Chay Brown, a PhD Scholar at CAEPR, reports on the development of Central Australian Minimum Standards for the Men's Behaviour Change Programs. Chay Brown worked alongside her long-term research partners at Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation to produce these standards.

The Central Australian Minimum Standards (CAMS) articulate the expectations for Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCP) operating in the Central Australian context. The CAMS was developed out of recognition that the Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic, family, and sexual violence (DFSV) in Australia (The Northern Territory Government, 2018). The CAMS are designed to acknowledge that experiences and perpetration of violence in Central Australia are compounded by contextual realities that make addressing this violence particularly complex.

The CAMS were developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, in May and June of 2020. Stakeholders included women’s safety services, women’s legal services, corrections, child protection services, Aboriginal women’s and men’s groups, MBCP participants, and MBCP staff. The CAMS underwent four rounds of validation with program staff and external stakeholders to ensure that the standards are appropriate, aspirational, and continue to prioritise women and children’s safety in the operation of MBCPs in Central Australia.

The CAMS comprise six headline standards so that MBCP’s are safe, effective, and context appropriate. The CAMS provide guidance on the practice of headline standards through the provision of indicator standards, which detail how the headline standard can be realised within the MBCP. Good and unacceptable practice are also outlined for each headline standards.

The CAMS will be officially launched on October 13th 2020 in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. To read more about the CAMS, the full document is attached