Better practice in responding to family violence

To ensure a comprehensive and effective family violence response, businesses should consider all functions of the business that could impact on customers affected by family violence. At its 2018 roundtable on family violence the Thriving Communities Partnership noted that even when the relationship has ended perpetrators of family violence could weaponise products and services.18

The Economic Abuse Reference Group recommends that businesses analyse their products and processes to identify where their services and activities, including outsourced services (e.g. offshore call centres), could potentially increase risk for victim-survivors.19 This should involve all relevant divisions of an organisation to assess whether systems changes or other upgrades may have any unforeseen impacts on customers. EnergyAustralia promotes this approach as a key to developing support that is safe for customers.

Case study – EnergyAustralia

In August 2018, David Ackland from EnergyAustralia presented at our project launch on the business’s response to family violence. EnergyAustralia noted that developing a robust and effective response to family violence included reviewing how risk could be ‘engineered out’ of policies and procedures and making data and privacy protection as foolproof as possible.

Goulburn-Murray Water identified processes and systems closely linked to those of the Victorian Water Register. This led to a close collaboration that improved the ongoing safety of its customers, and those of other rural water businesses.

Case study – Goulburn-Murray Water and Victorian Water Register

The Office of Water, Department of Environment, Water, Land and Planning manages the Victorian Water Register, which requires water share owners to register their share ownership.

In implementing their own family violence responses Goulburn Murray Water identified there wasn’t a way to secure a person’s information on the register, should they wish to protect their safety due to family violence. Goulburn Murray Water communicated this issue to the Office of Water.

Once alerted to the potential risk to victim-survivors the Office of Water made functional and procedural changes to allow for personal information to be suppressed. It also trained its staff on the reason for the change.

This collaboration means perpetrators can no longer circumvent Goulburn-Murray Water’s account security by accessing the water register direct.

An emerging area of practice is businesses considering their relationships with contractors and suppliers. Yarra Valley Water and Melbourne Water demonstrate their support for customers and promote social change by raising awareness on family violence with its contractors and suppliers. Across the Victorian water industry, the procurement function is increasingly being used as a lever for social change.

“Melbourne Water recognises that tackling family and domestic violence is everyone’s responsibility.”

As part of its White Ribbon Accreditation, Mirvac is updating its contracts with consultants to ensure a consistent zero tolerance to violence against women, bullying and harassment.

Case study – Yarra Valley Water

At Yarra Valley Water, training programs and procedure manuals are provided to external partners, including debt collection agencies and plumbing contractors. This ensures suppliers communicate with customers and deliver services in accordance with the business’s requirements, which are documented in the terms and conditions of their contract with Yarra Valley Water.

Case study – Melbourne Water

The Victorian water industry collaborated to develop a common Supplier Code of Practice which includes family violence as an area of focus. This code of practice outlines its expectations for suppliers across key areas that align to its organisational values.

Melbourne Water has embedded the code in their tender processes and asks suppliers to assist in promoting diversity and inclusion in its supply chain activities. It says it will work collaboratively with suppliers to monitor and implement these activities, creating an enduring social benefit