The Greens will provide a comprehensive policy package to address the national crisis of family, domestic and sexual violence, launching a costed $15 billion plan.
This investment will encompass prevention, frontline response support services, housing, recovery programs, and a range of measures designed to improve the safety of women and children across the nation and improve perpetrator intervention and accountability.
One woman dies a week due to domestic and family violence in Australia¹. According to Counting Dead Women this number has increased in 2024, with 66 women killed so far.
With a system struggling to meet demand, the Greens' plan addresses the urgent need for more robust funding, services, and long-term solutions.
As stated by Greens leader in the Senate and spokesperson on Women, Larissa Waters
"Every week in Australia, women and children suffer at the hands of men and this year more than one woman has been killed every week in this country.
"The statistics are shocking and unacceptable. Successive federal governments have failed to fully fund frontline services, and too many victim-survivors are left to fend for themselves.
"The Greens are committed to a bold, survivor-centred approach ensuring that no-one who seeks help fleeing violence is turned away, with a $15 billion package to provide long-term support and funding to help victim-survivors escape violence and begin their recovery.
"We are calling for a $1 billion investment annually over 12 years to fully fund frontline services, including for housing, and all existing programs under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.
"The Albanese Government's funding continues to fall short of the $1 billion per year that the women's safety sector needs.
"Current commonwealth funding is only three quarters of what the sector says it needs to meet existing demand. This in effect is condemning one in four women to being turned away back to violence.
"FDSV victim-survivors also deserve compensation, so the Greens are announcing we would have the Commonwealth top up state compensation schemes with an additional $20 million annually to increase access to victims' compensation for victim-survivors.
"We also know economic insecurity prevents women from trying to leave violent relationships.
"The Greens will double the Escaping Violence Payment to a grant of up to $10,000 to cover expenses such as relocation, bond, food, clothing, and medical needs and remove the requirement of receiving a large portion of the payment in the form of vouchers.
"The Department of Social Services confirmed during June estimates that in the year prior, more than 17% of applicants for the payment were deemed ineligible, and up to half never received the payment. Restrictive criteria doesn't help keep women safe, it forces them to stay in unsafe relationships and living situations.
"We are in a housing crisis, too many women leaving an abusive relationship are facing the additional trauma of homelessness.
"The Staying Home, Leaving Violence (SHLV) program has been proven to reduce violence and improve stability for women and children by allowing them to remain in their homes.
"The Greens will commit $250 million annually to incentivise states and territories to adopt and expand the SHLV program, so more women have the opportunity to escape violence without being forced into homelessness.
"Crisis interventions are important, but the long-term recovery of women and children who have experienced violence must also be prioritised.
"There are very few services that offer safe, holistic trauma recovery, leaving many victim-survivors without the support they need to heal.
"The Greens are committed to expanding trauma recovery services across the country and will provide funding for two additional Trauma Recovery Centres to be established in Melbourne and Perth.
"These centres will offer comprehensive support, including accommodation, therapy, and reintegration programs, to help victim-survivors rebuild their lives.
"While the justice system continues to fail victim-survivors of sexual assault, almost 90% of incidents go unreported, the Greens are advocating for a shift toward a more accessible, trauma-informed approach to justice.
"This includes a restorative justice pilot for victim-survivors who want to avoid the criminal justice system, and training on trauma-informed approaches to sexual violence within the criminal justice system, to offer victim-survivors more options for justice that do not retraumatise them.
"We know that 77% of homicides in the last 15 years involved a man killing a current or former female partner, the Greens are calling for an urgent overhaul of how we understand and respond to violence.
"Currently, national data on domestic violence is fragmented, often collected by volunteer organisations, and the true scope of perpetration is not well understood.
"The Greens will fund a national real-time toll of women killed by violence, to keep this issue in the public eye and serve as a preventative and deterrent, much like the road toll.
"We would also build on existing ANROWS research by funding a national prevalence study of violence perpetration, to be carried out every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This research will help identify perpetrators, risk factors, and inform interventions at individual, group, and societal levels.
"We have a responsibility to act. Men's violence against women is a national crisis that demands urgent and comprehensive action.
"The Greens are ready to lead the charge with this bold package, which ensures women and children have fully funded support services to turn to, and deep prevention work to enable lives free from violence and fear.
"Successive Australian governments have underfunded services that could save lives.
"While this government has made some progress, neither Labor nor the LNP have committed to fully funding frontline services. The Greens are committed to ensuring that victim-survivors receive the resources and support they need.
"The Greens' plan prioritises survivor-centred policies, we won't stop working until women and children are safe."
BACKGROUND
The Greens policy will:
- Increase funding for all programs under the National Plan to $12 billion over 12 years.
- Provide $10 million to research unmet needs in frontline support services.
- Provide $2 million to establish a national real-time toll of women killed by violence.
- Commission a $4 million ongoing national prevalence study on perpetration.
- Increase the Escaping Violence Payment to up to $10,000.
- Remove the requirement for a portion to be provided as vouchers.
- Allocate $1 million annually for administrative support to ease application and delivery processes.
- Commission a $2 million independent review of the program.
- Provide $10 million to establish a restorative justice pilot program.
- Increase funding by $5 million for trauma-informed approaches to sexual violence in the criminal justice system.
- Provide $250 million annually over the forward estimates to expand the SHLV program across Australia.
- Allocate $1 million for each state and territory to develop education campaigns to raise awareness of the program within Police, Local, and Magistrate Courts.
- Provide $50 million to fund the establishment and operation of two new Trauma Recovery Centres:
- Ruah Housing Project in Perth.
- The Sanctuary by Safe Steps in Melbourne.
- Provide $20 million annually (indexed to the Consumer Price Index), to be distributed evenly between jurisdictions to increase access to victims' compensation for victim-survivors.
References
- https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/violence-against-women-accurate-use-of-key-statistics/read/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20one%20woman%20a,killed%20by%20her%20intimate%20partner.
- https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/tandi124.pdf
