WA targets family violence with $96.4m funding package
Western Australia will spend $96.4 million to bolster the safety and support of victim-survivors of family and domestic violence.
The state government funding, to be included in May's budget, will enable family and domestic violence response team operations to be expanded to seven days a week.
It will also provide 17 additional community corrections officers over four years and a new Family and Domestic Violence One Stop Hub in Perth.
Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Sabine Winton said family and domestic violence was happening in homes across Australia every day.
"All violence, in whatever form it comes, is completely unacceptable," she said on Friday.
The funding will also help establish a dedicated organisation to support and develop family and domestic violence-informed workforces and boost the capacity of existing community-based counselling and advocacy services.
Two emergency accommodation programs for victim-survivors in the Goldfields will be expanded and a men's behaviour change program in Perth will receive additional funding.
Work will also start on an information hub to inform family and domestic violence risk assessment and a lived experience advisory group to inform policy and service design.
The Department of Justice will be funded to provide victim representation and support at Prisoners Review Board meetings and undertake consultation on a new family and domestic violence disclosure scheme for victim-survivors.
The funding will also support a two-year pilot of community-based, short-stay interventions for at-risk mothers and babies.
The Family and Domestic Violence Taskforce, established in September 2023 to help guide WA's response, informed the government's funding decision.
The now-concluded task force also developed a reform plan for victim-survivor-focused support programs that will prioritise safety, wellbeing and recovery.
The plan was developed through extensive consultation with the government, the community services sector, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and people with lived experience.
Premier Roger Cook said the collaboration between the government and the community sector had provided a strong framework for future investment.
"Everyone deserves the right to feel safe in their home," he said.
There are about 60,000 domestic violence-related police call-outs and 70,000 requests for welfare checks in WA annually and the number of incidents continues to grow each year.
The state was shocked by a series of domestic violence incidents in 2023.
These included the deaths of Georgia Lyall, who was allegedly killed by her former partner in a suspected murder-suicide, and Meretta Kickett, whose severely injured body was found in her Perth home, triggering grief and outrage across the community.
The incidents prompted the WA government to announce a $72.6 million boost to FDV support services and programs in November.
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