family violence

As someone who researches, writes, and advocates in this space, I cannot ignore how far these reforms drift from what we know works, what fairness demands, and what Australia has committed to uphold under international law. Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. That requires more than symbolic […]

To mark the release of a landmark new study, Matt Tyler, Executive Director of the Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services, and Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, an international expert in domestic and family violence, addressed the National Press Club on 6 November 2025 to officially launch the Adolescent Man Box Report. Released today by Jesuit Social […]

Authored by: Stefani Vasil, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Australian Catholic UniversityKate Fitz-Gibbon, Principal Consultant, SEQURE Consulting and Professor (Practice),Monash UniversityMarie Segrave, Professor of Criminology and ARC Future Fellow, Melbourne University This study explores the overlooked link between family violence and women’s deaths by suicide in Victoria. Reviewing coronial cases and expert interviews, it […]

Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University Child safety and wellbeing is never far from the headlines, and no more so than recently, with shocking allegations of child sexual abuse in childcare centres. These revelations have sparked much-needed national conversations about how we can better protect children. They have also exposed how fragmented and reactive Australia’s approach to […]

Steven Roberts, Monash University; Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University, and Rebecca Stewart, Monash University Every school around Australia is almost certain to have students who are victim-survivors of family and domestic violence. The 2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study found neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children is widespread. Among Australians aged 16–65 years, 32% […]

9 years ago today Dr Wendy O’Brien and I wrote an article for The Conversation highlighting the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence finding that children are the ‘silent victims’ of family violence. 📚 At the time we overviewed the Royal Commission’s findings that as a legacy of limited or incomplete data-gathering, siloed responses, and […]

Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University and Stefani Vasil, Australian Catholic University Domestic, family and sexual violence is rightly recognised as a national crisis. While the evidence base has built significantly in recent years, one important missing piece of the puzzle is how these forms of violence have impacted people who die by suicide across the country. […]