Calls to increase funding for frontline domestic violence services in the Northern Territory

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic, sexual and family violence in Australia. Shelters are at a crisis point, with one service turning away up to 200 women every month. And police are expecting domestic violence rates to soar by 70 per cent in the next decade alone.

Transcript

00:00Even as an educated woman with credit on my phone, the day I left, I was so overwhelmed.

00:12I was put on hold for about three hours and bounced around from service,

00:17oh, you don't fit our service, we'll transfer you over here, and I got nowhere.

00:22Darlene, which is not a real name, struggled to access support services

00:27when she left an abusive relationship with her young children.

00:32For the first year after I left, it was a nightmare, absolute nightmare.

00:40Like, the kids and I were homeless for a few months.

00:47Dawnhouse is one of the few safe havens for women and their children escaping violence in Darwin.

00:52But the service is overrun, with women at risk of harm or death not guaranteed a bed.

00:59We can turn away up to 200 women that reach out for support per month.

01:05For Darlene, emotional abuse dominated her relationship with her ex.

01:10When she left, things got worse.

01:12She got to boiling point and he threatened to kill me.

01:18When Darlene went to police, she was told there was little they could do.

01:22It will just give you some referrals to places that can support you

01:26when you can do a DVO yourself at court.

01:29This person's the victim.

01:31Why is it up to them to go to A, B, C, however many different services?

01:37We need to be coming to them.

01:40Holly Goodaroo escaped a violent relationship with her small child in 2016.

01:45She's now using her experience to educate the community about different kinds of violence.

01:50We don't have the language to say that's coercive control.

01:55So there needs to be a whole lot of education done.

01:59This men's behaviour change program in Alice Springs is one of the few running in the Territory

02:04to educate men about their use of violence.

02:07While these men are generally referred to the program through the courts, getting in isn't easy.

02:13At the moment we've got a wait list of about 90 men.

02:17So whether it's women's shelters, whether it's men's behaviour change, all of our programs are under a lot of pressure.

02:26The Northern Territory's domestic violence prevention minister, Robyn Carl,

02:31concedes frontline services are struggling to keep up with demand

02:35and says a yearly injection of $36 million starting from July is part of the solution.

02:41For women trying to escape violence, the funding can't come fast enough.

02:46They need more on-the-ground support and real-time support.

02:50We're consulting about it all the time, but we're at a stage where we need to make significant change.

02:55We can't keep talking about it.

02:57The reason why I'm so passionate about this is because I have a 12-year-old daughter.

03:02So we really don't have long to hurry up and get it right.

03:06Territory women demanding a better future for the next generation.

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