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Health Community facilities | June 28, 2017

Support lacking for victims of family violence

The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy MP has spoken in Parliament about the lack of support for victims of family violence in Western Victoria.

The Western region of the Department of Health and Human Services covers almost one-quarter of the state, yet the Andrews Labor Government has only allocated one support and safety hub for the entire region.

“There is funding for 17 support and safety hubs in the 2017-18 State Budget, but only one for the entire western Victoria region which stretches from Brim to Warrnambool”, Ms Kealy said.

“Police, counsellors and victims of family violence have all raised concern at the lack of access to this important resource across such an enormous area.

“The location of the hub has not yet been announced, there has been no community consultation undertaken and no consideration given to the impact on victims of having to travel large distances to access help.

“Waiting times for family violence counselling in the local area have blown out to 5 weeks, with 40 women waiting for urgently needed support.

“There are no women’s shelters and limited support services in the Lowan electorate. We urgently need an increase in funding for additional services in this part of Victoria so our local women can safely escape from family violence situations and move on with their lives.

“Given we have some of the highest rates of family violence in the state, one hub for this enormous area is clearly unacceptable.

“Daniel Andrews must immediately announce the location of the proposed hub and provide additional funding to ensure country women have equitable access to these important support services.

“We will not accept our local women being treated like second class citizens”, she said.