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Good practice Imported

The Orange Door — Victoria's Statewide Family-Violence Hub Network, from a Rushed 2018 Launch to a Still-Unfinished 2025 Model

Australia · Melbourne · See the Australia profile · See the Melbourne profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 55% 63/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Victoria's 'Orange Door' family-violence hubs, mandated by a 2016 Royal Commission, opened understaffed in 2018 and were audited as failing to coordinate services. A 2025 follow-up found data-system gains but core integration gaps still unresolved.

176,000
Client assessments per year (2025)
4 of 9
VAGO recommended actions fully completed (May 2025)
448.1 million AUD
Funding committed to establish the network
The Orange Door — Victoria's Statewide Family-Violence Hub Network, from a Rushed 2018 Launch to a Still-Unfinished 2025 Model

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Victoria) / Family Safety Victoria
Period
2018–present
Keywords
family violence, coordinated entry, integrated services, child wellbeing

Context

The Orange Door (Support and Safety Hubs) is Victoria, Australia's statewide network of coordinated entry points for family violence and child/family wellbeing support, created after the 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence. Statewide rollout to 18 primary sites, 19 access points and 28 outposts completed only in October 2022.

Results

VAGO's 2020 audit found sites opened with only 50-83% of positions filled and hundreds of unallocated cases at some sites. A May 2025 VAGO follow-up found only 4 of 9 recommended actions fully completed; the network now handles roughly 176,000 client assessments a year, 43% involving children.

Conclusions

Despite AUD448.1 million committed, VAGO's assessment after seven years is that core elements of the original design remain undelivered: only a 'foundational' service model, no funded completion date, not available outside weekday hours, unintegrated with housing/mental-health/financial/legal services, and cultural-safety training rolled out more than three years late.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, 51 partner community service organisations

Conditions for success

  • Full staffing of positions across all sites
  • Integration with housing, mental-health, financial and legal services
  • A funded completion date for the original design

Common failure modes

  • Only 4 of 9 VAGO-recommended actions completed by 2025
  • No statewide demand-management framework
  • Cultural-safety training rolled out 3+ years late

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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