Improved local government based violence prevention plans are more in need than ever before, according to the final results from a new University of Melbourne study.

"It's not rocket science, it's not a matter of allocating tremendous new resources, but simply using the resources that are already there effectively."

"The bottom line is that local coalitions can work effectively, though they need State and Federal Government support, specifically in terms of sharing ideas and an appropriate policy framework.  During the three years we did this research there were lots of exciting projects in a number of local governments, but on the whole they weren't tied in with any kind of state policy on violence prevention.  This is a shame because the State Government stated that prevention of violence and fear of violence was one of its eleven top priorities when it was elected in 1999-2000."

Dr Whitzman says the recently updated State Government policy is going to be a major improvement.

"Part of the issue with this project is the old State Government policy was phased out in the first year (2006), but the new policy is coming in at the end of the year, and I think we've been able to provide valuable input on that."

"I think we're going to have much stronger policy in this area because of this project, and that's very satisfying"