It Starts With Us is a documentary and social impact project, developed with family violence prevention advocate Rosie Batty and young people from Frankston North, Victoria. Produced by arts and social change company Big hART, it builds on Project O, a successfully evaluated arts-based prevention program, delivered over a decade with young people around the country, in areas with high rates of family violence.
Family violence is a national crisis in Australia, with 2 in 5 children under the age of 18 exposed.* There is an urgent need for innovative prevention programs for young people, yet prevention receives less than 5% of sector funding.**
Without meaningful investment in prevention, how can we expect change?
It Starts With Us combines film and advocacy to raise awareness and drive funding toward youth-focused prevention programs across the country, focusing on the early behaviours and conditions that lead to family violence.
It Starts With Us premiered on ABC TV and is streaming on ABC iView from 17th August 2025.
Accompanied by a suite of education resources developed for community and classroom settings, this project demonstrates ‘prevention in action’, outlining workshops and mentoring approaches that are practical, achievable and engaging for young people.
*Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023
**Australia lacks consistent data on funding allocated to family violence prevention. This statistic has been derived from a range of sources in different states.
What's On
‘It Starts With Us’ Documentary
National
Through a unique music-based prevention program, Rosie Batty and a dedicated team of artistic mentors support a group of teenagers living on the frontlines of Australia’s family violence epidemic.
From 17th August 2025