While Neighbours star Kym Valentine describes herself as "just an actor", she is tasked with advising Victoria's most senior bureaucrats on domestic violence because she has something that is so valuable to policy makers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Lived experience.
And Ms Valentine - who played Libby Kennedy for a decade on the long-running soap - is using that experience to MC the Australian Domestic Violence, Family and Sexual Violence Recovery and Healing Conference in Wollongong.
The conference, being held over two days at the Novotel Hotel North Beach will feature keynote addresses by trauma expert and former Harvard Medical School instructor Dr Janina Fisher, Wollongong's own Dr Karen Williams (Ramsay Clinic Thirroul) has the theme of 'The Right to Recovery'.
You can see all the photographs from the event in our gallery below.
Ms Valentine, who revealed she had experienced domestic violence in 2020 said she is hoping to absorb what she can from those in the room, but also said that in moving from crisis to recovery is not an issue that the sector can solve on its own.
"At the moment, crisis support needs to be our focus, but we need men to get in there and start calling out other men, because gender based violence starts with disrespect."
Ms Valentine was appointed to the Victim Survivors' Advisory Council three years ago, which was set up in the wake of the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.
The Council's first chair, Rosie Batty, provided direct input to policy makers from someone that was so often absent in discussions - a victim-survivor of domestic violence.
But, getting outsiders to contribute directly at the highest levels comes with the issue of translation, as Ms Valentine found out.
"A lot of this stuff, government sector language, it's a whole other world," she told The Mercury.
"There are departments who have departments, and pre-briefs to strategic plans that go with the rolling action plans.
"It takes at least six months just to work out the acronyms."
Two and a half years on from her taking on the role, Ms Valentine was appointed chair of the council, something she describes as making her want to throw up with the overwhelming scale of it all. Being caught up in the bureaucracy of policy-making and government could dull one's enthusiasm for change, but Ms Valentine says she still gets teary leaving the room.
In her three years with the Council, she has seen projects through to completion, and becomes visibly emotional when describing one initiative to provide a plain English booklet in Legal Aid offices for women fleeing domestic violence.
"To know that there will be somebody who can pick up that piece of information and the process might be a little clearer for them, a bit easier to understand, it's just crazy."
But the fact that it would take three years to produce what would be seemingly a simple booklet does change one's perspective of the challenging facing those attempting to shift attitudes in the domestic violence sector.
"When you first come into the role, you feel like you're going to bang down doors, and make stuff happen overnight, and you're really passionate," Ms Valentine said. "It takes a minute to realise that we can't bang down doors, but we can loosen screws."
For all the talk of a 'crisis' in Australia as one woman is killed a week at the hands of her partner, action on the issue with bi-partisan support can seem mind mindbogglingly sclerotic.
Last year, the Commonwealth and the states and territories released the 10 year plan to end domestic violence. An action plan to go with the overarching document was meant to be released early this year - it has yet to be produced.
"Where's the outrage?" Ms Valentine said. "With COVID, we changed rules overnight, and then we changed them again that afternoon. We are more than capable of moving quickly when we want to."
Seeing this and knowing that she had her own platform pushed Ms Valentine to get involved, particularly to ensure the voices of victim-survivors were not forgotten by policy-makers prone to delays.
As the MC of the Australian Domestic Violence, Family and Sexual Violence Recovery and Healing Conference, Ms Valentine said she is hoping to absorb what she can from those in the room, but also said that in moving from crisis to recovery is not an issue that the sector can solve on its own.
"At the moment, crisis support needs to be our focus, but we need men to get in there and start calling out other men, because gender based violence starts with disrespect."
Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content. Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play.
