Chair - The Orange Door Statewide Partnership Group

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) is pleased to call for expressions of interest in the role of Chair for The Orange Door Statewide Partnership Group.

About The Orange Door

The Orange Door was established to implement a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. Its establishment was also a Victorian Government commitment in the Roadmap for Reform: Strong Families, Safe Children. It aimed to address the multiple and fragmented entry points that did not promote a whole-of-family approach or support perpetrator accountability.

Now known as The Orange Door network, this cornerstone initiative brings together four key service sectors (specialist family violence services, child and family services, services for people who use violence and relevant Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs)/Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to provide an area-based intake, assessment and brief intervention service, in safe and accessible locations across Victoria.

The Orange Door:

• conducts screening, intake and triage to determine urgency and priority, where an initial assessment is undertaken based on the information in the referral, the referral history at The Orange Door and any past engagement with Victoria Police (L17s), Child Protection and partner agencies
• conducts integrated risk and needs assessments, ensuring the children, young people and adults involved are in view
• provides brief interventions
• makes referrals and actively connects people who need longer-term support to the appropriate services. These services include family violence case management, children and family services, men's behaviour change programs, mental health services, alcohol and other drug services, financial counselling, legal services, health services, homelessness services and NDIS services.

As an intake and referral service, The Orange Door is an entry point for a broader service system response. The Orange Door affects and is affected by other parts of the service system. It has to maintain relationships with a wide range of services

The Orange Door is not a case management service. As an intake and assessment service, The Orange Door seeks to meet client needs and, where needed, connect clients with an appropriate service within two weeks of being assigned to a practitioner.

Orange Door sites have opened gradually since 2018. There are now 18 primary sites, as well as access points and outposts in other services across the state.

About the Statewide Partnership Group

Partners in The Orange Door have agreed to take on collective leadership of The Orange Door network, including transparent and lawful sharing of information, a willingness to jointly problem-solve and address issues and risks, sharing of opportunities and resources, and active participation in decision-making and advocacy.

In 2024, DFFH commissioned Nous to conduct a Governance and Accountability Review of The Orange Door. Nous identified statewide governance as a gap for the Orange Door Network. While a statewide reference group operated at the time of The Orange Door's establishment, this group did not continue following the full statewide roll-out.

The establishment of The Orange Door Statewide Partnership Group (SPG) is intended to address this opportunity for improvement. It also reflects the partnership between government, the community sector and ACCOs/ACCHOs in delivering The Orange Door.

The SPG is being established to inform and support the operation of The Orange Door network across Victoria. It is a decision-making group within the scope of its role.

The SPG will:

• collaborate to resolve issues and support the effective delivery of The Orange Door's services and its role in the broader service system
• agree the statewide governance framework for The Orange Door
• establish principles for engagement in Orange Door governance groups, building on the principles set out in the partnership agreement (at Appendix 1)
• establish a statewide risk management framework for The Orange Door and oversee its implementation
• provide input into statewide key performance indicators for The Orange Door
• provide governance oversight of The Orange Door network at a statewide level, including monitoring performance against key performance indicators
• work to enhance collaboration across the 18 Orange Door partnerships to support effective integrated service delivery, in line with statewide guidance
• work together to strengthen statewide consistency
• identify and provide advice on statewide risks to Orange Door operations that require statewide response
• provide advice on proposed system changes that may affect The Orange Door
• provide advice to DFFH to inform statewide priorities for The Orange Door (noting there will be a range of inputs that inform priorities, including the recommendations of oversight bodies and courts)
• build understanding about the work and role of The Orange Door and how it integrates into and affects the broader service system.

The SPG is not responsible for any individual client, staffing or critical incident resolution. While decisions of the SPG will have a significant influence on the client and staff experience, as well as the management of critical incidents as a matter of operational policy, individual client responses and staff supervision will continue to occur at the network level. The SPG is not an urgent response body.

The Victorian Government remains responsible for decisions about The Orange Door's service model, commissioning, service agreements, oversight of individual agency contractual performance, and Victorian Government leasing arrangements.

In addition, the SPG will:

• act in ways that demonstrate a commitment to collaborative problem-solving and the effective delivery of The Orange Door's services to the Victorian community
• support robust, respectful discussions with a collaborative and client-solution focus
• operate in ways that facilitate transparent and timely communication between members
• recognise the evolving nature of The Orange Door network, and that areas are at different stages of maturity.

The external Chair will be responsible for the smooth running of SPG meetings. The Chair must ensure that all members' views are considered in the group's decision-making process.

The Chair will:

• agree ways of working with SPG members
• settle the forward plan and meeting agenda for SPG meetings
• chair SPG meetings
• confirm decisions and next steps arising from the group's discussion
• settle the partnership communique coming out of SPG meetings.

The intention in having an external chair is to facilitate SPG meetings and allow all members to participate in the discussion.

The Chair will not exercise any independent policy or decision-making authority beyond the roles described above.

Skills and expertise:

• leadership
• organisational governance and risk management
• communication skills, including meeting facilitation
• partnership building
• strategic thinking
• problem-solving
• integrity
• respect

Experience:

• as a chair and/or organisational leader

Knowledge:

• family violence and child, young person and family wellbeing issues

In addition, the Chair will not be a Victorian Government executive involved in the management of The Orange Door, nor be an executive or board member of a community service organisation or an ACCO/ACCHO that is a partner in The Orange Door.

The appointment of the Chair will also be subject to government probity requirements.

Applicants need to register an account on the Join a Public Board website prior to applying online.

Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae with their expression of interest.

Expressions of interest close Monday, 18 August 2025.

Appointments to the SPG will be made by the Secretary, DFFH.

Time commitment

In addition to preparation and the scheduled meetings, the Chair will be expected to meet individually with group members as part of their induction and annually after that.

Some travel may be required within Victoria. For example, meetings may be held at an Orange Door site.

The remuneration is on a per sitting day/half sitting day basis. The Chair is also eligible for the reimbursement of reasonable out of pocket expenses. Reimbursement is in accordance with departmental policies.