Emergency cash for domestic violence victims

Anthony Albanese has spelled out his plan to tackle the ‘crisis’ of gendered violence that has left 29 Australian women dead so far this year.

Anthony Albanese with Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Women fleeing violence will receive up to $5000 for housing and support services under a deal struck by national cabinet, as ­Anthony Albanese vowed to ban deep fake porn and ensure tech ­giants are faced with the consequences of allowing “a free for all online”.

In the wake of national rallies against gendered violence and calls for urgent government intervention, the Prime Minister on Wednesday unveiled a $1bn plan to support women facing domestic danger and declared his dismay at the rising level of content on social media that “promotes ­violence against women”.

The deal makes the trial Leaving Violence Program permanent, providing women fleeing abusive partners up to $1500 in cash and $3500 in goods and services.

The funding injection represents a nearly 40 per cent increase to the $2.3bn put aside as part of the national plan to reduce violence against women and children.

But there was no deal done on strengthening bail laws, although Mr Albanese said premiers and chief ministers would work in a “co-ordinated way” to improve the justice system.

“That will require, obviously, some of them require individual legislation across the jurisdictions,” the Prime Minister said.

“That will, if you like, take place by states and territories, with the commonwealth essentially just playing a role in bringing people together.”

Mr Albanese also backflipped on Labor’s opposition to launching an age assurance technology trial before industry codes were developed with tech giants, announcing $6.5m towards a pilot that would identify what products were being used by other countries to stop children accessing pornography or gambling sites.

“When I’ve spoken to parents around the country, they expressed their concern about the exposure of young boys and young men to violent videos and imagery online,” he said.

Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman said that despite Labor having voted against his age verification legislation in November, which would have immediately set up an age verification trial, he welcomed Mr Albanese’s “change of heart”.

Collective Shout, a women’s advocacy organisation that penned an open letter to Labor last year for its failure to support an age verification trial, said the government had “finally listened”.

“We were very disappointed last year that the government refused recommendations from its own eSafety Commissioner for an age verification pilot,” Collective Shout founder Melinda Tankard Reist said, adding: “We are glad the government has finally listened, but this needs to start now and we need a timeline.”

On top of the age verification pilot, the government will introduce legislation to ban the creation and distribution of deep-fake pornography, with anyone sharing sexually explicit material using technology such as artificial intelligence to be subject to “serious criminal penalties”.

And legislation already in train to outlaw doxxing – which refers to the release of private information online with the intent of causing harm – will be brought forward to August this year.

Mr Albanese conceded any reforms that impacted the online landscape would be difficult, but declared tech platforms that had been allowing harmful behaviour to occur on their sites needed to face consequences.

“We will be seeking co-operation wherever we can, but we need to take action and the online players need to understand exactly what the consequences are of a free-for-all online,” he said.

The announcement to crack down on harmful content online comes as the government continues to face off against Elon Musk and his platform, X, after the tech giant refused to pull down a video capturing the stabbing of a priest in Sydney last month.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said she was deeply distressed by the increase in violence against women in Australia and demanded tech platforms that host harmful online content “step up and do more”.

“The content that digital platforms service through algorithms and systems particularly to young Australians has an impact in re-enforcing harmful and outdated gender norms. While digital platforms may not be creating the content themselves, they play a major role in determining much of what people see,” she said.

In addition to the regulatory changes and age-assurance trial, a new 12-month phase of the Stop it at the Start campaign will launch in June and include a “counter-influencing campaign” in online spaces that host significant violent and misogynistic content.

Ahead of the special nat­ional cabinet meeting, which was conducted virtually, the crossbench had written to the Prime Minister demanding that the government “treat gender-based violence with the same urgency we show acts of terrorism”.