For updates on cooling centres, Council services, community meetings and relief support, visit the January 2026 fire and heat page.
In 2020, the Victorian Government enacted the Gender Equality Act 2020, the first of its kind in Australia. The Act was created out of a response to the 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence. The Royal Commission had found that a driver of family violence and all forms of violence against women was gender inequality. The Victorian Government’s commitment to gender equality and to ending family violence and violence against women is embodied in the enactment of this legislation.