Helping First Nations women and children in Darwin to leave violent intimate partner relationships

A $9 million funding boost from the Albanese Government aims to help First Nations women and children living in Darwin to leave violent intimate partner relationships.

A $9 million funding boost from the Albanese Government aims to help First Nations women and children living in Darwin to leave violent intimate partner relationships. (AAP Image/Dan Peled) NO ARCHIVING

A $9 million funding boost from the Albanese Government aims to help First Nations women and children living in Darwin to leave violent intimate partner relationships.

Intimate partner violence is a problem of epidemic proportions in Australia, with a quarter of all Australian women having experienced it in their lifetime.

The $9 million has been given to the North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service to work in partnership with Danila Dilba Health Services, the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women’s Shelter and Yilli Rreung Housing to support victim-survivors.

It is one of three regional place-based trials beginning July 1 intended to provide eligible victim-survivors with access to practical and financial support to leave family violence.

Danila Dilba in Knuckey St.

The federal government is investing $22.35 million in trials in Darwin, Dubbo and Broome, to provide tailored, trauma-informed support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service will also provide victim-survivors with an option to access the Leaving Violence Program through their service as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Organisation.

The Leaving Violence Program helps support the aims of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-32 to end violence in one generation. It forms part of the Albanese Government’s $4 billion investment in women’s safety since 2022.

More than 78,000 victim-survivors have accessed the EVP payment since 2021.

Under the Leaving Violence Program, eligible victim-survivors receive financial support of up to $5,000, including up to $1,500 in cash and the remainder in goods and services.

Supports include safety planning, risk assessment and referrals to other essential services for up to 12 weeks.

The government expects the program to support over 36,000 victim-survivors a year.

The funding is part of the federal government’s spend of more than $245 million in the Northern Territory to address family, domestic and sexual violence.

Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, said by providing culturally safe, trauma-informed support victim-survivors could be empowered within Indigenous communities to regain safety, stability, and control over their lives and wellbeing.

Solomon MP Luke Gosling .

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy acknowledged the work of the North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service, Danila Dilba Health Services, the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women’s Shelter and Yilli Rreung Housing.

“They all do vital work in this space,” Minister McCarthy said.

Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling, said the government understood no two victim-survivors’ experiences were the same, and neither was the support they needed.

“It may feel as though all choices have been removed for those enduring intimate partner violence, and that’s something we’re committed to changing,” Mr Gosling said.

“We acknowledge the courage it takes to leave an environment of violence, and encourage those in a violent relationship to reach out for support.”

Originally published as Helping First Nations women and children in Darwin to leave violent intimate partner relationships