Our Watch chief executive officer Patty Kinnersly, of Ballarat, said this would help to develop the second national plan to reduce violence against women and their children.

Her comments follow the federal government-hosted National Summit on Women's Safety which was held virtually this week due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Ms Kinnersly said listening to experts in prevention, early intervention and response, business leaders, and those with lived experience had provided a wealth of knowledge to help shape the second national plan.

"The coming together of experts, stakeholders, survivor-advocates, and business leaders from around the country to discuss, listen, learn and engage with the challenges and opportunities we have to prevent violence against women, is incredibly valuable," Ms Kinnersly said.

About 300 officials participated in Australia's first Women's Safety Summit as a way to gather information and ideas to develop the second national plan to reduce violence against women and children.

Ms Kinnersly was one of 19 members of a multidisciplinary advisory group for the plan.

She said the second national plan must go beyond community awareness-raising and behaviour change by increasing the focus on deep structural and systemic changes to address the underlying drivers of violence against women.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on and amplified existing social inequalities, so it is essential there is a stronger emphasis on the development and adoption of policies that apply a 'gendered lens' ensuring they do not inadvertently disadvantage women and address any emerging intersecting inequalities," she said.

"In the development of the second national plan there is also an opportunity to make progress across areas such as women's decision-making power, ongoing economic inequality, and the discrimination on the basis of race, religion, Indigeneity, disability, sexuality, migration, lone parenthood and socioeconomic status, all of which affect the dynamics of violence against women.

"Preventing violence against women requires us to come together to develop concrete short-term and long-term solutions and to build commitment to the strategies that will stop violence against women from happening in the first place."

Ms Kinnersly said Our Watch was looking forward to actively contributing to the development of the second national plan.

The fourth and final action plan of the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children ends next year.

Our Watch calls for the second national plan to focus on a number of initiatives including building on the strong base of existing primary prevention initiatives to stop violence against women before it starts and achieve long-term structural, attitudinal and cultural change; ensuring the next plan includes funding for ongoing research on primary prevention; include training and workforce development to build a skilled workforce to design and implement primary prevention work nationwide; and prioritise work with men and boys to prevent harmful attitudes and behaviours and engage men who don't use violence and want to be a part of the change including a national survey on men's use of violence in Australia.

Our Watch is a national leader in Australia's work to stop violence against women and their children before it starts.

It was created to drive nation-wide change in the practices, norms and structures that lead to violence against women and children.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.

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