Jesuit Social Services welcomes the statement released yesterday by Australian Commonwealth Commissioners and Ambassadors, saying ‘no more’ to violence in our communities.
“It is significant that Australia’s Commonwealth Commissioners and Ambassadors have come together to make a united call to engage men and boys as part of the solution to end gender-based violence, support healing for children and young people who have experienced violence, and strengthen evidence-based prevention efforts. We support this statement and its recommendations for change,” says Matt Tyler, Executive Director of The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services.
“While there has been increased spending by governments in recent years related to men’s violence, the scale of current efforts does not match the scale of the problem Australia faces.”
Jesuit Social Services, in its recently released Federal Pre-budget Submission, has made 15 recommendations to the government, based on nearly 50 years of work including on-the-ground practice, research and advocacy. The recommendations call for further investment into research to better understand perpetration of violence, and increased funding for targeted early interventions.
“Clearly, reducing and eliminating men’s violence is something Australians care about, and quite rightly it has become recognised as the national crisis that it is,” says Mr Tyler.
Jesuit Social Services’ ‘Man Box’ research was the first comprehensive study that focused on attitudes to manhood and the behaviours of young Australian men. The most recent edition of the study which surveyed over 3,500 Australian men, released last year in partnership with Respect Victoria, explored the association between adherence to traditional masculine norms (‘Man Box rules’) and men’s behaviours, including their use of violence.
Shockingly, almost a third of 18 – 30 year old men (28 per cent) reported that they had perpetrated at least one form of physical or sexual intimate partner violence, with the men who most strongly agreed with the Man Box rules 17 times more likely to have hit their partner. This is the first data available on the perpetration of violence among a representative sample of Australian men.
“We still know surprisingly little about the prevalence of different forms of violence, who is committing it and the best ways to intervene to prevent it. If, through new research, we better understand pathways into and out of perpetration, we will be able to better determine how and where to intervene most effectively,” says Mr Tyler.
“We want to enhance the success we’re already seeing through our prevention and early intervention programs in mainstream schools, alternative learning settings, sports clubs and in male dominated workplaces, aimed at supporting men and boys to live respectful, accountable and fulfilling lives free from violence and other harmful behaviours.”
Together with the University of New South Wales, Jesuit Social Services released the world’s largest and Australia’s first child sexual abuse perpetration study in 2023. The survey of almost 2,000 Australian men found that those who had sexually offended against children were almost four times as likely to have experienced domestic violence as children, and 74% of participants in our adult justice programs and 53% of participants in our youth justice programs reported being a victim-survivor of family violence at some stage in their lives.
“Although more research is needed to better understand pathways to perpetration, we know early intervention is needed to avoid inter-generational harm,” says Mr Tyler.
“The links between child sexual abuse and family violence are something we need to better understand and learn how to effectively disrupt, keeping in mind that many child victim-survivors never go on to use violence or abuse.”
Jesuit Social Services is also calling for more action, particularly in the online space, to ensure children’s safety online, including specific measures to prevent and disrupt access to child sexual abuse material, and enforce age limits on pornography websites.
“Further legislative action is needed to require technology companies to ensure children’s safety online, and support efforts to make the Internet hostile to child sexual abuse material and other forms of child exploitation,” says Mr Tyler.
“Programs like Jesuit Social Services’ Worried About Sex and Pornography Project and Stop It Now! enable people concerned about their use of pornography and/or sexual thoughts and behaviours towards children do harm, to receive the help and support they need.”
Recommendations from Jesuit Social Services Federal Pre-budget Submission 2025-26:
- Building on data collected as part of Jesuit Social Services’ ‘Man Box 2024’ research as well as our work with the University of New South Wales to understand child sexual abuse perpetration, government should invest in the collection of more and better data on the extent of perpetration of family violence and child sexual abuse, as well as its dynamics and drivers.
- Greater investment in targeted early intervention programs enabled by outcomes-based funding for adolescents who are at risk of using violence, including those who are victims of violence and those who have used violence in the home.
- Investment in trials of innovative programs that focus on the strengths and resilience of women and children and enable recovery and healing for children who are victim-survivors of family violence, based on successful international models.
- Legislate requirements for technology companies to ensure children’s safety online, including requirements to prevent and disrupt child sexual abuse on their platforms, and to enforce age limits on pornography websites (noting the age assurance trials currently underway).
- Through the Second National Action Plan to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse, provide additional funding for the development and implementation of online interventions that prevent child sexual abuse, including pop-up warnings in online spaces that may enable child abuse perpetration or victimisation (e.g. pornography, gaming or dating sites); and early intervention services for people (including children and young people) concerned about their use of pornography and/or sexual thoughts and behaviours towards children (such as Jesuit Social Services’ Worried About Sex and Pornography Project and Stop It Now!).
Read the full Federal pre budget submission here.
Media enquiries – Kathryn Kernohan, 0409 901 248 or kathryn.kernohan@jss.org.au
