The Department engaged VicHealth to review respectful relationships education in Victorian secondary schools resulting in the Respectful Relationships Education: Violence prevention and respectful relationships education in Victorian secondary schools report. The report provides guidance on good practice criteria required to achieve violence prevention and respectful relationships education in schools, as well as a basis for...

This study is the first extensive analysis of police investigations into rape offences in Victoria in more than a decade and was undertaken to address some of the gaps in knowledge identified by the Victorian Law Reform Commission.

There are many problems in responding to sexual assault that are unique to rural communities and impact upon rural women, such as isolation, conservatism and denial of sexual assault. Alexandra Neame and Melanie Heenan review the literature and current issues relating to sexual assault and service provision in rural communities, and draw on the experiences...

While state legislatures have enacted laws that remove men's licence to rape women with whom they share marital or established relationships, our understanding of whether this resulted in effectively changing the social, cultural and legal response to sexual violence by male intimate partners is surprisingly limited. Reports from Australian women, and research findings overall, suggest...