WUNRN
http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/release-womens-safety-package-to-stoptheviolence
Australia Women’s Safety Package to #StoptheViolence
JOINT MEDIA RELEASE – 24 September 2015
THE HON
MALCOLM TURNBULL MP, PRIME MINISTER
SENATOR
THE HON MICHAELIA CASH, MINISTER FOR WOMEN, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT, MINISTER
ASSISTING THE PRIME MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR
THE HON GEORGE BRANDIS, ATTORNEY-GENERAL
THE
HON SUSSAN LEY, MINISTER FOR HEALTH
THH
HON CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES
SENATOR
THE HON NIGEL SCULLION, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
SENATOR
THE HON MITCH FIFIELD, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
SENATOR
THE HON SIMON BIRMINGHAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
AUSTRALIA
WOMEN’S SAFETY PACKAGE TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
Women and
children in Australia have the right to feel safe and live without fear of
violence.
Yet, one
in six Australian women has experienced violence from a current or former
partner, and 63 women have been killed so far this year.
For
Indigenous women the situation is even worse – they are 34 times more likely to
be hospitalised as a result of family violence.
In recent
weeks, we have seen yet again the devastating impact that domestic and family
violence has on our community. The tragic and avoidable deaths of women and their
children at the hands of current or former partners or family members highlight
the need for urgent action.
We must
elevate this issue to our national consciousness, and make it clear that
domestic, family or sexual violence is unacceptable in any circumstances.
Today the
Australian Government is announcing a $100 million package of measures to
provide a safety net for women and children at high risk of experiencing
violence. The package will improve frontline support and services,
leverage innovative technologies to keep women safe, and provide education
resources to help change community attitudes to violence and abuse.
The
package includes $21 million for specific measures to help Indigenous women and
communities.
COAG has
made domestic violence a national priority, and governments are acting. But
recent events show we are not moving fast enough.
This
package responds to the initial advice of COAG’s Advisory Panel on Reducing
Violence against Women and their Children – chaired by Ken Lay and
deputy-chaired by Rosie Batty and Heather Nancarrow – which was provided to
COAG at its special meeting on 23 July 2015.
This is
part of the Government’s longer term response to domestic and family violence
and the COAG Advisory Panel’s final report, due in early 2016, will advise on
what further measures could be introduced.
Today’s
package is in addition to the Australian Government’s $100 million investment
in the Second Action Plan of the National Plan, and the $30 million national
campaign to reduce violence against women and their children, jointly funded
with the states and territories.
We look
forward to working with states and territories to trial innovative new
technologies to keep women safe, to train more frontline staff to recognise and
respond appropriately to women experiencing violence, and to provide better
resources and infrastructure to police working in remote Indigenous
communities.
We will
work with businesses and community groups to keep women safe from being tracked
and harassed through mobile phones, and provide integrated services through
dedicated domestic violence units in domestic and family violence
hotspots.
We look
forward to working with all Australians to say that enough is enough; that
women and children must be safe in their homes and on our streets; and that
domestic and family violence is never acceptable.
Details
of the package
Immediate
practical actions to keep women safe include:
·
$12 million to trial with states the use of innovative technology
to keep women safe (such as GPS trackers for perpetrators), with funding to be
matched by states and territories.
·
$5 million for safer technology, including working with
telecommunications companies to distribute safe phones to women, and with the
eSafety Commissioner to develop a resource package about online safety for
women, including for women from CALD communities.
·
$17 million to keep women safe in their homes by expanding
successful initiatives like the Safer in the Home programme to install CCTV cameras
and other safety equipment, and a grant to the Salvation Army to work with
security experts to conduct risk assessments on victim’s homes, help change
their locks and scan for bugs.
·
$5 million to expand 1800RESPECT, the national telephone and
online counselling and information service, to ensure more women can get
support.
·
$2 million increased funding for MensLine for tools and
resources to support perpetrators not to reoffend.
·
Up to $15 million to enable police in Qld to better respond to
domestic violence in remote communities and for measures that reduce
reoffending by Indigenous perpetrators.
·
$3.6 million for the Cross Border Domestic Violence Intelligence
Desk to share information on victims and perpetrators who move around the cross
border region of WA, SA and the NT.
Immediate
measures to improve support and services for women will include increased
training for frontline staff and trials of integrated service models:
·
*$14 million to expand the DV-alert training programme to
police, social workers, emergency department staff and community workers to
better support women, and work with the College of General Practitioners to
develop and deliver specialised training to GPs across the country.
·
*$15 million to establish specialised domestic violence units to
provide access to coordinated legal, social work and cultural liaison services
for women in a single location, and allow legal services to work with local
hospitals, including for women from CALD communities and women living in
regional/remote areas.
·
*$5 million for local women’s case workers, to coordinate
support for women, including housing, safety and budgeting services.
·
*$1.4 million to extend the Community Engagement Police Officers
in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern territory.
·
*Up to $1.1 million to help remote Indigenous communities
prevent and better respond to the incidence of domestic violence through
targeted support.
$5 million will also be provided as a longer-term measure to change the attitudes of young people to violence, through expanding the Safer Schools website to include resources for teachers, parents and students on respectful relationships. This will build on the $30 million national campaign (jointly funded by the Commonwealth, states and territories) to change young people’s attitudes to violence, which will commence in early 2016.