From intentions to implementation: improving alignment between domestic and family violence policy aims and actions

TL;DR: This article identified a number of barriers that may prevent the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy 2016-2026 from reaching its full potential, including an assumed link between attitudes and behaviours, a disproportionate focus on cultural change among bystanders, the invisibility of perpetrators, and implicit reinforcement of the gender hierarchy.

Abstract: The Queensland Government’s Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy 2016–2026 prioritises changing community attitudes and behaviours as a core guiding principle in its commitment to create a Queensland free of violence. Although there is a significant body of research that supports this aim, there is equally compelling evidence to suggest that policies are often designed or implemented ways that are not conducive to achieving their desired aims. As we approach the halfway point in the Strategy’s 2016 to 2026 timeline, it is timely to analyse both the Strategy and its implementation thus far, and consider the barriers that may be preventing the policy from achieving its full potential. Using a critical discourse analysis methodology, I identify a number of such barriers, including an assumed link between attitudes and behaviours; a disproportionate focus on cultural change among bystanders; the invisibility of perpetrators, and; the implicit reinforcement of the gender hierarchy. I discuss each of these barriers in relation to current research evidence and, drawing on this evidence, suggest actions that the Queensland Government may take to help mitigate these barriers. I conclude with a discussion of the broader implications of these findings for future policy development in Australia.