NT Domestic violence advocates call for $180m in funding
Domestic violence survivors rally for urgent reforms after three Territory women were killed in six weeks.
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Domestic violence survivors have accused the government of having blood on their hands after three women were killed over just six weeks in the Territory.
Hundreds gathered across Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Lajamanu and Galiwinku on Tuesday calling on both the NT and federal governments to commit to needs-based funding and properly resource the sector facing chronic levels of demand.
As hundreds of attendees dipped their palms in red paint outside the Alice Springs Court House, domestic violence advocate Chay Brown made the message clear: “without needs-based funding, governments have blood on their hands”.
Australia’s largest coronial inquest into domestic violence deaths was held in the Territory this year, after 83 women were allegedly killed by current or former partners since 2000 — an average of almost four women a year.
Yet after an expert panel advocated for $180m for services over five years, the NT government released a tenth of this funding over the next two years.
Dr Brown called this “ disgraceful”.
“It appears that the Commonwealth government would prefer that women and children in the Northern Territory die in silence, rather than to act,” she said.
“They dug around in their lounge chair and found some pocket change funding to give us, (and tell us) that we should be grateful for this while women and children's lives are lost to violence.”
In Darwin, YWCA NT Regional Manager Rachel Uebergang called for both levels of government to commit to the $180m domestic violence action plan, establish a peak body for DFSV services in the Territory and to allocate 50 per cent of new housing from the Housing Australia Future Fund to victim-survivors.
Ms Uebergang said this was the first time the services had come together with a united voice to make all three demands.
Central Australia’s Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group joint co-ordinator Shirleen Campbell said ending domestic violence was “everybody’s fight”, and called for men to “stand up and support us and walk alongside us”.
Domestic Violence Prevention Minister Kate Worden said the Territory’s 1.8 per cent share of federal domestic violence funding was “deplorable” and said she would be fighting for funding not only from her government, but needs-based allocations from Canberra.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said an additional $10.7m was granted to the Territory in February as part of the national DFSV partnership, with the NT’s total funding comprising 4.6 per cent of the total national package.
“I am committed to making sure investment in women’s safety is prioritised towards areas of greatest need,” Ms Rishworth said.
IN PICTURES: TERRITORY-WIDE NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
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