Next week the New South Wales government will introduce an emergency package for women seeking refuge from domestic violence.
Deputy Prime Minister Prue Car announced the housing package on Friday saying it would focus on prevention and assistance to women trying to get out of dangerous situations.
Car said it would be the first step in a larger effort by her government to improve women’s safety after an alarming rise in gender-based violence.
Following a cabinet meeting on Friday, where they heard from experts and campaigners, Ms Car said: “Primary prevention and early intervention need more attention because we need to drive the cultural change that stops this happening.”
Ms Car, who is Housing Minister, said the government will examine underused accommodation facilities with a view to repurposing them as shelters or even long-term housing.
He also said that education would be the focus.
“Education is always, always, part of the answer, but the government must ensure schools are supported to achieve this.”
New South Wales Deputy Premier Prue Car (centre) announced a housing package to help women fleeing domestic violence on Friday, with details due next week.
The government’s leader in the Legislative Council, Penny Sharpe, said the announcement was decades overdue.
‘Today, what this government has done [has] initiated a process that has taken too long but requires urgent measures.
“These are things that are going to change the dial… to prevent the behavior in the first place.”
Nationally, a similar meeting took place in Canberra on Friday.
Chaired by Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, the meeting of several police ministers “signaled” the national cabinet’s direction to work alongside the country’s attorneys general to devise options to improve police responses to high-risk gender-based violence perpetrators. .
The council of police ministers “agreed to commission officials to consider the views of interested experts, including those with lived experience of violence, in developing the joint program to advance this work.”
Dreyfus also referenced comments Anthony Albanese had made before the meeting about bail and other safety-first measures.
Ahead of the meeting, the Prime Minister had indicated that ministers would discuss bail laws and greater state-to-state data sharing on high-risk or serial perpetrators.
The technical aspects of those issues fall overwhelmingly under the purview of police ministers.
The meeting, which was organized before the worrying rise in gender-based violence and the two stabbings in Sydney, included discussions and actions on the national firearms registry and bridging the gap.
No major announcements were expected to be made.
On Friday morning, Albanese said cooperation between states was key to addressing what he described as a national crisis.
“All states and territories will come together at the Attorney General’s meeting to discuss the law, the justice system, bail laws, those matters that are the primary responsibility of the states and territories,” the Prime Minister told Channel 7.
“In addition to that, the NSW cabinet will also meet today to discuss measures that are within NSW that they can control, issues such as community services and housing.”
Demonstrations have taken place across the country in recent days, with thousands demanding action be taken on the issue.
South Australia has already passed strict laws targeting repeat offenders with strict stay-at-home orders and requiring those who breach intervention orders and are released on bail to wear an ankle monitor.
At least 28 women have died this year from gender violence.
Albanese held an emergency national cabinet meeting this week and announced that a Morrison-era trial program to financially help women leaving violent relationships will be made permanent.
In total, $925 million will be set aside over five years to rename the trial payment for escaping violence to the payment for leaving violence, which will be implemented next year at the end of the trial.
Albanese described it as “two steps forward.”
“What we have done is strengthen the program to make sure that there is more, more support, not just the financial payment, but that those support services also come into place,” he said.
The program, which seeks to help people with the financial costs of escaping a violent intimate relationship, offers eligible people up to $1,500 in cash and $3,500 in vouchers.
The $5,000 one-off payment was first introduced under the previous Morrison government in 2021, but was revised in response to increased concerns about its strict eligibility requirements, including the exclusion of people holding temporary visas.
To be eligible, a person must be a victim survivor and have experienced a change in their lifestyle as a result of intimate partner violence in the past 12 weeks.
Only 15 per cent of frontline services reported their clients received the full $5000 payment in 2022, according to a report by leading organization Domestic Violence NSW.
Data obtained this year by The Guardian showed that more than half of more than 50,000 Australians had their applications rejected between July and September 2023.
Independent MP Kylea Tink said the government should stop “throwing money at a broken system”.
“We are right now, as a society and a culture, at an inflection point, where we must turn this issue around,” he told ABC News.
“We have to stop focusing on the victims who are fleeing, on the women who are running with their children, and focus on the root causes of gender-based violence in this country.”
