Within months, on June 30 this year, the pilot funding for the national 24/7 counselling service for victim-survivors of sexual, domestic and family violence will come to an end.
In a bid to save this vital service, family violence advocacy group Full Stop Australia has launched a nation-wide fundraising campaign, including an International Women’s Day dinner, which took place last night in Sydney.
Corporate, philanthropic and community donors took part in the IWD event, including the Paul Ramsay Foundation, NRMA Insurance and Commonwealth Bank.
Raffle prizes were donated by local artists, including prints by artist Amani Haydar. Haydar is the author of the award-winning memoir The Mother Wound, a 2021 book about the violent death of her mother at the hands of her father.
Former CNN journalist Anjali Rao hosted the event, which included a panel discussion between a number of influential changemakers on the work that needs to be done for a gender-equal future.
Panellists included Indigenous Elder and Artist, Aunty Nanna Miss Koori, Wongatha/Yamatji and Noongar/Gitja actor Shareena Clanton, Nyangbal, Arakwal and Dunghutti woman and Head of Koori Mail, Naomi Moran, disability advocate Elly Desmarchelier, and CEO of Cheek Media, Hannah Ferguson.
“1 in 5 people in Australia are disabled,” Elly Desmarchelier reminded audiences last night, emphasising the need to end the marginalisation of disabled people in our community. “If you have a group of five friends, and none of them are disabled, ask yourself, why does your group discriminate?”
Hannah Ferguson said the conservative media landscape in Australia is “concealing an epidemic of domestic and sexual violence by making perpetrators invisible in their headlines, or by shifting blame back to complainants and survivors.”
“We need to have uncomfortable conversations and reflect on what we’re consuming and how it impacts our views,” she said.
Naomi Moran, who manages Australia’s only independent Indigenous newspaper, said she wants the government to listen deeply to the voices of women who remain unheard.
“There are lessons to be learned by our government when we acknowledge the strength and connectedness at a community level that contributes to how productive, proactive and progressive the work is from the ground up,” she stressed. “To continue to sustain those efforts though – to support matters of life or death situations for women in this country.”
Shareena Clanton described her experiences of financial and emotional violence, and the minimisation of Black women when they seek help. Sharing a personal anecdote of an occasion when she was turned away from the police, she asked: “Do I have to have a bruise on my eye or blood on my face for you to take me seriously?”
Full Stop Australia’s chief executive Hayley Foster said she is encouraged by the strong community support for the national service, though she remains concerned about the future of the service once the government funding stops.
“We can’t bear to think of not being able to pick up the phone to survivors of sexual, domestic and family violence who rely upon us for support and care come 1 July this year,”,” Foster said. “But that’s the reality we’re facing.”
“Sexual assault and domestic violence are the fastest growing serious crimes across the country and more and more victim-survivors are reaching out for help.”
“Reported sexual assaults alone have increased by more than 110% in the last 25 years, and we’re seeing no signs of abatement.”
Demand for the service has more than doubled in each successive year since its creation in 2020. It was originally set up to curb the shortage of trauma specialists in sexual, domestic and family violence counselling services across Australia.
Full Stop Australia’s counsellors are qualified in trauma specialist sexual, domestic and family violence counselling, and are highly accredited within their respective professional bodies.
Last year, a national survey from the University of Newcastle found that more than half of women in their twenties reported having experienced sexual violence.
According to Foster, thousands of sexual assault and domestic violence survivors now rely upon Full Stop’s service for critical support and short, medium and long-term therapeutic care in circumstances where they don’t have specialist services in their local area, or they can’t afford to access a private therapist.
One Aboriginal woman in her early 20s living in a regional area said accessing Full Stop Australia’s national counselling service was a lifeline. Last year, she was sexually assaulted and didn’t know how to hold the perpetrator to account.
“Full Stop Australia has had quite a big impact on my life,” she said. “To just have that reassurance to know that what I went through was not okay… and to have really supporting and caring people on the other side of the phone.”
“Without that reassurance and that courage, I wouldn’t have been able to report my story to the police, which, therefore I feel like I wouldn’t really be able to achieve the justice that I deserve. So yeah, I’m pretty thankful that there’s a service out there that you know you can call.”
Another young person with a disability who experienced sexual violence in the workplace told Full Stop Australia the service was important as a place survivors can turn to for high quality care, knowing they won’t be victim-blamed or discriminated against.
The person, who asked not to be identified by name, is from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, and said the service has been “empowering” for them in the years since the assault.
“I first started reaching out to the phone hotline and it was great to nearly instantly have someone to talk to at any time of the day who would listen to you, give you some advice if you ask for it and just support you in the things you need,” they said.
“I also didn’t feel stigmatised, and I felt like the people that I was talking to cared about me and wanted to support me.”
Foster praised Full Stop’s therapeutic approach, which has been proven to dramatically reduce the distress of callers.
“We are a safe place for survivors of sexual, domestic and family violence to turn to,” she said. “No matter what their age, gender, cultural background or geographical location.”
“Our empowering, therapeutic approach works, with clients who consistently engage with our service reporting an average 91% reduction in subjective distress as a result of service engagement.”
Full Stop aims to reach $200,000 in donations to keep the service open in the months after June, and wants the government to assist with at least $586,872 in annual funding to sustain the service.
Donations can be made here.
If you or someone you know is in need of help due to sexual assault or family and domestic violence contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732
In an emergency call 000. Lifeline (13 11 14) and, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 13YARN (13 92 76)