Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator McAllister, for your question. Thank you very much for the opportunity to inform the chamber today that the agreement has been signed with the New South Wales government and the money is to be paid to them under the $260 million investment we have made in frontline services. That is in addition to the $130 million that was paid during the COVID pandemic to make sure that frontline services had the additional resources to be able to support women and children. Unfortunately, we saw an increase in demand for those services. But we made sure that that $130 million went straight to the states and territories last year and went straight to frontline services.

In recognition that the impact of domestic and family violence as a result of the pandemic did not end at the end of June this year—it continues to impact our communities—we put in place an additional $130 million per year over two years, somewhat more than $153 million over five, to make sure that the states and territories are in a position to continue to support these frontline services. In return for this, we have asked the states and territories to provide us with information so that we can make sure the money is being targeted to the areas of greatest demand. I acknowledge today New South Wales has come forward and provided us with that additional information so that we can know as a country from a national perspective what actually is the issue, because, as I said this morning in my contribution, we need to make sure that every single dollar and every single resource that is applied to eliminating family, sexual and domestic violence in this country is targeted and coordinated in the best possible way.

This is a shared responsibility; it doesn't just belong to the federal government. State and territory governments have a responsibility as well, and we will continue to work with them to make sure that happens.