Michaela Cullen
The Australian Federal Government has invested a record $1.3 billion as part of a new National Plan to decrease domestic, family and sexual violence between 2022 and 2032.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced the Government’s commitment to strengthening prevention, early intervention, response and recovery with the 22/23 Federal Budget.
These four pillars make up the Government’s new National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, with the final version of the plan to be released in June. “
“We need long-term commitment and investment.”
“While the $1.3 billion investment announced this week sounds great, the funds are actually going to be spread across six years, which dilutes the capacity for the investment to bring about the significant reduction in domestic and family violence that we’re long for,” Elise Phillips, Interim CEO of Domestic Violence NSW, told Empoword Journalism.
“We need long-term commitment and investment, and we need everyone in the community; men, women, people of all ages to stop tolerating, minimising and justifying abuse.”
Criticisms of this year’s Federal Budget include its lack of accountability, equality and dedication to long-term systematic changes needed to reduce domestic violence figures in Australia.
“We’re calling for a $1 billion investment every year to significantly reduce the impact of family and domestic violence,” said Miss Phillips.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, an estimated 2.2 million adults have been victims of physical or sexual violence from a partner since the age of 15.
Miss Phillips expressed her disappointment in the lack of minority representation within the Federal Budget, with the failure of efficiently targeted interventions towards the LGBTQIA+, refugee and migrant communities, as well as a lack of support for temporary visa holders, who are more vulnerable to experiencing domestic and family violence.
“What we know is that mainstream services are not always appropriate and accessible for those communities, so we need specialised services that have messaging and communications, and information in accessible spaces and appropriate languages,” said Miss Phillips.
The release of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, which will replace the current National Plan when it ends in mid-2022, will aim to reduce the current high rates of domestic violence figures, but Miss Phillips stresses that this alone will not be enough.
“It’s really important that everyone in our community can condemn violence.”
Miss Phillips felt that there were many areas within the National Plan in need of improvement before its final publication.
“Most of the outcomes were focused on what the service providers would be doing, to address domestic and family violence, so we actually really need to see a national plan that has accountability measures for all levels of governments,” said Miss Phillips.
“It’s really important that everyone in our community can condemn violence, rather than making excuses for it.”
“Until everyone in society makes that shift, it is going to be difficult to see long-term changes,” said Miss Phillips.
For domestic violence support in Australia, Call 000 or 1800RESPECT – 1800 737 732
For domestic violence support in the UK, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247
Featured image courtesy of Alexandre Chambon on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license can be found here
Michaela Cullen
Michaela is currently in her third year studying Journalism at the University of Technology Sydney. She has contributed to the UTS newsroom Central News with a range of political and social justice stories. She is also the 2023 Australian Foreign Policy Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs and Editor-in-Chief of the United Nations Youth NSW Global Advocate Magazine.