01 May 2024
The Federal Government’s announcement today of an investment of $925 million, over five years, to permanently establish the Leaving Violence Program is a disappointing and inadequate response.
Delia Donovan, CEO of Domestic Violence NSW, says the funding is insubstantial and fails to address the immediate crisis.
“We’ve heard time and time again from leaders this week that more needs to be done. I am frustrated at today’s announcement that does very little to address the current emergency. Services are unable to meet demand, resources are over-stretched, and women are being murdered.
Where is the funding for our specialist domestic and family services? In April of this year the federal government spent $4-5 billion upgrading a fleet of six submarines. Why are women and children not seeing this type of investment in their safety?” Ms Donovan said.
All this announcement does is provide ongoing funding for a pilot previously known as the ‘Escaping Violence Payment’. This $5,000 payment is a vital lifeline for victim-survivors when leaving an abusive relationship and absolutely must continue. However, this announcement in the absence of increased funding for existing specialist domestic and family violence services does not go nearly far enough to create the change the sector, and Australians are calling for.
“Today National Cabinet noted the importance of housing reforms and a one-off payment is not going to provide a pathway out of abuse for women and children that are forced to choose between homelessness or abuse.”
“The first iteration of the Leaving Violence program sustained criticism because of the process and length of time it took for victim-survivors to access the funds and was poorly delivered, as detailed in our 2022 report of the program.
For this version of the program to be successful, it must be delivered by specialist domestic and family service providers. The allocated payment must also be in cash, to truly empower victim-survivors, rather than the current arduous process of invoices and reimbursement – as evidenced in our report,” Ms Donovan said.
DVNSW’s 2022 report, found that 89% of specialist DFV services experienced issues with the Escaping Violence Program, with 72% of specialist workers stating these issues had deterred them from recommending clients apply for the payment.
Further findings of DVNSW’s report also showed that only 15% of victim-survivors who accessed the program had received the full $5,000 (including cash/vouchers/good and services).
“To hear our Prime Minister reaffirm that his government are committed to making progress to end domestic and family violence, and in the same announcement offer no new real solution or injection of funding into the priority areas the sector has asked for investment in, is gut-wrenching.
This has certainly been a disappointing outcome. We are so thankful to the public, the sector, advocates and the media who have all stood in solidarity calling for action. Our hope now rests on the NSW Government to step up and invest the desperately needed funds in the 2024-25 budget to be released on 18 June,” Ms Donovan said.
DVNSW’s recently published position statement outlines clear actions the government can take to address immediate need. It can be read here.