Top End Women’s Legal Service frustrated by delays to promised $180m boost to DV sector

A $180m lifeline to victims of abuse remains locked in the government coffers, amid fears over backtracking on the critical election promise.

The Territory Government has been accused of backtracking from a critical domestic violence funding promise and playing politics with vulnerable women and children’s lives.

In the lead-up to the 2024 Territory election the CLP committed to boosting domestic violence funding by $180m over five years, promising to spend “what is required to make the Territory a safe place to live, work and invest”.

Yet five months after coming to power, multiple domestic violence service workers have confirmed that not a cent of the promised millions’ boost to funding had been delivered.

On Tuesday Top End Women’s Legal Service Chief Executive Caitlin Weatherby-Fell said consultation had not even begun to discuss how the money would be distributed.

Top End Women’s Legal Service Chief Executive Caitlin Weatherby-Fell. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Ms Weatherby-Fell said it “beggars belief” to have the money just sitting on the table, while more Territorians were put at risk.

On Monday the first suspected domestic homicide for 2025 occurred, with a 51-year-old Western Desert woman allegedly murdered by her partner on the banks of the Todd River.

It comes as the Director of Public Prosecution estimates up to 60 per cent of all court cases involved DFSV, while frontline cops spend up to 80 per cent of their time responding to abuse. 

Ms Weatherby-Fell said her legal service in December had 96 referrals from police — an average of three a day — up from 62 the previous year.

“The DFSV sector are only turning away more women and children every week,” she said.

“With that funding we know we would be able to recruit new staff to provide increased services, increased wraparound support and increased intervention.

“Until we have that, we’re stuck in limbo.

“The longer we wait, the worse it becomes.”

One of the core recommendations from Australia’s largest ever domestic violence coronial was for the $180m five-year Domestic Violence Action Plan’s mapping report to be fully funded without “further delay”.

Yet the new Domestic Violence Minister Robyn Cahill in response announced an audit of all existing and proposed funding.

On Monday Ms Cahill said the audit was to ensure funding was not going to “programs that clearly are not working” — despite the inquest highlighting how underfunding had undercut services for years.

However the next day, she promised to “give frontline workers the resources they need to make the difference our community so desperately needs”.

Domestic Violence Minister Robyn Cahill announced an audit of all existing and proposed funding. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Concerns have been raised about the government siphoning off the promised domestic violence funding to unrelated social services, after Ms Cahill celebrated the youth Circuit Breaker pilot as part of the $180m rollout.

This is despite the outreach program for at-risk children and their families not being a specialised domestic violence program, and not mentioned at all in the 2021 DFSV Action Plan.

Ms Cahill’s office said the child protection program used “re-prioritised existing funding”, with Circuit Breaker similar to a $2m program launched in the last Labor budget.

Ms Cahill was repeatedly asked to clarify if the Circuit Breaker funding was being counted as part of the $180m domestic violence package, but did not respond.

Ms Weatherby-Fell said she would be concerned if the additional domestic violence funding was used as a slush fund for unrelated services.

“It would be incredibly disappointing if there was money being siphoned off for other programs, given the levels of DFSV in our community that are only rising,” Ms Weatherby-Fell said.

Opposition Domestic Violence spokesman Chansey Paech said women were dying while the new government “sit on millions and does nothing”. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Opposition Domestic Violence spokesman Chansey Paech said women were dying while the new government sat “on millions and does nothing”.

“It’s fine for the CLP to have a focus on budget discipline – but it’s clear they’re doing it at the expense of the lives of women and children,” Mr Paech said.

The former Labor Government also committed to the $180m during the election, after it was exposed their additional $20m to the sector was $160m short of what their own expert report recommended.

Originally published as Top End Women’s Legal Service frustrated by delays to promised $180m boost to DV sector