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‘Focus on men and boys’: Peak domestic violence group pleads for extra funding
By Alexandra Smith and Michael McGowan
The peak body advising the NSW government on how to tackle the domestic violence crisis has pleaded for significant funding to be invested in men and boys, with critical prevention work needed in schools, sporting clubs and grassroots community organisations.
Domestic Violence NSW met Premier Chris Minns last Friday to urge the government to end years of underfunding of domestic violence services in the upcoming June budget.
Domestic Violence NSW chief executive Delia Donovan says the housing crisis makes it harder for women to escape.Credit: Louise Kennerley
The group has also warned that the housing crisis needs to be urgently addressed, highlighting the need to build 7500 social and affordable homes in NSW each year for the next two decades to provide enough safe accommodation for women and children fleeing danger.
In its pre-budget submission, Domestic Violence NSW – the peak group representing 150 organisations – highlighted critical areas it says the government must fund to prevent and respond to domestic violence in the state. It says at least another $80 million in this year’s budget is required.
This would include $40 million to fund the first year of the NSW Strategy for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence 2024-2027; $15 million for “respectful relationships education”; $15 million for community-based organisations and $9.5 million to fund “prevention action in priority settings such as workplaces, sporting associations and local government”.
Domestic violence funding in NSW is dwarfed by what is spent in Victoria. Budget figures reveal NSW allocated $417.2 million in the 2022-23 financial year compared to Victoria’s $613 million, although the true figure in NSW is likely to be as low as $262 million because not all funding is domestic violence-specific.
Domestic Violence NSW CEO Delia Donovan’s submission, which also calls for $500,000 for the peak body as demand on it spirals, said addressing the funding priorities would “have an immediate impact”.
“There needs to be a focus on men and boys across all funding streams and investments,” she said.
“An immediate investment in changing community attitudes and behaviours through community education and early intervention programs in all settings can help stop domestic and family violence before it starts.”
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s office was contacted for comment.
Minns is convening an urgent cabinet meeting on Friday with experts on domestic violence amid calls for a royal commission into the crisis gripping the nation. The national outrage was sparked by the stabbing death of five women at Bondi Junction and the murder of Forbes mother Molly Ticehurst, whose ex-partner was on bail for offences including sexual assault.
Over the weekend, rallies were held around the country calling for an end to increasing violence against women and children, which coincided with Lifeline recording its busiest day ever on Sunday, with 3439 voice calls (the highest of 2024) and 932 text and web chat contacts.
It represented a 20 per cent increase in demand on the annual average for the counselling service.
Angela Lynch, a lawyer and domestic violence sector manager at Lifeline, said coverage of high-profile domestic violence cases could be especially difficult for some sections of the community.
“I think at a time when there is such a focus on domestic violence and sexual violence, it logically has an impact on victim-survivors and their families,” Lynch said.
“When emotions are brought to the forefront, it is really important that people seek support, but it is also really important to have these broader conversations so that the issues of domestic violence and sexual violence are brought out from the shadows.”
Colin Seery, chief executive of Lifeline, said the “figures clearly tell us is there is a great deal of distress in the community right now.”
“The horrific events across Australia over the last couple of weeks, and the systemic problem of violence against women, has put men’s use of violence against women at the forefront of public discussion yet again,” Seery said.
“All men have a role to play in changing this.”
On Tuesday, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) will publish new data showing 49 per cent of all female victims of homicide in 2022-23 were killed by a current or former partner.
Intimate partner homicides made up 16 per cent of all homicides in Australia last year.
The data will be used as a baseline to measure the Albanese government’s target of a 25 per cent annual reduction in the number of female victims of intimate partner homicide.
It showed there was an increase in the number of those women who died as a result of intimate partner homicides last year, from 26 in 2021-22 to 34 in 2022-23. But the AIC also said the total number of intimate partner homicides against women was the equal third-lowest level since 1989.
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