Women’s Safety: What the major parties are promising

Who are the women running for election in 2022? Check out Women Elect, our page tracking female candidates.

Women’s safety has taken a renewed and urgent focus over the past couple of years, especially as services have reported being understaffed and in need of desperate funding. 

Safety advocates have been calling for more affordable housing and increased funding for services as urgent priority measures this election, with a comprehensive three-year plan released by the National Women’s Safety Alliance issuing 20 specific actions for whoever wins government this election. 

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR: Our 2022 election policy pages are live, and updated as we learn more from each of the major parties. 

The Coalition 

• Outlined $1.3 billion in funding during the March 29 budget across 17 women’s safety initiatives, including prevention initiatives by resourcing Our Watch and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety
• Has promised to invest $2.5 billion in the first five years of the next National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. 
• Funding to support the expansion of early intervention programs, including more funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Support Services 
• Extending the Escaping Violence Payment
• Establish a new telephone service to support women and children experiencing technology-facilitated abuse, alongside online safety education programs 
• Continue to implement the Respect@Work recommendations

Labor

• Funding to support 500 new workers for community services supporting women in crisis
• $100 million was allocated for crisis accommodation 
• $1.6 billion to build 4000 new social housing projects, allocated for women at risk of homeless and women and children fleeing violence
• Legislate 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave 
• Deliver separate First Nations national plan to end violence against women and families 
• Fully implement Respect@Work recommendations, including legislating positive duty on employers to stamp out sexual harassment 

The Greens

• Fund $12 billion for the National Plan for Ending Violence Against Women and Children, establishing measures and targets and incorporating diverse victim-survivor voices 
• Invest $477 million in Respectful Relationships education 
• Double funding to legal services to ensure they can be accessed by those who need them 
• Legislate 10 days of paid domestic violence leave 
• Offer $10,000 Survivor Grants
• Fully implement all Respect@Work recommendations 
• Fund social and affordable housing 

Go Deeper: Fair Agenda has asked all candidates for the federal election to take the Pledge for a Safe Future, committing to six specific actions covering funding, legal responses, safer workplaces, reforms for a safer parliament, and ending gender-based violence within a generation. Midway through April, 65 candidates had taken the pledge. See the list here.