The Collingwood football club and the women’s leadership institute led by Julia Gillard have each been given almost half a million dollars in federal funding to help target tech-based abuse of women.
Labor will share $3m among seven community, health and research institutions in the first round of a $10m program aiming to stamp out the rising pattern of abuse.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said women disproportionately experience technology-facilitated stalking, threats and coercion, which was why combating that was a “national priority” for the government.
For the $495,355 they received in funding, Collingwood will use their social media reach and their next season of football to “challenge social norms that contribute to abuse and promote positive and respectful behaviours and accountability among men and boys, and the wider community”.
In its project description, the club’s community foundation said their project would promote a “series of campaigns and initiatives to increase public awareness”.
“And address the fundamental understanding that abuse of women is not just physical but psychological and emotional in the form of tech-based violence through coercive and threatening behaviour,” the description reads.
The Global Institute for Women’s leadership will spend more than $494,000 on a project combining “state-of-the-art evidence and community engagement to develop a systems-based approach to preventing the tech based abuse of women”.
Ms Rowland said the grants program would ensure more women and children “have access to critical resources and services”.
“Including proactive and preventive tools to help stop this abuse at the outset,” she said.
eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said she looked forward to seeing the “positive impact”.
“The high volume of applications we received from a wide-range of community groups and organisations underlines the importance of these safety initiatives to the Australian community,” she said.
“I congratulate all successful applicants and look forward to seeing the positive impact of their initiatives to keep more Australian women and children safe from online harm.”