Rosie Batty AO has joined forces with corporate leaders from AGL, EnergyAustralia, Optus, Origin Energy, South East Water, Suncorp and Yarra Valley Water to launch Australia’s first business alliance against family and domestic violence.
“I welcome the launch of One Generation and urge other businesses to join. It takes all of us to contribute and create change. Use your power. Use your influence. Be part of the solution. Because it will take every single one of us to stop this horrendous social issue in one generation,” said Batty.
Co-founded by Thriving Communities Australia (TCA), with support from social enterprise Flequity Ventures, the business alliance, One Generation, aims to ignite business solutions at scale for customers impacted by domestic and family violence.
The business initiative includes leaders from AGL, EnergyAustralia, Optus, Origin Energy, South East Water, Suncorp and Yarra Valley Water.
The program will provide free, practical tools and resources to enable businesses to give sfe customer support, foster a culture of respect to prevent gendered violence as well as identify and share evidence of customer support that works.
The One Generation founders will fund research on the lived experiences of diverse customers to inform cross sector actions to make it easier and safer to get support.
Each member has committed to continue to raise awareness among their employees, stakeholders and communities of the role of business to respond to customers experiencing domestic and family violence
Along with this, they will share better practice with other One Generation members, take action in line with the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-32, and provide information to assist with measurement of progress.
“Essential services are often the first lifeline for customers facing domestic and family violence. In that moment, their impact can be truly life changing. But we know many victim-survivors aren’t accessing the support available, largely because they don’t know about it. We want to change that,” said TCA CEO Ciara Sterling.
Pointing to the role of business in ending gendered violence, social entrepreneur Catherine Fitzpatrick said they play a key role “not only to support employees but also to provide safe products and services for their customers.”
Many are unsure where to start, or if their current support truly meets customer needs. This alliance will help us to identify and share what works, so it’s easier to provide more effective and consistent support.”
While there’s still a long way to go in ending Australia’s national crisis of violence against women, Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin says this One Generation “is a great example of business leadership and the potential power of collective action.”
“I encourage all businesses to consider the important role they have to play so that we can achieve our aim of ending gendered violence in one generation.”