Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s first National Cabinet to campaign for needs-based funding for DV

The Territory is the murder capital of Australia due to its ‘horrendous’ rates of domestic violence. The new Chief Minister has committed to fight for a better funding system for the NT.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is going to Canberra to lobby Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to help combat the NT's domestic violence crisis.

The Territory’s “horrendous” rates of violence will be brought to the national spotlight two weeks after a woman was allegedly murdered in a Top End home.

New Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro will attend her first National Cabinet meeting in Canberra on Thursday to lobby Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to address the crisis of domestic violence.

On Wednesday Mrs Finocchiaro said she would continue the calls for the Commonwealth to commit to a needs-based funding model.

Currently the Federal domestic violence funding structure allocates the money based largely on population rather than the level of demand.

This is despite the Territory recording a domestic and family violence assault rate three times the national average and a domestic-violence homicide rate seven times the rest of Australia.

More than 80 Territory women have been killed by their current or former partners since 2000 — losing an average of four women a year.

It comes just two weeks after an Aboriginal woman was allegedly murdered by her partner in a Malak home.

“We know the tragic loss of another life has hit Territorians very hard,” Ms Finocchiaro said.

Ms Finocchiaro said the rates of violence represented a “tragic failure in the system” and changes needed to be made.

“The CLP has put $180m on the table over the next five years, but the federal government has a role to play here in supporting the Territory to drive down these numbers and increase prevention,” she said.

Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has maintained the Territory per capita is provided “significantly more funding” than any other states through the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children along with our two Action Plans.

“Together, we will work towards ending violence against women and children in one generation,” she said.

Under the Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence National Partnership agreement the Territory was given $15.5m over two years — 5.7 per cent of the $270.7m national funding pool — with an additional $10.7m announced in February.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is going to Canberra to lobby Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to help combat the NT's domestic violence crisis.

Mrs Finocchiaro said her government was eager to make legislative changes around alcohol, perpetrators on bail and electronic monitoring to “put the rights of victims above the rights of offenders”.

“It’s not just about more money, which is very important, but it’s also about having the legal settings right so that we’re protecting victims from that re-victimisation,” she said.

“We are also very focused on making legislative chances to better support victims and have expanded use of electronic monitoring bracelets to allow greater oversight of people on bail.”

A July 2023 review into bail and weapons offences noted changing presumptions around bail presents a risk that victim-survivors will be the ones put behind bars after acting in self-defence.

The Attorney-General’s review taskforce found 80 per cent of female defendants facing harsher bail had a domestic violence flag.

A CLP spokesman confirmed Ms Finocchiaro had not met with representatives of the Territory’s domestic violence sector before she flew to National Cabinet.

Ms Finocchio's calls for needs-based funding comes weeks after a Senate Committee specifically called out the horrific scale of violence in the Territory, recommending for “sustainable funding”.

The report into Missing and murdered First Nations women and children concluded that “across the whole of Australia, the data is deeply disturbing. In the Northern Territory, the data is horrendous”.

Ms Finocchiaro also said her government was keen to express the importance of combating the state of crime in the NT.

“It’s very important that we speak about crime and the state of crime in the NT, we know that there is increased pressure and demand on our police,” she said.

“We know the prime minister promised $250m in 2023 that’s yet to be fully delivered and so I’ll be meeting with him to express how important that money will be to a town like Alice Springs.”

Originally published as Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s first National Cabinet to campaign for needs-based funding for DV