Australian Government Pledges $19 Million to Support South Australian Domestic Violence Victims

Protesters gather at Hyde Park during the 'Women's Wave' March in Sydney, Australia on January 20, 2019, to draw attention to issues of domestic violence against women in Australia and drive cultural change. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The Federal Government is increasing support for South Australian women and children experiencing domestic violence (DV) through a $19 million (US$13.54 million) funding boost.

According to a media release on Wednesday, the new funding will support the continuation of some existing programs, while the South Australian (SA) Government and DV sector will work together to determine other areas where funding is most needed.

This comes after an initial $9.8 million (US$6.98 million) was spent on supporting at-risk South Australians during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That funding enabled the SA Government to fast-track several new DV support and intervention initiatives during the pandemic, including opening new regional safety hubs in Mt Gambier, Whyalla, Port Pirie, Goolwa, and Port Lincoln; delivering a new Safe and Secure Housing program offering support and information to help women and their children move out of temporary crisis accommodation into safe, long-term accommodation; and funding for programs to support children of DV victims, including specific programs for Aboriginal women and their children.

In addition, a 24/7 men’s referral service hotline and wrap-around support service for perpetrators was set up, as was the “Break the Cycle“ advertising campaign, which aims to stop DV before it’s too late.

Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink said the new $19 million funding injection would allow the Marshall Government to roll out further support for at-risk South Australians.

“Supporting at-risk women and children and stopping the insidious scourge of domestic, family and sexual violence remains our priority,” Lensink said.

“This multi-million funding boost means more emergency accommodation services, more individualised support for domestic violence survivors, more capacity to provide wrap-around services to vulnerable children and young people, more perpetrator interventions, and more support services to enable women to remain safely in their home.”

Assistant Minister for Domestic and Family Violence Prevention, Carolyn Power, welcomed the additional funding, saying the new $19 million in funding is a boost to the SA Government’s own $21 million (US$14.96 million) investment towards a range of new DV measures to support women and children in South Australia.

“Every South Australian deserves to live safely and free from violence. This funding will help ensure support and help will continue to be available when people need it,” she said.

The new funding is part of the $260 million (US$185.24 million) National Partnership Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses over 2021-23, which aims to boost the capacity of frontline services by ensuring greater cooperation and shared responsibility between the Commonwealth, states and territories in delivering targets and objectives.

According to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1 in 6 Australian women aged 15 and over have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or previous partner, 1 in 4 have experienced emotional abuse, and 1 in 5 have experienced sexual violence.

In the same categories for men, the statistics are 1 in 16, 1 in 6, and 1 in 20, respectively.

The statistics also show that around 1 in 14 children under the age of 15 have experienced physical abuse by a family member, while 1 in 30 has experienced sexual abuse by a family member.