The Albanese Government has again failed to meet its targets to deliver the 500 new frontline domestic violence workers it promised at the election.
After originally pledging to have 200 new workers on the ground by 30 June 2023, and delivering none, the Government revised that number to a target of 352 by 30 June 2024.
The Department of Social Services' updated figures released today show the Albanese Government has failed to meet this target with only 94 of the promised 352 workers in place. This means only around a quarter of promised workers are in place against the revised targets.
There has been no change in the numbers in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania or the Australian Capital Territory since last month's update. No state or territory has hit its targets.
This means despite repeated assurances from Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth, and universal calls from the community for increased spending on domestic violence supports, hundreds of critical domestic violence worker roles remain unfilled.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Women, Sussan Ley, called on Anthony Albanese to take responsibility for this failure.
"It has been over 770 days since Anthony Albanese took office and he has failed again and again when it comes to delivering the 500 domestic violence workers he promised," the Deputy Leader said.
"Anthony Albanese needs to stand up and accept responsibility for failing to deliver the promised 500 new domestic violence workers and fix this. Regardless of your political views, if you care about action on domestic violence, you should expect the Prime Minister to deliver on his commitments here.
"As it stands it is unlikely we will see all 500 promised workers on the ground by the next election and that would be a black mark on this Prime Minister's record."
Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence Senator Kerrynne Liddle said every day without the promised frontline workers is a day too many.
"We know in households across Australia, people are experiencing greater intensity of violence or violence is new to their family experience. They should have had the resources that were announced to get their vote in 2022 to assist them," Senator Liddle said.
These are not just figures, these are workers that should be on the ground supporting women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence - supporting the LGBTIQA+ community, women with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse women and children, and First Nations people.
Australians were told women's safety would be a priority for this government but instead we see a consistent failure to deliver the workers as promised. This is unacceptable.
