BOTH the federal government and opposition have promised a commission to oversee the prevention of violence against women and children, that is plaguing Australian communities.
On average, one woman is killed each week by a current or former partner, while violence is the leading preventable cause of death, illness and disability for women aged between 15-44.
The coalition has announced it will invest $22.4 million over five years on a commission looking at domestic, family and sexual violence under the next national plan to keep women and children safe.
“The next national plan will be an ambitious blueprint to end violence against women and children but it must be more than words,” Minister for Women Marise Payne said.
At the same time, Labor has pledged to appoint a commissioner to co-ordinate gendered violence prevention if it wins power at the next federal election.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released in June showed the number of police-recorded victims of family and domestic violence related sexual assault increased by 13 per cent in 2020.
Labor would spend $153.4 million over four years on 500 additional crisis and support staff including case workers, financial counsellors, and child support staff to take pressure off existing crisis services for women fleeing abusive relationships.
Half of those community sector workers would be based in rural and regional Australia.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese described violence towards women and children as “a devastating crisis” and one “that we all have a responsibility to address”.
“One of the things that always strikes me when I see these statistics is that people that I know and you know must be engaged in this (violence),” Mr Albanese said.
“During my life, I have been shocked by the fact that that has occurred within families that I know.”
Brisbane Priest, Fr Adrian Sharp said the “need is always there” when talking about resources for women in crisis. He is a long-time supporter of Pregnancy Crisis Incorporated, a charity that offers practical help offered to women under pressure to abort their unborn children.
PCI runs a safe house that takes in women who are distressed, abused and impoverished.
In April, Centacare Brisbane’s Family and Relationship Services director Christie Hodge identified resources needed as “additional emergency housing options, appropriate emergency service responses and judicial penalties to hold perpetrators of violence much more accountable”.
Ms Hodge said she would like to see more resources go into working with perpetrators, most of whom were men.
“Services for men are seriously under-funded, and working with perpetrators makes families safer,” she said.
Labor would insist that a commissioner for family, domestic and sexual violence would report yearly on progress under successive national plans to stop violence.
They would also help co-ordinate consistent access to support services across the country, and work with states, territories and Commonwealth agencies to ensure there was the necessary data to get the money to where it is needed most.
Mr Albanese accused the Morrison government of failing to adequately fund support services and accommodation.
He said women’s refuges turned away up to half the women who sought help, while only one in 10 women who wanted to remained in their homes safely had the necessary support to do so.
Extra funding would be used to provide shelters with an additional case manager and community organisations with a financial counsellor.
Specialist women’s services would also be able to hire a support worker to help children work through trauma.
