NSW govt rejects domestic violence prevention funding

August 14, 2015
Issue 

The NSW Coalition blocked a Greens’ motion in the upper house on August 12 calling for long-term funding for violence prevention and specialist services.

Funding for women’s refuges across NSW has been cut and the services tendered out to charities, including religious ones.

The motion acknowledged that:
· domestic and family violence is the leading cause of death and injury in women under 45;
· this year, violence against women at the hands of someone they were involved with or knew, has claimed the lives of 34 women across Australia;
· more than 1 million Australian children are affected by violence in the home;
· Aboriginal women are six times more likely to experience domestic and family violence than non-Aboriginal women; and
· culturally and linguistically diverse women, women with a disability, older women, younger women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or intersex people are the other risk groups vulnerable to domestic and family violence.

Greens MLC Mehreen Faruqi called on Pru Goward, the recently appointed Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, “to urgently prioritise long-term secure funding and resources into violence prevention initiatives, education programs and specialist services, including women-only refuges.

“If the government really objects to secure funding for domestic violence services, their words on this national emergency really are just rhetoric.”

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