Labor is promising a $60 million fund to ensure those attempting to flee domestic violence don’t run into financial difficulty. Survivors of domestic and family violence will have access to support for rent, furniture, medication, home security and transport costs under a new plan announced by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Monday.
A Labor government will fund about 20,000 flexible support packages over four years, helping women and children leaving violent relationships. The $60 million plan, based on a similar scheme underway in Victoria, will be funded through Labor’s $160 million banking fairness fund, announced in the wake of the Hayne commission.
RELATED: Domestic Violence Is The Number One Killer Of Women Around The World
“We need to invest in more support for women fleeing violence at home, so that financial barriers aren’t the reason victims are trapped in a violent relationship,” Shorten said in a statement.
“Instead of asking, ‘why did she stay, we need to ask ‘where could she go’.
“These packages are about helping people keep their life together in the most difficult of circumstances, keeping the kids in the school they know, keeping the family doctor, being able to work and study. Dealing with violence is hard enough without the real fear that every other part of your life will fall apart too.”
The announcement comes ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, coinciding with calls for big employers to work to change narrow perceptions of the role of men in parenting, a move advocates said would help reduce the income gap and drive down domestic violence.
“For many women it will mean they can keep seeing the family doctor they know, continue to get to work and keep children in the school they are familiar with,” Mr Shorten added. “It will also mean survivors can furnish rental accommodation and meet the short-terms costs of continuing study.”
RELATED: One In Six Australian Women Are Victims Of Physical Or Sexual Violence By A Partner, Report Finds
RELATED: It’s Time For Violence Against Women To Stop
In October, Australia was forced to open its eyes to a national crisis when six women in just five days were murdered. However, the horrifying statistics of violence against women didn’t stop at that one shameful week in October. According to Counting Dead Women, in Australia 63 women have been murdered in 2018, 10 women died through violence in just one month, and every year anywhere between 50-70 women will be killed by someone they love.
It is Australia’s hidden epidemic, but a new United Nations report has concluded that the crisis reaches beyond our nation’s borders, with the report stating that the most dangerous place for any woman around the world, is in their own homes.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the “Global Study on Homicide: Gender-related Killing of Women and Girls” on Sunday, which analysed the violence perpetrated against women worldwide in 2017, and the results were shocking.
The report states that 87,000 women were killed worldwide, and of that number, 50,000 were murdered by partners of family members. Specifically, more than third of homicides (30,000) were at the hands of a current or former partner. These statistics mean that around the world, six women are killed every hour by someone they know.
If you are impacted by assault, domestic or family violence call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
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