When the attacks on Bondi happened and it was made clear that the offender was targeting women, violence that in our cultural landscape that has often been considered “private” was in a very public sphere – and it is terrifying.
People are angry and want solutions. I join them in their distress. I’m exhausted. I am angry, and I am devastated about the events from the last few weeks.
I decided to take a couple of days to reflect on the outcomes from the National Cabinet.
I understand why my colleagues are disappointed with the outcomes, our frontline services are at max capacity. We have waitlists for specialist sexual violence services of 6-12 months, and we have girls as young as 12 on those lists.
In those same jurisdictions, our services have had no funding increase to sexual violence services in over a decade. That’s despite the sharp and continual rise in violence and a rise in the severity of violence victims are exposed to. It’s not an either/or. We need both sectors, Domestic and Family Violence AND Sexual Violence, to be robustly funded from national partnerships. There must be a clear delineation in how the money is divided, no discussion.
Women are getting turned away from emergency accommodation in the 100s, so much so that we have seen invitations for women to sleep in their cars in a secure carpark with shower and toilet facilities in Cessnock. Allow me to be clear- THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION. In a country as wealthy as Australia, I am disgusted and enraged that any government thinks this is an acceptable outcome.
I had a lot of questions as to whether my colleagues or I would be attending National Cabinet – to be clear this is a meeting for government officials only, and not a civil society space. There was no expectation from sector to participate.
National Women’s Safety Alliance sent a communique to the Prime Minister’s office listing agenda requests from our membership. In a two-hour meeting there were in principle agreements from all state and territories to a majority of our agenda requests, including:
- Police Ministers Council and the Standing Council of Attorneys-General will be tasked to develop options for improving police responses to high risk and serial perpetrators, including considering use of focused deterrence and fixated threat strategies.
- First Ministers agreed to improve information sharing about perpetrators across systems and jurisdictions, led by the commonwealth Minister for Women.
- First Ministers agreed that States and Territories will explore opportunities to strengthen national consistency and drive best practice approaches across jurisdictions, including relating to risk assessment and responses to sexual assault, led by Victoria and South Australia.
These are not small tasks, they are system overhauls that we needed yesterday.
The 500 workers program has been hotly debated this week. To recruit 500 workers you need to have the staff available; this includes long term plans for workforce sustainability with a robust workforce pipeline. It requires long term funding surety, especially for smaller services in regional and remote areas.
The basic logistics of running any business are critical here; need more space for staff, can’t take a lease on a new premises because the funding agreements are only for 3 years and then go into an open tender with no assurances or guarantees; this is the definition of insanity, and yet short term or project funding is often how these services are forced to run.
The administration costs of having an employee are not covered in the funding, this includes super, leave, cars, computer meaning smaller services that cannot absorb that cost have to consider if it is a realistic, financially viable opportunity.
What I’m finding staggering is this program has been paid in two instalments to the tune of $169 million. This money has been sitting in state treasuries untouched. This week is the first time I have heard “the program is too restrictive” or “It’s a shame, it’s difficult to recruit”.
My advice? Work with the frontline to find a solution and present it to the federal parliament. Frontline services are the experts in your jurisdiction so include them in the discussion.
Our membership has been asking for over a year, where are the workers? Well, the cash has been there, but some states only begun a tendering process long after it was funded. The buck passing that has happened with this program is an absolute outrage. As we saw during COVID-19, the federation is not afraid to push back on the federal government. What is their excuse for not prioritising the health and welfare of people experiencing violence by expediting the funding where it is needed?
The Leaving Violence Program is needed, and it needs to be permanent. NWSA has previously noted in Women’s Agenda the gaps our membership has found with the pilot program.
The program was initially a Morrison government initiative and as we heard from the former prime minister, “we want women to succeed, but not at the expense of men”. It is hardly a surprise that this program had a flawed methodology.
Since that article was published, we have had constructive conversations with Uniting Care Community who administer the program and have been clear to the Ministers office we want to collaborate on making the program best practice and fit for purpose for people who live in fear and need the access to funds quickly. This will be a continuing piece of work for the NWSA… how can it not be with member testimony we have received?
Do we need more money at the frontline? 1000%.
Ensuring our frontline can respond with appropriate interventions; be that emergency housing, cash transfers, or safety planning. We can’t let it slip because “we can’t afford it”. That is entirely unacceptable.
We also need the states and federal government to commit to partnership, not only in dollar amounts, but in genuine collaboration so we have better outcomes for victim survivors. They deserve it, and we all deserve a much healthier, safer society.
We will continue to demand it, every single damn day until we see meaningful change in this country.