Aid For NT First Nations Women, Children Fleeing Violence

The Albanese Labor Government is supporting First Nations women and children living in Darwin in the Northern Territory to leave violent intimate partner relationships.

The North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service has received $9 million in funding to work in partnership with Danila Dilba Health Services, the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women's Shelter and Yilli Rreung Housing to support victim-survivors.

This is one of three regional place-based trials commencing from 1 July - complementing the next stage of the $925 million Leaving Violence Program.

The Government is investing $22.35 million in trials in Darwin, Dubbo in New South Wales and Broome in Western Australia, to provide tailored, trauma-informed support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service will also provide victim-survivors with an option to access the Leaving Violence Program through their service as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Organisation.

Under the Leaving Violence Program, eligible victim-survivors receive financial support of up to $5,000, including up to $1,500 in cash and the remainder in goods and services. Supports include safety planning, risk assessment and referrals to other essential services for up to 12 weeks. The program is expected to support over 36,000 victim-survivors a year.

Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, said the trials will provide eligible victim-survivors with access to practical and financial support to leave family violence.

"By providing culturally safe, trauma-informed support, we can empower victim-survivors within our Indigenous communities to regain safety, stability, and control over their lives and wellbeing," Minister Rishworth said.

"No person in our country should be forced to live in an environment that compromises their safety or their agency, and this expansion of the program will allow hundreds of vulnerable Australians to take that first step into a brighter future."

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said the Albanese Government is committed to working with Aboriginal community-led organisations to support First Nations women and children escaping family violence.

"The North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service, Danila Dilba Health Services, the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women's Shelter and Yilli Rreung Housing all do vital work in this space," Minister McCarthy said.

"This trial means more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children can access tailored, trauma-informed support as well as financial assistance to leave unsafe environments."

Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling, said the Government understands no two victim-survivors' experiences are the same, and neither is the support they need.

"It may feel as though all choices have been removed for those enduring intimate partner violence, and that's something we're committed to changing," Mr Gosling said.

"We acknowledge the courage it takes to leave an environment of violence, and encourage those in a violent relationship to reach out for support."

Intimate partner violence is a problem of epidemic proportions in Australia, with a quarter of all Australian women having experienced it in their lifetime.

The Leaving Violence Program helps support the aims of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-32 to end violence in one generation, and forms part of the Albanese Government's $4 billion investment in women's safety since 2022.

It also makes permanent the Escaping Violence Program trial. More than 78,000 victim-survivors have accessed the EVP payment since 2021. Over 70 per cent of those accessing the support were self-referrals meaning without this program they may have fallen through the cracks of the support system.

This funding is part of the Commonwealth's investment of more than $245 million in the Northern Territory to address family, domestic and sexual violence.