The Coalition’s recent announcement of a $90 million package to address domestic and family violence places emphasis on strengthening perpetrator accountability and criminal justice responses.
The proposal includes a national domestic violence offender register, legislative reform targeting technology-facilitated abuse, and measures to address financial abuse and bail reform. These initiatives respond to several gaps in Australia’s current policy landscape, particularly as outlined in the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032. However, the scale and scope of the investment raise important questions about whether it is sufficient to deliver the systemic change the Plan envisions.
Public responses to recent tragedies I’ve seen on social media often include sentiments like “I can’t believe this happened” or “how is this still possible?” While these reactions reflect the deep distress and grief many feel, they also reveal a dangerous gap between public emotion and structural understanding. Violence against women in Australia is not an anomaly, it is persistent, patterned, and fuelled by social conditions we continue to overlook. The idea that each incident is met with utter disbelief masks a more confronting truth: we are not seeing a series of isolated failures, but the outcome of systems that are still under-resourced, under-regulated, and slow to reform. Addressing that reality requires more than reactive measures it demands the sustained, structural change that the National Plan envisions, but which is not yet matched by current political commitments.
At its core, the Coalition’s proposal addresses key mechanisms within the justice system. The establishment of a national offender register could facilitate better cross-jurisdictional information sharing and enhance police capacity to monitor known perpetrators. Likewise, the proposed legislative reforms around technology-facilitated abuse recognise the increasingly digital nature of domestic and family violence. These are relevant and timely reforms that align with emerging forms of harm.
The package also aims to make financial abuse more visible within institutional systems, proposing changes to tax and corporate regulation to prevent perpetrators from using debt, directorships, or superannuation access to further abuse survivors. These measures echo findings from the recent Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into financial abuse and align with commitments under the National Plan’s economic security pillar- The detail here will be critical as with Labor plan there must be a commitment to a co-design process with victim survivors and safety sector experts to ensure legislative changes are fit for purpose.
However, the proposed bail reforms, which aim to tighten conditions for alleged perpetrators, fall within the jurisdiction of state and territory governments. Without coordinated national agreements, federal policy statements may have limited practical effect in this area. Similarly, while the use of a carriage service to menace or harass is already a criminal offence under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), translating that into targeted protections for domestic violence victims will depend on enforcement, survivor support, and resourcing for specialist legal and community services.
Justice responses are of course a vital component of a national approach, they must be balanced with upstream investments in prevention, education, and trauma-informed recovery.
The $90 million investment addresses discrete areas of need. It is essential to consider what remains unaddressed. The National Plan calls for whole-of-system reform. This includes expanding access to safe and affordable housing, resourcing culturally safe and specialist services, investing in early intervention and prevention, and strengthening the community sector workforce. These are not covered in the current announcement.
Ongoing efforts to end gender-based violence will require not only targeted justice reforms but a whole-of-government, whole-of-community commitment that embeds safety, equity, and accountability into every social policy domain. Every single party must commit to this if we are to succeed. The cost of domestic, family, and sexual violence to the Australian economy has been estimated at over $26 billion annually. In this context, a $90 million package is a modest contribution. Experts have long called for sustained, long-term investment across the life of the National Plan to build system-wide capacity and address the drivers of violence, not just its aftermath.