The ‘Safe and Equal’ organisation

“Safe and Equal is the peak body for specialist family violence services that provide support to victim survivors in Victoria. We are an independent, non-government organisation that leads, organises, advocates for, and acts on behalf of our members – with a focus across the continuum from primary prevention through to response and recovery.” (Source)

Safe and Equal Inc was formerly known as the ‘Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria Inc’ – see their organisational history here.

Safe and Equal Inc. appears to have a pronounced feminist outlook. This means for e.g. that men are viewed (only) as perpetrators of domestic violence and women as their victims. This page in their website lists various submissions and policy papers prepared by them.

Safe and Equal notes that “A newly established partnership with ‘The Men’s Project’ was a positive step in focusing on an emerging need to assess the role of men, boys and masculinities in prevention–developing work that will remain a priority for capability building across the workforce over the next year” (Annual Report, Page 34). The Men’s Project is run by Jesuit Social Services. The Jesuits are known to be generally most supportive of the feminist movement. (See also)

The four priorities of Safe & Equal are listed on page 6 of the latest Annual Report.  ‘Building a strong peak organisation‘, is one of these nominated priorities. Reducing the incidence of domestic violence, on the other hand, is not.

Their entry in the charity register is located here.

Their Twitter account is at @safe_and_equal

There are nine directors (none of whom are male), and whilst the organisation has more than 90 staff, they do not appear to employ any male staff (Annual Report, page 38).

Both their Annual Report and their Financial Statement, for the year ending 30 June 2023 are available here. The Financial Statement shows annual receipt of government grants totaling $7,135,582 and ‘total revenue and other income’ of $8,152,510 (page 15). The corresponding figures for the preceding financial year are $3,592,114 and $7,091,095.

The ‘Remuneration paid to key management personnel’ is listed to be $1,053,072 in the last financial year (Financial Statement, page 18). The matter of either who, or how many staff, fill such roles is not stipulated. Indeed several items normally addressed in an Annual Report do not seem to be present here. Examples include the number, seniority and remuneration of staff, contractors and consultants, and the nature of expenditure generally.

Footnote: I’ll expand this post after I’ve had time to digest some/all of the policy papers in their website.