Labor To Dedicate Fund To Women’s Safety

Each year nearly 10,000 women and children seeking safety are turned away from accommodation and support services due to lack of beds and resources.

In response to these damning statistics, the Labor government has announced funding support for frontline organisations supporting women and children fleeing violence.

Mackay Women’s Services Executive Director Linda-Anne Northey welcomed Labor candidate for Dawson Shane Hamilton and Assistant Minister for Communities and the Prevention of Family Violence Senator Jenny McAllister to Mackay Women’s Services to make the announcement last Thursday.

“We recently just had our women’s forum and we’ve listened to the needs of women in our area through that forum,” Mr Hamilton said.

“We’ve come up with some really great outcomes.”

The Housing Australia Future Fund will involve building 30,000 affordable homes across the country, including 4,000 homes to be allocated specifically to women and children fleeing violence and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness.

An additional $100 million will be allocated to the refurbishment and revitalisation of crisis accommodation across the country, with over $2 million to be dedicated to expanding crisis accommodation options in Central Queensland.

Labor will also invest in 500 community sector workers to focus on domestic and family violence, which will provide an additional 12 workers in the Central Queensland region.

Senator Jenny McAllister says this could help as many as 187 women and children to find refuge.

“Right across the country, we hear that women are struggling when they look to find accommodation for themselves and their children when escaping violence,” Senator McAllister said.

“I know that Linda-Anne Northey and all of the community service workers in the local area work incredibly hard to support every woman that comes through their door.”

Linda-Anne Northey says that providing somewhere safe to sleep is the first and most important step.

“All of our services work so closely together to value-add and to find resources out of almost nothing or to work together to make sure that there’s a cushion of support put in place, but to actually have a house or somewhere for people to go is a core start to making sure that people feel safe,” Ms Northey said.

Ms Northey says there is an ever-increasing demand for these services in the region, requiring an increase of dedicated social workers to support those in need.

“Unfortunately, in recent weeks, we’re getting more and more that are walking in, so we need more face-to-face workers being able to support the number of walk-ins and the response required,” Ms Northey said.

“Getting that extra accommodation, knowing that there’s housing, that basic survival need, and knowing that people will have an advocate to walk alongside them and support them through the system and support them to succeed in the move to that housing, absolutely fundamental and critical to their change of safety and to be in a better situation.”

Labor candidate for Dawson Shane Hamilton, Assistant Minister for Communities and the Prevention of Family Violence Senator Jenny McAllister, and Mackay Women’s Services Executive Director Linda-Anne Northey. Photo: Sam Gillespie

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