Key Points
- The federal government will invest $925 million over five years to permanently establish the Leaving Violence Program.
- The program will provide people fleeing domestic and family violence with up to $5,000 in financial support.
- They will also receive access to referral services, risk assessments, and safety planning.
The federal government has committed almost $1 billion in additional funding towards ending gender-based violence.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement on Wednesday morning after chairing a virtual National Cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders, focused on addressing violence against women.
Twenty-eight women have been violently killed in Australia since the start of the year, according to advocacy group Destroy the Joint's project Counting Dead Women.
Here's where the extra money will be going.
Helping victim-survivors flee violence
Some $925 million over five years will go towards permanently establishing the Leaving Violence Program (LVP).
It will provide people fleeing violent relationships with up to $5,000 in financial support, as well as access to referral services, risk assessments, and safety planning — and is expected to be available from the middle of next year.
"We know that when a woman is killed by a violent partner, too often some people will say, 'Why didn't she leave?'," Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
"It's because of there not being options, which is why it is very important that we don't put people in the situation where they can't afford to leave a violent relationship."
The previous Coalition government established a two-year trial of the precursor to the LVP — — in October 2021.
, according to data released by the Department of Social Services last December.
Some 57,041 applications for the EVP trial were received from 19 October 2021 to 30 September 2023.
Of the total number, 29,437 applications (52 per cent) were deemed eligible, and 24,471 (43 per cent) had received a payment, as at 30 September. A precise figure for the number of applications found ineligible was not provided.
More than 45,000 people have now received the payment, according to the government.
The EVP trial and the are both being extended to 30 June 2025.
Tackling extreme online misogyny and pornography
The government announced it would introduce a series of interventions aimed at addressing extreme online misogyny, and the easy access children and young people have to pornography.
Some $6.5 million in the May budget will go towards a pilot of age-assurance technologies, aimed at better protecting children online and reducing their exposure to harmful content.
The government will also:
- Introduce legislation to ban the creation and non-consensual distribution of deepfake pornography
- Launch a new phase of the Stop It at the Start campaign from mid-June to directly counter online violent and misogynistic content
- Undertake a classification review to examine options to reduce exposure to violent pornography
- Bring forward legislation to outlaw doxxing (intentionally placing someone's identity, private information or personal details online without their consent) and overhaul the Privacy Act to give Australians greater control over their personal information
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said it was vital to ensure community standards were respected online, as well as offline.
"The content that digital platform service, through algorithms and recommender systems, particularly to young Australians, has an impact in reinforcing harmful and outdated gender norms," she said in Canberra on Wednesday.
"While digital platforms may not be creating the content themselves, they play a major role in determining much of what people see."
What else is the government doing?
The almost $1 billion in funding comes on top of the $2.3 billion the government has already committed towards delivering .
Albanese said Wednesday's National Cabinet meeting was "constructive", but acknowledged there was a lot more that still needed to be done to address the "national crisis" of gender-based violence.
"I'll be satisfied when we eliminate this as an issue, when we're not talking about this an issue, where women are not feeling as though they have to mobilise in rallies," he said.
"I will be satisfied when a parent says the same thing to their daughter that they say to their son when they go out at night — not 'How are you getting home from the train station?', 'How are you getting home from the bus stop?', not 'Stay safe'.
"I will be satisfied when we have gender equality over all of those issues. That's my objective."
The snap National Cabinet meeting came after , calling for greater action to combat gender-based violence.
A further National Cabinet meeting about violence against women will be held in the next financial quarter.
If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence or sexual assault call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit . In an emergency, call 000.
, operated by No to Violence, can be contacted on 1300 766 491.
