2019 Victorian Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System

On 24 February 2019, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley released the terms of reference and announced the appointment of Penny Armytage as the Chair of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (the Commission).

We see our submission as an opportunity for young girls and women to have a much needed voice in the Commission process. In 2014, we launched our harm prevention initiative Rosie from what we saw as a clear need for a resource, free from commercial interests, that allows young women to access information to the complex range of issues faced in their everyday lives to ensure they are informed, safe and healthy.

Rosie is a website without peer in Australia which introduces us and has us in dialogue and exchange with thousands of teenage girls and young women in Victoria and across Australia every month. Through Rosie we are well placed to make a number of insightful observations about the mental health of teenage girls and young women.

Learn more about the Royal Commission and access the final report.

Click on the button below to download a pdf of our submission.

download pdf

2019 Victorian Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System

Policy Submissions

We see this submission as an opportunity for young girls and women to have a much needed voice in the Commission process.

Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System Terms of Reference survey

Policy Submissions

On 21 December 2018, Maddy Crehan and Casimira Melican completed the online survey on Engage Victoria to help shape the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Mental Health-the first of its kind in Australia.

2019 AHRC Sexual Harassment Inquiry

Policy Submissions

Sexual harassment at work flourishes in places where sexual discrimination goes unchecked and full gender equality remains a distant hope. Sexual harassment is fuelled by organisations that remain overly masculine; are unequal from top to bottom; and which manifest cultures of permissiveness towards perpetrators and silencing of those harmed.

2018 Victorian federal electorate renaming objection

Policy Submissions

In our submission we discuss how the processes of naming electorates has systematically overlooked the achievements of women, and outline how these proposed changes fail to rectify the disparity between the representation of men and women within electoral names.

2019 Gender Equality Bill

Policy Submissions

On September 27 2018, the Trust contributed a policy submission to the Victorian Government Gender Equality Bill 2018 Discussion Paper. In our submission we have chosen to address the discussion paper questions where we believe our experience as a women’s organisation can value-add to this important discussion surrounding the intention, implementation, inclusion and evaluation of the proposed legislation.

2018 Family Law Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill

Policy Submissions

In our submission, we discuss the scourge that domestic violence constitutes in our society and the legislative and policy intervention vacuum that has persisted in Australia since federation which has ensure the deeply embedded, systemic and wicked nature of this problem.

2018 Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill Inquiry

Policy Submissions

On the 25th of January, Isabelle Hughes, our Policy Intern, produced a policy submission in response to the proposed changes contained in the Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill 2017.