As Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison practice their best Budget delivery speeches, thousands of Australians are feeling apprehensive about what’s to come out of the government’s back pocket. Relief across numerous areas was needed yesterday, and perhaps none more pressing than women’s safety. While some announcements have been made, including a promised $189 million to better support domestic, family and sexual violence services, there is still a lot that’s so far been left off the table.
Speaking to two experts in women’s safety, we explore a few areas not yet addressed including better support and services for First Nations communities, and recognising the significant link between alcohol and surging rates of violence. Something that will surely be exacerbated by the government’s proposal to cut taxes on beer.
Ashlee Donohue, CEO, Mudgin-Gal
Women’s safety needs to be a high priority regardless of who’s term it is in Government. While it’s great that the Federal Government has already pledged an extra $189 million for domestic, family and sexual violence services for the upcoming budget to further improve women’s safety and economic security, Aboriginal communities are in dire need of a more holistic approach.
An Aboriginal woman is 45 times more likely to experience domestic violence than a white woman and if the government is serious about women’s safety, then it needs to pay special attention to Indigenous women by funding community-led organisations, specifically Aboriginal organisations for a minimum of five years at least. Anything less would be a set up to fail scheme.
A priority is structuring resources for women who seek to leave violent relationships. We need more funding for adequately equipped refuges for DV survivors in the cities as well as rural and regional areas, along with transport to get to and from hospitals, police stations and courts.
There should also be a hotline women can call to access immediate accommodation whether it be hotel room or refuge – being safe is the first point of call. I have spoken to hundreds of DV survivors and every time the first thing that’s requested is somewhere safe to go. This is where the funding should be going first and foremost, to provide a safe refuge.
Mudgin-Gal has previously sought funding to provide care packages with essential items such as vouchers for petrol, groceries, towel and toiletries etc to women fleeing abusive relationships.
For women who are not ready to leave, the Government needs to fund programs aimed at keeping families safe. This could look like two parallel programs running at the same time one for men and the other for women, identifying what is DFV and what a perpetrator looks like and help that can be sourced.
I’d also like to see a commitment to incorporating mandatory domestic, family and sexual violence education in every high school acrossin Australia from year 7-12. We also need to invest in education for men as much if not more than women around DFV – most men do not believe that they are perpetrators because there are no substantial programs running that identify to men for men what a DFV is.
Women have and always have taken the charge in DFV – unfortunately that is not working as in my view we are speaking to the converted. Men need to be involved in the conversations and part of the solutions.
Amy Nguyen, co-founder of Zen Tea Lounge Foundation
As a domestic violence charity, we welcome the Federal Governments’ proposals for additional DV prevention programs and consent education, but we’re concerned that proposals for a 50 per cent reduction in beer excise may provoke a rise in violence.
Lockdown stress meant DV victims suffered increased social isolation and were forced to spend more time with the perpetrators. The link between DV and alcohol is well known. Any increase in consumption will see a corresponding rise in violence affecting women and children living in abusive or threatening home situations. Our goal, and it should be the goal of all Australians, is to eliminate DV completely. You can’t do that while making beer cheaper.
What we need is more investment in programs that get to the root cause of violence. Teaching emotional intelligence to our children is one area where we see a huge gap in our education system. We know that having empathy for others and better managing our emotions has a direct link to reducing violence and creating a more harmonious society. Whilst programs that aim to identify and stop perpetrators from harming their loved ones will minimise risk, we need to go further. Teaching consent is a great first step, but we also need to be investing in programs that help us raise more emotionally intelligent children, so that one day perhaps we can eliminate domestic violence for good.