Minister for Women, Pru Goward, announced the appointment of Susan Smith as one of eight non-government members of the Council.
Ms Goward said the role of the NSW Domestic and Family Violence (DVF) Council is to advise the NSW Government on all aspects of domestic and family violence policy and programs.
“The Liberals and Nationals Government have established the Council to include members from both government and non-government to ensure that all stakeholders can work together in a more collaborative fashion,” Ms Goward said.
“The Council is directly connected to and aligned with the ‘It Stops Here’ reforms we are implementing in the domestic and family violence sector.
One of our main priorities under the reforms is a more proactive and collective response to domestic and family violence, with a strong focus on early intervention and prevention.
For this to happen, strong collective leadership is required between service providers like NSW Police Force, the courts, NSW Health and the non-government sector to ensure the changes introduced are effective, sustainable and consistent across NSW.
Between them, the eight new non-government members have many decades of experience working not only with women, children and families affected by domestic violence but with perpetrators, men’s groups and in male behavior change – both at the front line in services, as well as in policy, advocacy and reform,” Ms Goward said.
The eight new non-government members of the Council are:
- Anne Hollonds, Chief Executive, The Benevolent Society;
- Susan Smith, Coordinator, Sydney Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service, Redfern Legal Centre;
- Elizabeth Davies, Chief Executive Officer, White Ribbon Australia;
- Dr Jo Spangaro, Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales;
- Tracy Howe, Chief Executive Officer, Domestic Violence NSW;
- Karen Willis, Executive Officer, NSW Rape Crisis Centre;
- Greg Telford, Managing Director, Rekindling the Spirit; and
- Dr Eman Sharobeem, Director, Immigrant Women’s Health Service.
The non-government members will join six senior executives from various NSW Government agencies on the Council.
