I’m going to be blunt; we are in the midst of an epidemic.
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More than one woman dies each week in Australia at the hand of a family member.
Clearly we need to do more to support women and children escaping domestic violence.
We must keep them safe from harm.
So, I welcome the NSW government’s recent announcement to commence the ‘safer pathways program’ in Port Stephens.
Under this program, representatives from Police, Department of Housing, NSW Heath, Family and Community Services as well as specialist non-government support agencies sit together and determine how women considered at risk of harm, can be kept safe.
The safer pathways program has been trialed at a number of sites around NSW and I am pleased that it will now be introduced in Port Stephens and Newcastle.
But I’m cautiously optimistic. For the program to be effective, it must be adequately resourced.
The government and non-government agencies will require additional resources to participate in the program. It’s also of little use to have the program, unless there are services that the committee can refer people to.
I know that all of the service providers working in this sector, are already stretched to the limit. There are just not enough resources to meet the enormous need. As a result, women and children are at risk of not getting the support they need.
The organisation coordinating the Safer Pathways program, the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service (WDVCAS), had such an increase in calls to their service during the trial of this program (up 45 per cent in one month) that they were concerned about the demand once it was rolled out statewide.
The full role out is not due to be finished until 2019. WDVCAS were not even funded to participate in the program until earlier this year and even then, only for around 20 per cent of their work load.
The government is failing women when it fails to adequately resource services that save the lives of women and children.
Safer Pathways is a good model to break down barriers to services for people escaping domestic violence who are considered at risk of harm. But if there are no services to refer people to, or if those services are overwhelmed with demand, then too many women and children will remain at risk.