The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV) Commission has today released its Monitoring and Reporting Framework (the Framework), which will which will guide independent assessment of Australia’s progress under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.
The Framework is central to the DFSV Commission’s role and strengthens our ability to identify systemic barriers, monitor progress against outcomes, and highlight emerging risks and opportunities for reform. Rather than focusing primarily on tracking activities and reforms, the Framework adopts a systems-based approach to assessing whether collective efforts across governments, sectors and service systems are driving meaningful change.
This approach reflects the complexity of domestic, family and sexual violence, where outcomes are shaped not by individual programs alone, but by how effectively systems work together to prevent violence, respond to harm, and support recovery.
The DFSV Commission’s 2025 Yearly Report to Parliament highlighted challenges in implementation and measuring progress under the National Plan, including gaps in linking activities, outcomes and evidence. The Framework responds directly to this need by strengthening the Commission’s ability to assess whether efforts across governments, sectors and service systems are contributing to the outcomes set out in the National Plan.
Commissioner Micaela Cronin said that “we need to understand whether system as a whole is producing the outcomes we want to see. This Framework provides a transparent way to measure progress, identify barriers to change and strengthen accountability.”
The Framework will guide the DFSV Commission’s independent reporting, including our upcoming 2026 Yearly Report to Parliament, helping to establish a stronger evidence base for reform. As new evidence emerges, the Framework will be strengthened to ensure it supports continuous improvement across the DFSV system.
The voices and expertise of people who have experienced violence are a critical source of evidence and accountability in addressing DFSV. The framework sets out specific activities to strengthen the DFSV Commission’s ability to measure progress through gathering additional lived experience evidence. Commissioner Cronin said that “the Framework places lived and living experience at the centre of accountability, ensuring the voices of people affected by violence shape how progress is assessed and how systems evolve.”
The Framework will also continue to evolve as new data sources become available, and will integrate Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026–2036, alongside its Action Plan and combined Theory of Change and Outcomes Framework.
By improving transparency and strengthening accountability, the Framework will support a more connected national response across prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing.
View the Framework
Read the 2025 Yearly Report
