‘What Happens Next?’: How Do We Build a Future Where Everyone Feels Safe?

The ninth season of Monash University’s What Happens Next? podcast concludes with an incisive exploration of how Australia can tackle one of its most pressing social crises – gender-based violence (GBV).

In this episode, host Dr Susan Carland and a panel of leading experts tackle complex and critical issues: Why is gender inequality the foundation of violence against women? How do harmful masculine ideologies spread? And what practical steps can we take to dismantle this national crisis?

Today’s expert guests offer actionable solutions that address the root causes of GBV, and challenge the structural and cultural norms that allow it to persist.

Gender inequality: The root of the crisis

Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, author of Our National Crisis and world-leading researcher in Monash’s Faculty of Business and Economics, emphasises that gender inequality is the driving force behind violence against women.

“Violence against women is underpinned by gender inequality and other forms of oppression,” she explains, noting that dismantling these structures requires sustained funding and action across prevention, intervention and recovery – a crucial final step that’s been missing from previous action plans.

Listen: What's Behind the Gender-Based Violence Crisis?

The Australian government’s 10-year National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children provides a framework, but Professor Fitz-Gibbon warns that progress will depend on governments committing resources that match the scale of the problem.

“What we need is a whole program of reform…Tinkering with the criminal law, tinkering with bail laws, tinkering with policing – they may be important reforms in and of themselves, but we need to do the whole-of-system response, and we have to invest in prevention and early intervention because, ultimately, that’s what gets us out of this,” she says.

The limits of school-based programs

School programs promoting respectful relationships and positive masculinity are important, but can’t operate in isolation. Dr Stephanie Wescott and Professor Steven Roberts, both from Monash’s Faculty of Education, highlight how hyper-masculine influencers such as Andrew Tate use digital platforms that can counteract these initiatives by perpetuating harmful ideologies, served up by social media algorithms.

As Professor Roberts points out, this backlash is actually evidence of progress. 

“What we're seeing is the fightback, the backlash again from the other side who have felt that their power is being eroded...They say feminism has gone too far. If feminism has gone too far, the very logic is that it's had an impact. It's done something to the boys of today.

“So I think it’s odd for us to be on this side of the fence to think we haven’t done enough, we haven’t been having the conversations. If anything, the backlash is evidence of the effect of the good conversations that we've been having.”

Schools are critical to changing young people’s attitudes towards gender inequality, but they’re not the only environment where we need to reinforce anti-violence education.

“We need to ensure the community, and particularly men, are getting those messages from zero, age zero, all through their lives in workplaces, in their sporting clubs, in their media, in their schools, a range of different ways,” says former Victims of Crime Commissioner for Victoria Fiona McCormack AM, a Monash alumna.

“It's so critical that everything in primary prevention, in early intervention, in responding to violence once it's already happened, must take an intersectional view.”

– Fiona McCormack AM, former Victims of Crime Commissioner for Victoria

Gambling reform: A model for broader change

Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, from Monash’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, connects gambling addiction to gender-based violence, explaining how financial and relationship stress can exacerbate intimate partner violence.

While limiting the accessibility of gambling won’t eliminate Australia’s GBV crisis, as its roots are complex and far-reaching, it would help eliminate a substantial component of its causes, he says.

He points to international examples, such as Norway’s strict gambling regulations, which have reduced the country’s rates of gambling harm by 75%. These measures could easily serve as blueprints for reform in Australia, with the potential to improve outcomes not only in gambling-related harm, but also in reducing gender-based violence.

Read: Eliminating gender-based violence

Supporting victim-survivors

While systemic reform is crucial, individual actions can also make a difference. Professor Jane Fisher, a clinical psychologist and global health expert at Monash University, stresses the importance of listening and empowering victim-survivors.

“If a friend or colleague has confided in you, that means they perceive you as being a safe and trustworthy person,” Professor Fisher says. “The first thing, I think, is to listen, but without offering an opinion... The next thing is not to presume that you're being asked for help, but more to say to them, ‘What can I do that might be helpful? Is there anything you'd like me to do?’”

Professor Fitz-Gibbon advises against offering quick fixes, such as encouraging someone to leave their partner immediately, as this may not align with what the victim-survivor wants or needs. Instead, she echoes Professor Fisher’s recommendation to ask: “What can I do to help?” Whether it’s providing emotional support, helping with practical tasks or sitting with them as they navigate services, small acts can have a powerful impact.

“It’s really important to listen. Put the control and the power back in their hands, because by virtue of the abuse they’ve experienced, they don't have control. They don’t have power within their lives. So it’s really important to help them rebuild that, if nothing else in that moment,” she says.

Read: Gendered violence in schools: Urgent need for prevention and intervention amid rising hostilities

A collective call to action

Ending gender-based violence will require both systemic reform and sustained cultural change. Addressing gender inequality, regulating exacerbating factors such as gambling, and fostering lifelong education about positive masculinity are key steps towards a safer future.

But individuals also have a role to play. Whether by supporting victim-survivors, challenging harmful attitudes or advocating for policy change, we can all contribute to this collective effort.
As the episode reminds us, this is a moment for meaningful change – but it will take courage, persistence and collaboration to seize it.

Find help

For more information or assistance with the issues discussed in today’s episode, here are the Australian resources recommended by our experts:

Gender-based violence help:

• For anyone in immediate danger, call 000 for police and ambulance
• 1800RESPECT or 1800respect.org.au – confidential national counselling and support service for people who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence, their family and friends, and frontline workers
• 1800FULLSTOP (1800 385 578) – national violence and abuse trauma counselling and recovery service
• WhiteRibbon.org.au
• Rainbow Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence Helpline – 1800 497 212
• 13YARN (13 92 76) – a national crisis support line for mob
• Men’s Referral Service (1300 766 491) – a service for men who use family violence
• Mensline Australia (1300 789 978) – telephone and online support for men in Australia.

Gambling help:

• 1800 858 858 or gamblinghelponline.org.au

Information about the crisis:

• Ourwatch.org.au – quick facts about violence against women
• RespectVictoria.vic.gov.au – research and resources

What Happens Next? will return soon with a new season of thought-provoking topics and fascinating expert guests. Don’t miss a moment – subscribe now on your favourite podcast app. Explore the podcast’s full back catalogue of more than 100 episodes here on Lens.

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