Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families and Social Services, Senator Ruston. How is the Morrison government ensuring those escaping domestic and family violence situations have a safe place to go to and seek support?

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

Thank you very much, Senator Askew, for the question. I was really pleased last week to be able to make an announcement in conjunction with the Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services, Luke Howarth, in relation to the $60 million Safe Places initiative. An absolute priority of this government is to make sure that we keep all Australians safe and secure, and it is particularly important that when women make the very brave decision to escape domestic violence they have a safe place to go.

Last week we announced the awarding of 40 projects across the country, which will create 700 new beds for women and children who are escaping domestic violence. Over a 12-month period these new play-safe places will support 6,000 women and children who've had to leave their homes as a result of domestic violence. This will account for both new and refurbished accommodation which will provide them with a safe place to live and to sleep but also, most importantly, enable them to access the domestic and family violence services these women need so that we can wrap around them in a coordinated way so that, hopefully, we can help them through what must be an extraordinarily difficult time. In selecting the projects we worked with the state and territory governments around Australia, and I thank them all for the extraordinary amount of work and support that they have afforded us as we've gone through this very detailed process. We made self-contained accommodation an absolute priority, because that's the feedback that we got from the sector about what children and women want when they have to start rebuilding their lives.

It was great to be able to announce the project in my home state of South Australia alongside Anglicare and Nunga Mi:Minar, the Indigenous family and domestic violence provider in South Australia. I very much look forward to seeing all of these projects completed over the next 18 months to support women escaping domestic violence.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Askew, a supplementary question?

Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, what does this investment mean for women and children in particularly vulnerable cohorts?

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

Thank you, Senator Askew, for your follow-up question. The government is making sure that the funding of these new safe places is in place in rural and regional communities, as well as in city areas, and specifically targets culturally and linguistically diverse women. From Rockhampton to Shepparton, from the Illawarra to the outskirts of Perth, about 50 per cent of the projects that we will be funding will support women in rural, regional and remote areas, who, in the past, have tended to have very limited options for access to this kind of service. Unfortunately, we also know that Indigenous women are overrepresented in the statistics in family and domestic violence. That's why housing providers are working directly with organisations who are able to provide culturally appropriate services, such as the one that we announced in Adelaide last week, which is Aboriginal women providing support for Aboriginal women and their children.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Askew, a final supplementary question?

Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How is the government ensuring that the providers are suited to work with at-risk women requiring emergency and crisis accommodation?

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

Thank you, Senator Askew. As part of a very complex and detailed application process, organisations were required to demonstrate that they had extensive history in providing accommodation and housing services. Coupled with that, we also required providers to be able to demonstrate that they had the appropriate family and domestic violence specialist services or, if they didn't have them themselves, that they were partnered with such a service to ensure that the delivery of the service was centred around trauma informed response, because we know women and children escaping domestic violence need these sorts of services. This means that we have long-term providers that are able to provide full wraparound services with organisations who are experienced in family and domestic violence, because we understand that women and children fleeing domestic violence need much support. This will help women and children find exit pathways to safe and secure ongoing housing, legal support and financial counselling in safe and culturally appropriate ways as they rebuild their lives.