Dr Rachel Loney-Howes concedes in the last 10 years there has been a lot of policy chatter around the issue of gender-based violence in Australia.
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The NSW University of Wollongong lecturer in criminology said while this was a good thing, it was not translating into tangible results.
Dr Loney-Howes said the prevalence of violence against women, including sexual assault, had not decreased.
She added survivors also continued to express dissatisfaction and negative experiences with the criminal justice system.
"Furthermore conviction rates for sexual assault remain incredibly low, and funding for sexual assault support services is abysmal," Dr Loney-Howes said.
"In regional areas, like Wollongong (south of Sydney), services are stretched to provide adequate support and waiting times to access support are long."
Dr Loney-Howes, the co-convener of the Feminist Research Network, recently released a book called Online Anti-Rape Activism: Exploring the Politics of the Personal in the age of Digital Media.
The author said the book looked at a range of digital platforms on Facebook, Twitter and blogs from around the world to highlight how these sites can provide spaces for activists and survivors of sexual violence to connect, provide support and mobilise to prevent sexual violence.
Dr Loney-Howes chose to examine this in her book because she believes sexual violence is a global problem.
"The World Health Organisation suggests that one in five women over the age of 15 have experienced some form of sexual violence in their lives. In Australia, one in six women over 15 have experienced sexual assault at least once in their lives," she said.
"At the same time, survivors reporting sexual violence to police is met with a range of different barriers and obstacles which means that many don't report (research suggests between 80-90% of assaults go unreported). Sexual assault support services are also stretched or unavailable to many people."
In Australia, one in six women over 15 have experienced sexual assault at least once in their lives.
- Dr Rachel Loney-Howes
Dr Loney-Howes said digital platforms were a useful tool for survivors and activists for developing communities, creating circles of support and challenging the way police and society respond to sexual violence.
"Digital platforms and social media sites are part of our every-day lives, and I wanted to understand precisely how significant they are for activists and survivors in helping to keep up political and social pressure to do something about sexual violence.
"I also wanted to know how digital platforms were helping support survivors and whether they were beneficial in meeting their needs for justice."
Dr Loney-Howes added Australia could be doing more to prevent sexual violence.
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She said since 2010 there had been a number of policy changes and interventions seeking to prevent violence against women and children starting with the "National Plan".
"We have also had a range of public inquires and investigations into the prevalence of child sexual abuse in institutional care and have introduced rape law reforms," Dr Loney-Howes said.
"Then of course there's social justice movements like #MeToo, and survivors such as Rosie Batty and Grace Tame receiving national recognition in the form of being named "Australian of the Year" for their bravery in speaking out and the advocacy work they do.
"These are all good and a step in the right direction but more can be done to achieve tangible results.
"Digital platforms could be a solution to meeting some of the support and justice needs of these survivors - but they are not a silver bullet.
"Better understanding and recognition of the causes of sexual violence is needed in order to do meaningful prevention work.
"We also need to encourage more bystander intervention and calling out problematic behaviours.
"And most importantly, we need to support and believe survivors who do come forward or disclose their experiences."