07 May Victoria’s budget: where is women’s safety?!
Today’s state budget fails to address the family and sexual violence crisis we are in right now, letting down women across the state.
Women’s Legal Service Victoria CEO Claudia Fatone said community legal services are facing unprecedented and unsustainable levels of demand.
“Everyone agrees that a woman experiencing violence should get all the help they need to find safety and recover. But today’s budget makes that impossible,” she said.
“Women are contacting us on a daily basis and we don’t have capacity to help.
“Only funding lapsing community legal programs is simply not enough.
“Urgent additional government funding for life-saving and life-changing legal assistance to victim-survivors of family and sexual violence is what is needed now but it is nowhere to be found in the budget papers.
“Further funding for Specialist Family Violence Courts across the state to ensure everyone, regardless of where they live, gets the same access to justice is also missing.
“Premier Jacinta Allan stated that the budget includes ‘decisions that reflect the reality of the world around us’. The reality is that every 4 days in Australia a man kills a woman and thousands more women are living with violence from a current or former male partner.
“And this comes just days after the Victorian Government led the march against gendered violence through Melbourne’s streets. Where are they now?”
“A government that is serious about supporting women experiencing family violence is a government that ensures every woman who needs help gets it.”
MEDIA CONTACT: Zoe Edwards 0400 144 794, media@womenslegal.org.au
Women’s Legal Service Victoria supports thousands of women experiencing family violence each year to find safety and regain their independence. Our social workers, lawyers and financial counsellors work with women in court and deal with police, child protection, Centrelink, creditors and our immigration system.
Women’s legal services across the country are forced to turn away 1000 women each week.
Around 39% of women in Victoria have experienced physical or sexual violence since the age of 15.
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