18 June 2024
The NSW Government is continuing to prioritise and invest in building safer communities, with enhanced support for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence.
The NSW Government’s comprehensive approach to domestic and family violence includes funding for prevention, early intervention, crisis and legal responses.
The 2024-25 NSW Budget also includes a historic commitment to support victim-survivors of domestic and family violence access safe and affordable long-term housing.
A major step in helping those escaping domestic and family violence
The NSW Government is investing a historic $5.1 billion to build safe, accessible and affordable housing.
At least half of the new homes built will be prioritised for victim-survivors of family and domestic violence.
This means at least 3,100 vulnerable people leaving abusive relationships will have access to a new home under this program.
The NSW Government will invest $245.6 million as part of an emergency package to enhance support for domestic and family violence victim-survivors and expand programs that reduce the rate of violence against women and children. This includes:
- Crisis response
- $48 million to roll out the Staying Home Leaving Violence program statewide and expand the Integrated Domestic and Family Violence Service.
- Early intervention
- $48.1 million to secure and increase funding for workers who support children accompanying their mothers to refuges. These specialist workers support them including with education and mental health measures
- An additional $700,000 in 2024-25 for the NSW Domestic Violence Line.
- Primary prevention
- $38.3 million for the implementation of New South Wales’s first dedicated Primary Prevention Strategy. The Pathways to Prevention: NSW Strategy for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence 2024-2027 will develop a range of initiatives to address the drivers of domestic, family and sexual violence
- $8.1 million for the ‘All in’ early childhood pilot to prevent domestic violence by teaching young children about healthy relationships
- $10 million to expand Men’s Behaviour Change Programs to enable men to recognise their violent behaviour and develop strategies to prevent the use of violence.
- Strengthening the sector
- $5 million for workforce training on the implementation of a newly developed risk assessment framework and other priority areas
- $3.6 million to expand Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW), which is the peak body for specialist services in New South Wales.
- Improving the justice system for victims
- $45 million has been set aside to improve bail laws and justice system responses to domestic violence
- $24.1 million for the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service (WDVCAS) to meet the increasing demand of victim survivors requiring support to navigate the justice system
- $5.5 million in 2024-25 to expand the WDVCAS hearing support and Police colocation pilot programs
- $2.1 million to support the Domestic Violence Death Review Team and its work to deliver robust research around risks factors, trends and impact of service delivery
- $2.1 million over two years to improve and continue the Corrective Services program EQUIPS Domestic and Family Violence, delivered to offenders in custody and under supervision in the community to prevent reoffending.
- Research
- $5 million for research into perpetrators and effective interventions.
Too many lives have been lost and too many families have been broken because of domestic and family violence. It is a blight in our communities and it is a problem that deserves the NSW Government’s concerned attention and response.
This Budget is an important step in the NSW Government’s work to provide appropriate, ongoing and all-encompassing wraparound support for victim-survivors, and to ensure that anyone leaving an abusive relationship has a pathway to safety and recovery.
