LAUNCHING AWAVA'S COMBINED REPORT OF THE 2021 YOUNG WOMEN AND NON-BINARY PEOPLE'S SURVEY AND COMMUNITY FORUM

Hosted by WWDA, NATSIWA, AWAVA and WESNET

Please join us for the much-awaited launch of the Report on Young Women and Non-Binary People’s Experiences of Gender-Based Violence across Australia.

Drawing on both the 2021 survey conducted by Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA) and translated into Easy English by Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA), as well as a subsequent community forum hosted by AWAVA and the National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance (NATSIWA), this ground-breaking report explores a range of issues associated with gender-based violence and its impacts on young women and non-binary people.

The report introduces new ways to understand both interpersonal and structural experiences of diverse forms of violence, relying on first-hand accounts from young people living in a range of circumstances across Australia. Importantly, the report captures what justice means to young victim-survivors – a question that is rarely asked.

The webinar will bring to light key findings of the report, along with highlighting unique elements of the survey and forum design. Karen Bentley from WESNET will be hosting the event and the keynote speaker is Heidi La Paglia from WWDA. It will also introduce a panel of young women and non-binary people to discuss violence prevention, reporting mechanisms, service gaps and what meaningful change to end gender-based violence looks like for a new generation of advocates.

The panel will include:

- Mali Hermans (she/her), WWDA

- Margherita Dall’Occo (she/her), WWDA

- Is Hay (they/them)

- More TBC

The webinar will culminate in an interactive Q&A session.

Accessibility information: Auslan interpretation and live captioning will be available. Given content discussed in this webinar may be triggering for those who have experienced violence, a qualified counsellor will be present during the launch, ready to provide support. A recording and transcript of the webinar will be made available at a later date.

If you would like to discuss your access needs for the webinar, you can email Mali at project@wwda.org.au

All WWDA’s work is grounded in a human rights-based framework that links issues of gender and disabilities to civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. This means that WWDA uses the international human rights treaties to which Australia has signed up to, to guide and inform our work. WWDA does this, because our key mission is to advance and promote the human rights and freedoms of all women and girls and disability.

Our host and speakers:

Karen Bentley, WESNET — [Image: A square tile with a lilac background. In the top left corner is the AWAVA logo and below that is the white text "HOST, Karen Bentley, Young Women's Report Webinar." A circular photo of Karen Bentley is set into the top right corner of the tile. Karen is a woman with light coloured skin and shoulder length brown hair. She is wearing glasses and a navy blue blouse with white dots.]

Karen Bentley - Chief Executive Officer WESNET (she/her)

WEBINAR HOST
Karen Bentley is the National Director of the Women’s Services Network
(WESNET) a national women’s peak advocacy body working on behalf of
women and children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic or
family violence.

She also leads the Safety Net Australia program which she helped
establish in Australia in 2011. Karen has been working with the
violence against women sector for 20 years both in frontline services,
peak bodies and in government positions.

A tech enthusiast and strong anti-violence advocate, she combines both
passions to lead and manage WESNET’s work on technology safety.

Heidi La Paglia, WWDA — [Image: A square tile with a lilac background. In the top left corner is the AWAVA logo and below that is the white text "GUEST SPEAKER, Heidi La Paglia, Young Women's Report Webinar." A circular head shot of Heidi is set into the top right corner of the tile. Heidi is a woman with tan coloured skin and long straight dark hair. She is wearing octagonal wire framed glasses.]

Heidi La Paglia – Director of Policy and Programs WWDA (she/her)

Heidi La Paglia is a proud Autistic, feminist activist from Hobart, Tasmania and is the Director of Policy and Programs at Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA). Heidi has worked for WWDA for a number of years, , in which time she has worked on a number of projects including the coordination of the WWDA Youth Network.

Heidi also represents WWDA on a number advisory groups with sector stakeholders and among other issues, has a strong interest in ensuring that efforts to support the safety and reproductive rights of women and non-binary people are inclusive of people with disability.

Heidi previously completed Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Philosophy and Arts Honours degrees at the University of Tasmania.

Mali Hermans, WWDA — [Image: A square tile with a lilac background. In the top left corner is the AWAVA logo and below that is the white text "GUEST SPEAKER, Mali Hermans, Young Women's Report Webinar." A circular head shot of Mali is set into the top right corner of the tile. Mali is a woman with light coloured skin and shoulder length brown hair. She is wearing light framed glasses, a white loose necked top and a grey wrap.]

Mali Hermans - Policy Officer WWDA (she/her)

Mali Hermans is a disabled organiser, writer and community worker living in Meanjin/Brisbane. Mali is a Wiradjuri and European woman deeply invested in disability justice and abolitionist work, committed to challenging ableism and the many oppressive systems it remains embedded within. She is a current Policy and Project officer at Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA), working across the WWDA LEAD project and WWDA’s National Women’s Alliance work.

Mali has an undergraduate degree majoring in Sociology from the Australian National University and is a current postgraduate student studying Social Work through Charles Sturt University. She has organising experience within grassroots community groups, feminist spaces and the union movement. Mali has previously worked in gender-based violence prevention at the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA) and provides consultancy work for organisations such as Our Watch and Carers Australia.

Margherita Dall'Occo - Youth Development Officer WWDA (she/her)

Margherita Dall’Occo is a young, queer and immigrant activist for women and people with disabilities. She is currently the Youth Development for Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA). She has worked with various organisations including KINSPACE and Children and Young People with Disabilities (CYDA) in inclusivity and diversity, specifically through sharing her own experience and encouraging others to do so.

She is currently studying Law and Human Rights at the Australian National University where she is working on various human rights projects.

Is Hay, Panelist — [Image: A square tile with a lilac background. In the top left corner is the AWAVA logo and below that is the white text "GUEST SPEAKER, Is Hay, Young Women's Report Webinar." A circular photo of Is is set into the top right corner of the tile. They are a young person with light coloured skin and two tone pastel blue and pink coloured hair partially pulled back with a maroon headband. Is is wearing dark red framed glasses and a dark red jumper. They also have a septum ring and nose ring and are wearing silver dangly earrings.]

Is Hay - Young disabled, queer, trans and mad activist (they/them)

Is Hay is a disabled, queer, trans and mad young person residing on stolen Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land. They are a writer, speaker and lived experience worker in the youth, disability and LGBTQIA+ spaces and spend their time advocating for radical intersectional approaches and transformative justice. They fundamentally believe that there is nothing about us, without us, and ensuring disabled and queer voices are leading our own advocacy is the only way to achieve liberation.

[Image: A square tile with a lilac background. In the top left corner is the AWAVA logo and below that is the white text "GUEST SPEAKER, Louise Wellington, Young Women's Report Webinar." A circular head shot of Louise is set into the top right corner of the tile. Louise is a woman with light Brown coloured skin and dark brown hair tied back. She is wearing a black blouse and yellow, red, orange and brown beaded earrings.]

Louise Wellington - Director and Co-founder of Tin Truck Consulting Pty Ltd., NATSIWA Representative (she/her)

Louise Wellington is a Warlpiri and Luritja woman from Central Australia, a Mum to one and small business owner of two NT based businesses - Tali Creatives Aboriginal art and Director and co-founder of Tin Truck Consulting Pty Ltd.

Louise's work within the business consultancy focuses on local decision making and co-design, highlighting and sustaining Indigenous voices and lived experience in the community.

"It's important to me to feel a sense of purpose in my life, that looks different for everyone and defined by you and you only, it can also be an evolving thing and I'm enjoying pushing the boundaries of my beliefs about the world. I truly believe that everyone has something unique and valuable to impact the world around them and I wish for nothing more than for every person to have equal and equitable opportunity to be able to express that in their lifetime."

Prior to diving in to entrepreneurship, she worked in leadership positions across diverse industries around Australia including community housing, building and construction, the performing arts, visual arts and Women’s programs.

Louise has a wealth of experience in First Nations and socially conscious settings across the country and was a representative and intern at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women held in New York, 2016.

Her mission and values are deeply entrenched in First Nations empowerment, creating opportunities, improving conditions and advocating for young people.

[Banner image description: Lilac background banner with an arch shaped photo set into the tile on the right. The photo is of four people representing women, non-binary people standing against a wall. Their faces aren’t shown. Forming a border around the arch is the text “ Young Women And Non-Binary People’s Experiences of Gender Based Violence Across Australia. In the top left corner are the 4 host organisation logos, AWAVA, WWDA, NATSIWA and WESNET. Below that is the text “AWAVA + WWDA + NATSIWA + WESNET, Young Women’s Report, Thursday 17th February at 1pm AEDT.”]