Rachel asked the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence if they will extend the Alexis family violence response model program to the City of Casey. The Alexis family violence response model is an evidence-based co-responder program, whereby a specialist family violence worker is present during police attendance to incidents of family and intimate partner violence. Rachel acknowledged the increase of family violence incidents in the City of Casey within her electorate, where she would like to see the program implemented.
Wednesday the 4th of February 2026,
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, and the action I seek is for the minister to expand the Alexis family violence response model to the City of Casey. Co-responder programs involve a family violence specialist worker being present during police attendance at family violence incidents. These kinds of programs have been proven to improve the experience of victim-survivors engaging with police and also to reduce rates of misidentification of the prominent aggressor.
The Alexis family violence response model is a type of co-responder program currently operating across Prahran, Bayside, Morwell and Wonthaggi. It embeds specialist family violence workers within Victoria Police to provide immediate, coordinated support after family violence incidents. Where other approaches have failed, this program has been successful, helping people disengaged from support services and those facing repeat high-risk violence or complex mental health conditions. Evaluations on the program have found it is helping greatly to reduce family violence recidivism, increasing rates of incident reports and improving victim-survivor safety. It was great to see the government recognise the effectiveness of this program with their October announcement of a $1.5 million investment. This additional funding will help the program expand to two new sites. The locations of these sites will be based on police advice.
With that in mind, I know many would like to see a similar program here in the south-east. Jessica Geddes of Endeavour Hills was only 27 years old when she was fatally bashed by her abusive partner in 2020. The coroner’s report into her death highlighted how a police response, guided by a specialist family violence worker, may have helped her engage with service provisions and offered an alternative option for safety and support. In the City of Casey during the 2024–25 year there were 6519 family violence incidents, a 13.6 per cent increase on the number of incidents the year prior. Expanding the Alexis model to areas of highest need is just common sense. Casey is one of those areas. While I commend the government funding initiative for victim-survivors of family violence, we want to see these programs receive ongoing, sustained funding and include areas where there is highest demand.
So I ask: will the minister extend the Alexis family violence response model to the City of Casey?
Written response received, 19th of May 2026:
I thank the member for South-Eastern Metropolitan region for her question about expanding the Alexis Family Violence Response Model (Alexis-FVRM) to the City of Casey.
And I thank the member for her continued advocacy and offer my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Jessica Geddes. I extend those condolences to all people who have been impacted and continue to be impacted by family violence.
The Victorian Government is committed to preventing family violence, supporting victim survivors to be safe and holding people who use family violence to account. In February 2026, the Allan Labor Government announced the expansion of the Alexis Family Violence Response Model to two new sites in Ballarat and Caroline Springs. These two new locations were determined based on a careful analysis of service demand and service system readiness.
The Hon Melissa Horne MP
Minister for Health Infrastructure
Minister for Ports and Freight
Minister for Prevention of Family Violence
Related:
- Misidentification of family violence aggressors – Rachel Payne
- South-East taskforce needed to stop region’s family violence epidemic – Rachel Payne
- Establish a family violence taskforce – Rachel Payne
- Rise in family violence intervention order breaches – Rachel Payne
- Police responses to family and domestic violence – Rachel Payne
