Safer by design: why business must be part of the solution to domestic and family violence

Over recent weeks, Australia has once again seen headlines dominated by reports of domestic and family violence incidents. In New South Wales alone, three women were killed in separate incidents on a single day.

The details of these cases differ, but the public response is often the same: grief, outrage, and a collective sense that we are still failing to address one of Australia’s most pervasive yet preventable challenges.

These tragedies sit against a broader national crisis. Domestic and family violence affects one in four women and one in fourteen men in Australia. It is a major driver of homelessness and leading cause of death and disability for women aged 25-44. It affects physical and mental health, financial security workforce participation and costs the Australian economy an estimated $21.7 billion every year.

When violence occurs, we tend to look first to governments, police, courts and specialist services for solutions. So we should. But if we are serious about prevention and victim-survivor safety, we must also recognise the role business plays – not just to provide support to victim-survivors but also to change the attitudes of disrespect that may lead to violence.

Every day, businesses provide the essential services that underpin everyday life. Services like banking, telecommunications, energy, insurance, water, superannuation, transport and technology. It is the business community that designs much of the products, policies and processes that can either support recovery and independence or inadvertently enable continued abuse.

This week marks the release of Building Safer Essential Services, new research from the One Generation business alliance, which I co-founded with Thriving Communities Australia in 2024. The alliance brings together businesses committed to improving outcomes for people experiencing domestic and family violence, and includes Suncorp, AGL, EnergyAustralia, Origin, Optus, Yarra Valley Water and South East Water, all of which are also members of Diversity Council Australia.

The research is grounded in the experiences of victim-survivors themselves. Through surveys and interviews, participants described the challenges they encountered while engaging with essential services during periods of abuse and identified what organisations can do differently.

The findings are sobering, hopeful, and should be required reading for any business leader.

Victim-survivors described how everyday systems and processes can unintentionally create additional harm. Personal information was shared in ways that compromised safety. Joint accounts and debts became mechanisms for ongoing control. They spoke about repeatedly having to explain their circumstances to different staff members and described inflexible processes that failed to account for the realities of coercive control, financial abuse and technology-facilitated abuse.

They also described what worked. Victim-survivors consistently valued staff who listened and believed them, dedicated trauma-informed support, flexible processes that prioritised safety, and, most importantly, they described responses that were consistent, coordinated and designed with their experiences in mind.

Domestic and family violence is often viewed as a social issue that happens outside a businesses’ remit. In reality, organisations encounter its impacts every day through both their workforce and their customers.

They employ people experiencing abuse and provide the services people rely on to stay safe, secure housing, maintain financial independence and rebuild their lives. Their products, policies and procedures can either help victim-survivors navigate an extraordinarily difficult situation or unintentionally compound the challenges they face.

But support for customers is only part of the equation. Domestic and family violence is not a private matter that employees can leave at the door when they come to work. Beyond the mental, physical and financial safety impacts, it can affect a person’s ability to attend, engage with and progress within the workplace.

As one of the social settings where we spend the majority of our time, workplaces themselves can be powerful sites of prevention and support. While all employees are now entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year, employers can further support their staff through clear policies, awareness training, easy referral pathways and trauma-informed responses.

Just as importantly, employers can help address some of the underlying drivers of violence.

We know domestic and family violence is driven by gender inequality and reinforced by attitudes, structures and systems that excuse disrespect, discrimination and unequal power. That means prevention is not separate from inclusion; the two are deeply connected.

Recent Diversity Council Australia research found workers in inclusive teams are significantly less likely to experience workplace sexual harassment. While workplace sexual harassment and domestic and family violence are distinct forms of violence, both are enabled by environments where disrespect, exclusion and unequal power are tolerated.

Inclusive workplaces help create cultures of respect, belonging and dignity, where harmful behaviour is less likely to be tolerated and more likely to be challenged.

The scale of violence against women in Australia can sometimes feel overwhelming. But one of the strongest messages emerging from the One Generation research is that practical, everyday actions matter.

The businesses involved did not set out to become domestic and family violence experts. They started by listening to victim-survivors, identifying where harm was occurring, and asking what they could do differently.

That is a good place for every organisation to begin.

There has been an acknowledgement that society at large must work together to address this crisis. Whether as employers, service providers or industry leaders, organisations have the power to create safer workplaces, safer services and safer systems.

And when violence against women remains one of Australia’s most urgent national challenges, every organisation should be asking how it can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.