic

Copy the following text into an email and then make it your own…

Dear [Ms/Dr/Mrs/Mr Last name],

I am writing to you as a constituent in your electorate to ask you to take urgent action on sexual violence.

The peak body for specialist sexual assault and harmful sexual behaviour services, SASVic, has raised the alarm that progress has stalled on the government’s promised sexual violence strategy, that the sector’s funding does not meet the growing demand for services and that the majority of the peak body funding runs out in June with no indication that it will be renewed.

With a reportedly tight budget coming up, I’m concerned that sexual violence is no longer a high priority for the government and I request that you take action on my behalf.

[Optional: You can add a note here about why you care about this issue to make your call for change more personal]

In 2021, the Victorian Law Reform Commission released a report, commissioned by the Victorian Government, with 91 recommendations for improving responses to sexual offences.

At the time, Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said:

“The report highlights the need for wide-ranging reform, finding that sexual violence is widespread, causes serious harm and is significantly under-reported.

“All the VLRC’s recommendations will be considered in detail… They will shape the government’s 10 year strategy to address sexual violence and harm, to be delivered next year.”

The government promised it would deliver a sexual violence strategy by 2022. Now it’s 2024, and we still don’t know when the strategy will be delivered.

Sexual violence is prevalent in Victoria with 6,067 reports of sexual assault recorded in 2022, and 9,537 reports of sexual offences in 2023. [Optional: You can add the number of sexual offences reported in your LGA here]. We also know that almost 9 in 10 women do not report to the police. Rates of reporting for men are also low. While this means we don’t know the full impact that sexual violence has on society, we can estimate the real figure in Victoria is over 47,000 people experiencing sexual assault every year and many more experiencing other forms of sexual violence, such as sexual harassment.

We also know that 1 in 4 children, including 1 in 3 girls, in Australia has experienced child sexual abuse.

SASVic has called on the government to:

• deliver a fully funded sexual violence strategy that lays out 10 years of transformation

• improve justice options and outcomes for people impacted by sexual violence

• grow and resource the specialist sexual assault sector in Victoria, including the peak body.

I support SASVic’s campaign, which you can read in detail here: sasvic.org.au/sasvic-campaign

I also support SASVic’s call for $9 million in the upcoming budget to allow the specialist sexual assault sector to deliver a quicker, flexible response to survivors of sexual violence and to fund Justice Navigators to help survivors navigate the support, compensation, recovery and justice options available to them.

This funding would also allow SASVic to continue its vital work. The majority of the peak body’s funding runs out at the end of June with no indication from the government that it will be renewed, putting their work supporting the sector and upholding the rights of people impacted by sexual violence in jeopardy, including:

• advocacy for survivors to access forensic medical examinations

• training for lawyers on responding to disclosures of sexual violence

• supporting projects around the state to help young people understand affirmative consent

• coordinating support for communities impacted by historic and recent child sexual abuse.

Without a solid peak body, the specialist sexual assault sector, which has historically been undervalued and underfunded, will lose a strong advocate.

Specialist sexual assault services support over 20,000 people impacted by sexual violence every year, supporting children as young as four. They do this despite being funded to support only 14,890 people and there are still adults and children on waiting lists.

I call on you to use your voice and influence to advocate to the government to continue its progress on sexual violence and urgently call for this to be made a priority.

Will you take action on sexual violence?

Yours sincerely,

[Your name]