Submissions
YWCA Canberra makes submissions to the ACT Legislative Assembly, Australian Parliament and other statutory and regulatory authorities on issues that affect women and girls in Canberra, as well as people who use our services.
Our submissions are also reinforced by lobbying efforts and broader public messaging.
Recent submission documents are available for download below.
2024-25
Submission to Potential Minor and Technical Amendments for Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Amendment Bill 2025
YWCA Canberra contributed to the discussion regarding Potential minor and technical amendments for Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Amendment Bill 2025. As the provider of the National Women’s Safety Alliance we also contribute to strategic policy developments relevant to the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022-2032) and the broader law reform agenda of the Australian Government where it relates to safety and information sharing. Our comments on the proposed minor and technical amendments relate to amendments that reflect this broader strategic context rather than legal practice.
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Submission to the National Child Safety Review (2025)
YWCA Canberra welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback towards the 2025 National Child Safety Review. We are committed to a culture of continuous improvement in our services, where the safety and wellbeing of children, staff and visitors is paramount.
For several of the themes outlined in the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (CRIS), YWCA Canberra goes beyond the minimum requirement, and our internal policies and procedures are subject to routine review. We use this submission to draw attention to the following key themes share information on our internal policy and procedures as well as advocacy to improve and standardise the regulatory environment in the interests of child safety: Management of digital devices, Working With Vulnerable Person checks, Responding to educator and staff member conduct, Improving the safety of the physical service environment.
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Submission to the Inquiry into the Planning (Territory Priority Project) Amendment Bill 2025
YWCA Canberra supports the amendments to the Inquiry into the Planning (Territory Priority Project) Amendment Bill 2025. We previously contributed to the ACT Planning System Review and Reform Project in 2022. The suggested amendments in this submission reflect those which were shared in 2022. As a registered community housing provider and a previous developer of a small housing development for women at risk of homelessness, we have seen firsthand how the appeals process can be weaponised and how these appeals are often organised against both public and social housing at great expense to the community, the ACT Government and community housing providers. We recommend the Bill to be extended to registered Community Housing Providers.
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Submission to ACT Budget 2025-2026 Community Consultation
This Budget submission highlights our concerns that in light of overriding budget deficits, as well as repeated messaging from ACT Government representatives about resource limitations, that programs in dire need of investment or subsidies will be left facing the same precarity following the 2025-2026 Budget. The temptation for government to address Budget shortfalls by treating community services as a ‘magic pudding’, that can be subjected to underinvestment while meeting increasing demand, is common.
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Submission on Disability Standards for Education 2025
YWCA Canberra welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback into the 2025 Review of the
Disability Standards for Education (2005) (hereafter referred to as ‘the standards’). Our staff work closely with parents and carer to provide high quality care and education services for their children, however while we operate from a premise of inclusivity some children require dedicated one-on-one support that can be unique to their needs. While the standards go some way towards lifting the inclusion of children with disabilities in education, conceptually there is a greater need for the framework to operate from the view of the individual child.
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Submission on Electronic Monitoring in the ACT
The ACT is commencing this discussion due to a commitment by National Cabinet. Adoption of this technology is well past the introduction of similar systems in all other states and territories. We use this submission to support electronic monitoring in principle, however there is likely to be a sense of urgency towards implementation, which without consideration of peripheral concerns may have consequences for survivors of violence or the services they rely on.
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Submission to Molonglo Town Centre Community Consultation
Our submission for the development of the Molonglo Town Centre emphasises the importance of place-based and integrated community and recreational services that are available on peppercorn leases to ensure viability. We also argue for a distinct social housing target.
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Response to the Good Character References in the Sentencing of Child Sexual Abuse Matters discussion paper
YWCA Canberra welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Good Character References in the Sentencing of Child Sexual Abuse Matters discussion paper. We attended the roundtable discussion on 24 May and have raised this important reform separately with the Attorney General. We support the objectives of the Your Reference Ain’t Relevant campaign and recommend the adoption of Option 1 as outlined in the paper. We provide responses and reasoning behind not adopting Options 2, 3 and 7, herein.
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Response to the Minimum standards for rental properties and occupancy law reform consultation paper
YWCA Canberra supports improvements to rental standards in the ACT. As a provider of social housing typically on behalf of the ACT Government, the move to improve standards must be met with funding support for providers of income-based rentals. We hold concerns regarding the proposal that a grantor be required to obtain an ACAT order to end an occupancy agreement. These concerns and recommendations for Government are outlined in the submission.
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Response to DFSV Strategy
YWCA Canberra is grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback on the ACT Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Strategy, Consultation Draft.
As a provider of domestic violence support services, primary prevention education programs, recovery support programs and a member of the Domestic Violence Prevention Council, Prevention Expert Reference Group (‘the ERG’), YWCA Canberra has a strong interest in the draft which was first circulated to us in February 2024.
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Submission to the 2024-2025 ACT Budget
YWCA Canberra have been long-standing contributors to the ACT Government’s community consultation process on the Territory Budget. We use this valuable process to draw attention to the lives of women, girls, and families in the ACT and put forward policy suggestions or pivots to improve our community for everyone.
We use this Budget submission to highlight the following priorities:
• Address affordability constraints which block Community Housing Providers from contributing to a greater supply of affordable housing.
• Increase support for frontline domestic and family violence services to match Commonwealth investment in staff resources.
• Improve the well-being indicator data set to better inform budget discussion and allocation.
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2023-24
Submission to National Housing and Homelessness 2023
As a provider of community housing in the ACT region, YWCA Canberra made a submission to the proposed National Housing and Homelessness Plan. Our submission draws attention to the following priorities; housing first principles, the need for public housing to be suitable for larger families, the value of women’s specialist services, zoning reforms and accessibility of Housing Australia investment.
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Submission to ACT Budget 2023-2024 Community Consultation
YWCA Canberra have been long-standing contributors to the ACT Government’s community consultation process on the Territory Budget. We have used these opportunities to draw attention to the lives of women, girls, and families in the ACT. In this submission, we advocate for: valuing community services, safe, secure, and affordable housing, and better accountability of the Family Safety Levy.
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2022-23
Submission to the Third Action Plan under the ACT Women’s Plan 2016-26
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the Third Women’s Action Plan consultation reflects our longstanding commitment to working across ACT government directorates to improve the lives or girls and women. This submission advocates for the Third Action Plan to reflect the government’s priority of addressing women’s safety by outlining measurable and gender-specific targets to embed the objectives of the ACT Women’s Plan within a whole-of-government approach.
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Submission to the Queanbeyan-Palerang Draft Affordable Housing Strategy
YWCA Canberra welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Queanbeyan-Palerang Draft Affordable Housing Strategy. As a provider of community and social housing, YWCA Canberra support strategies to increase housing stock across the housing spectrum. We use this submission to show support for social and affordable housing and take this opportunity to present the successful case study of our ‘YHomes’ supported housing development in Ainslie as an example of what can be achieved when community housing organisations are able to access available land for the purpose of housing low-income residents.
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Submission to the Inquiry into Cost of Living Pressures in the ACT
For many people on low, moderate, and fixed incomes, who have already cut back on discretionary spending to manage the tandem pressures of housing, utilities, and food, there is little left to cut. Increasingly, Canberrans are also turning to community providers to supplement their incomes. We use this submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into Cost of Living to highlight the need for an increase in the supply of social and affordable housing, Retargeting energy efficiency programs to those most in need as well as other subsidy and concession programs to assist those during this period of financial stress.
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Sexual Assault Reform Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
YWCA Canberra welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry into Sexual Assault Reform Legislation Amendment Bill 2022. As a longstanding provider of services for women and girls, including domestic violence support services and advocates for their collective wellbeing and safety, we are committed to seeing progressive legislative and social reform that facilitates their unencumbered access to both justice and front-line justice support.
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Submission to the 2022-2023 ACT Budget
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the ACT Government’s Budget consultation process aligns with our longstanding priorities on gender-responsive budgeting, affordable and safe housing and violence against women. As a member of Children’s First Alliance, we also support greater investment in early learning to improve access and service sustainability and to value the work of early educators.
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2021-22
Submission to the ACT Planning System Review and Reform
Housing in Canberra is beyond crisis. Shortages in supply exist across the spectrum. The forces behind these supply shortages are varied and not all within the remit of the ACT Government or Planning Authority, but the consequences of this undersupply on cost, vacancy rates, public expenditure on peripheral housing support services and overall community wellbeing is immense.
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Submission to the review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement
As a provider of community and social housing and homelessness support services in Canberra, we made a submission to the review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement. Our submission highlights the system wide blockages in housing across all tenancy types and calls for the development of a national housing strategy.
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Submission to consultation on minimum energy standards for rental properties
As a registered Community Housing Organisation, we made a submission to the community consultation on energy efficiencies in rental properties. Our submission notes that renters are typically locked out of government subsidies to boost home energy efficiency and that for many renters, the costs of cooling or heating poorly sealed and uninsulated homes can be prohibitive. We list a number of recommendations that should be adopted by government in rolling out an insulation standard for rental properties
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Submission to the review of the Australian Curriculum Foundation
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the review of the Australian Curriculum Foundation – Year 10, highlights the role schools, school administrators and teaching staff play in eliminating violence against women and children. Our submission also recognises that consent education, protective behaviours and awareness of harmful gender norms and practices have a significant role to play in a violence-free future.
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ACT Budget Submission 2021-22
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the ACT Government’s Budget consultation process aligns with our longstanding priorities on gender-responsive budgeting, affordable and safe housing and violence against women. As a member of Children’s First Alliance, we also support greater investment in early learning to improve access and service sustainability and to value the work of early educators.
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YWCA Canberra WGEA Submission 2021
As the ACT’s only WGEA Employer of Choice citation holder, we proudly make this submission on the review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. Our submission emphasises improvements to the Act that will broaden the scope of ‘relevant employers’, lift incentive frameworks, and improve the objects of the Act. We also recommend that reporting and transparency on gender-based harassment and discrimination be substantively incorporated in the Gender Equality Indicators.
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2020-21
Comment on Amendment to Crimes Act (stealthing)
YWCA Canberra was invited to provide comment on the proposed amendment to the Crimes Act 1900 (stealthing). In contributing to feedback on this potential amendment we conducted a survey of our community members aged 16-24 to understand their awareness of stealthing and exposure to consent education.
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Submission to Disability Standards in Education review
YWCA Canberra provides early learning services to more than 2000 children each week including children with disability and their parents and carers.
This submission presents YWCA Canberra’s reflections on how the standards affect both the inclusion of children with disabilities in early learning centres and parental expectations into the future and also illustrate how the standards operate in school aged care settings. We offer recommendations that address services in both these settings as well as administrative improvements.
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ACT Budget Submission 2020-2021
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the ACT Budget 2020-2021 aligns with our submission to the ACT Budget 2019-2020 and the priorities outlined in our flagship document Leading the Change: a pathway to gender equality report.
Recommendations made in this Budget submission fall under the following core priority areas: gender-responsive budgeting and governance, building safe and affordable housing for women, a life free from violence, and equality in the workplace.
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COVID-19 Senate Inquiry Submission
In making this submission, YWCA Canberra responds only to the policy response of ‘fee-free’ services as underpinned by the JobKeeper payment and the subsequent top-up relief package.
Our submission outlines how these two important policy levers (JobKeeper and ‘fee-free’ service) have intersected in a way that threatens provider sustainability in the long-term and if left uncorrected will become exacerbated as parents begin to return to work. We also offer brief discussion points on how early childhood education is valued and funded.
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Submission to Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System
YWCA Canberra is one of more than 100 peak bodies and community practitioners working to prevent gender-based violence which have signed a joint rejecting the legitimacy of the Government’s Family Law Inquiry. We are of the belief this Inquiry is unnecessary and this submission, in part, reiterates this point.
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2019-20
ACT Budget Submission 2019-2020
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the ACT Budget 2019-2020 reflects the priorities outlined in our Leading the Change; a pathway to gender equality report.
Recommendations made in this Budget submission fall under the following core priority areas: gender-responsive budgeting, building safe and affordable housing for women, developing intersectional service models for housing, a life free from violence, equality in the workplace and girls and women thriving.
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2019 Australian Human Rights Commission Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces submission
YWCA Canberra’s submission to the Australian Human Rights Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces focused on how some of the workplace challenges faced by women have been reinforced by longstanding imbalances in the distribution of domestic labour and that these challenges have continued to multiply in the absence of workplace leadership and diversity. Without diversity at the highest levels of leadership, respondents indicated that “boys’ clubs” for senior managers had taken hold and it became difficult to voice legitimate concerns. Because the survey respondents shared their experiences and recommendations so openly, we were also able to explore some of the factors influencing women’s decision making in the workplace and the importance of transparency and objectivity in formal workplace roles.
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