Fair Agenda

Today outgoing Prime Minister Tony Abbott himself admitted: the challenge of domestic violence is still yet to be addressed by his government. 

"The Abbott-led government left women in danger -- deciding not to provide the additional funding needed to ensure all women in need can access family violence services." says Renee Carr, Executive Director of Fair Agenda. 

"Those decisions mean that thousands of women taking the brave step of trying to escape an abuser are being left with nowhere to turn, in a time they're at great risk." 

"Prime Minister Turnbull now has an opportunity to change that - by providing the resources needed to help women escape abuse, and to stop further violence." 

"This year more than 2,800 women are expected to be turned away from emergency accommodation services like women's refuges - services that need an additional $34 million a year in federal funding." says Ms Carr.  

"At the same time, Community Legal Centres, where a third of the work is family violence related, are being forced to turn away more than 150,000 people a year due to lack of funding."

"Family Violence Prevention Legal Services need an additional $28 million to ensure they can assist people who need their services.

"More than 36,000 voters have joined the campaign calling for action on this issue, and polling has shown that most Australians consider family violence to be as much or more of a threat than terrorism. It's clear that the new Prime Minister has a public mandate for strong action. The question is - will he too decide to leave women in harm's way?" says Ms Carr.

For further comment or information on the family violence funding gap

Contact: Renee Carr, Fair Agenda

E: [email protected]

M: 0435 597 976