Stakeholder engagement and feedback

Ministerial Roundtable

The Hon. Natalie Ward MLC, Minister for Metropolitan Roads, Women's Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence hosted a Roundtable on Monday 9 May 2022 about the delivery of new core and cluster women’s refuges across NSW.

The Minister announced the opening of the Tranche 1 procurement process at the Roundtable. The roundtable presentation (PDF, 861.9 KB) delivered by DCJ provides an overview of Core and Cluster procurement and stakeholder engagement.

The first of a series of stakeholder engagement sessions was held with sector and industry representatives. Participants included peaks, non-government organisations, and government agencies.

Stakeholder engagement sessions

Stakeholder engagement, during May and June 2022, was aimed at supporting stakeholder understanding, and gaining knowledge and insights to inform effective delivery of the new refuges.

The stakeholder engagement process was facilitated by WSP Australia and supported by Curijo Aboriginal consultancy. DCJ also developed a Core and Cluster Discussion Paper to provide a foundation for stakeholder discussions.

Fifteen (15) sessions were held, involving over 700 individuals.

Stakeholder groups included:

• DVNSW Lived Experience Advisory Panel
• Aboriginal stakeholders
• DVNSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Steering Committee
• Aboriginal Women’s Advisory Network

Four region-based sessions to support a locally-led implementation approach were also held. A mix of industry and sector participants attended the sessions, including DCJ District representatives, local councils, NSW Police, Community Housing Providers (CHP), specialist homelessness services providers, and DFV specialist service providers.

What we heard

What we heard (PDF, 3.0 MB) provides an overview of key discussion topics and themes from the stakeholder engagement sessions.

Discussions centred on:

• Sector and workforce capacity building, including a specific focus on Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations
• Culturally safe and trauma-informed service delivery that also considers the vulnerabilities and flexibility needed for victim-survivors
• Local stakeholder considerations and communications
• Core and Cluster building design
• The procurement process and implementation

Common themes:

• Sector capacity building support is needed to ensure services, particularly small and regional services, are able to prepare Core and Cluster proposals and participate in the Core and Cluster Program.
• Additional communications are needed to support community engagement.
• Additional local sector engagement is needed to enable service providers to network and identify potential services they can partner with to submit Core and Cluster proposals.
• Workforce development planning in the Aboriginal sector is needed for Aboriginal-led delivery.

DCJ has commenced building the stakeholder feedback into the design, planning and implementation of the Core & Cluster program.