Ending domestic and family violence remains low priority in Federal budget announcements and election promises.
Last year was the most dangerous year for women in Australia in nearly a decade. And not even 12 months ago, both major parties stood before the nation, before victim-survivors themselves, and declared domestic and family violence a ‘national crisis’.
Yet both budgets handed down by Labor and the Coalition didn’t reflect the urgency or the funding needed to match a crisis.
Tuesday’s Commonwealth budget made limited investments. Despite claims that women’s safety is a priority, the government chose to allocate $10 billion to defence over addressing the actual national security crisis – domestic and family violence.
Meanwhile, the Opposition remained silent, with no commitment to ending domestic and family violence on their agenda. It’s not even mentioned on their election platform.
Our leaders’ words do not match their actions, and the consequences will be devastating. Without urgent investment, the reality for victim-survivors, their families, friends and communities is dire.
We are talking about real women turning to homelessness because it’s safer than staying at home.
We are talking about real children growing up surrounded by violence.
We are talking about real lives lost, every single week, in preventable tragedies.
This is not a hypothetical scenario; this is what’s happening right now.
We are outraged that the purchase of missiles is being prioritised over women’s lives. We are on a rapidly sinking ship with what feels like a handful of broken lifejackets – insufficient, ineffective and destined to fail.
We need proper resourcing for victim-survivors and the frontline services – real investment that ensures we don’t drown in this crisis, but instead have the support, safety and stability needed to save lives.
With the Federal government and the Opposition failing to prioritise ending the ‘national crisis’, the NSW Government has a critical opportunity to step up. A 50% baseline funding increase is the bare minimum needed to keep frontline services running and ensure women and children escaping violence have somewhere to turn.
Ending domestic and family violence requires real investment – because failing to act is costing lives.