Prevention and support
Women and girls are disproportionately victims of family violence. In Australia, one in three women over the age of 15 has experienced physical violence, and one in four has experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner.
It is almost 10 years on from the 2015 Royal Commission into Family Violence, and we have implemented all 227 recommendations.
Importantly, we’ve matched our action with investment, delivering over $3.8 billion to continue our efforts to end family violence since the findings of the Royal Commission.
But as we’ve seen, there’s still more to do.
It's why this year’s Budget builds on that effort with an additional
$269 million to prevent family violence and support women’s safety. This includes:
- $42 million to prevent family and sexual violence by continuing to deliver timely and individualised interventions and continued support to prevent family violence.
- $39 million to support schools and early childhood services to continue delivering the Respectful Relationships program – a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
- $24 million to support information sharing between police, the courts and agencies to keep women and children safe through a key Central Information Point.
- $16 million to provide community-led and culturally safe responses to address family violence, recognising Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to experience violence than non-Aboriginal women.
We’re also supporting victim survivors by providing $76 million to:
- Continue specialist support for victim survivors of family violence, including access to therapies and support for children and young people recovering from trauma of family violence or sexual abuse.
- Ensure the safety of victim survivors in their own homes.
- Improve support to multicultural communities, young people and children through support for staffing at Sexual Assault Services Victoria and training packages for practitioners.
As well as providing further support to victim survivors through:
- $6.8 million for financial counselling services for family violence victim survivors, providing support to stabilise their financial position and recover from abuse.
- $4.4 million to support new migrants in Victoria, including providing:
- culturally appropriate legal help for refugees, asylum seekers and temporary visa holders which supports the distinct challenges that arise for victim survivors of family violence
- critical spaces for women in which to connect with their local communities and access a range of services.
And working with corrections and justice systems to support victim survivors with:
- $31 million to support prosecution of some of the most serious and complex criminal offences in Victoria, where victim survivors are disproportionately women and children.
- $600,000 to continue to strengthen and embed an understanding of family violence in our justice workforce.
This Budget also invests in the community legal sector to deliver important support and early intervention for women, including victim survivors of family violence.
Funding of $29 million will strengthen key areas of the sector to:
- Support community legal centres to partner with Maternal and Child Health Services, the Royal Women’s Hospital and Aboriginal health organisations, reaching women experiencing or at risk of family violence in a safe space.
- Increase access to legal support for socially and economically disadvantaged women, supporting them with pathways out of the criminal justice system.
- Continue specialist legal assistance for the LGBITQA+ community to receive support, reducing the fear of discrimination that creates barriers to seeking help.
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