Key Points
A Rebecca White Labor Government will work to reduce waiting lists for vital family and sexual violence support organisations.
After 10 years of the Liberals, the waitlists for family and sexual violence support services are out of control and victim-survivors are facing waiting times are up to three years, with hundreds of people on the waitlist.
Labor will address this through our Plan, which will:
- Fund vital support services in a more targeted way
- Improve consultation between specialist services
- Ensure a greater understanding of violence and capacity for more appropriate responses
Why we need it
Tasmania’s family violence support services are in crisis, with waitlists of up to three years.
After a decade of Liberal Government, these services have been underfunded and have not been able to keep up with demand.
“Labor will work to reduce waiting lists for vital family and sexual violence support organisations”
We need properly funded family violence support services with survivors at the centre.
The details
A Rebecca White Labor Government will provide more funding for five family and sexual violence crisis services in Tasmania. All these services have significant waiting lists of at least 60 days and to up to three years.
That’s why we will provide Laurel House and the Sexual Assault Support Service with $2.4 million per annum, to come from the existing funding allocation to address the Commission of Inquiry recommendations.
This will provide certainty about additional core funding for 2024-25 and beyond, which is critical to ensure these services have sufficient staffing to address their waiting lists and ensure all victim-survivors of sexual violence have access to the specialist support and therapeutic services they need.
A Labor Government will also fund:
- Engender Equality with $360,000 additional funding per annum for an additional three frontline staff
- Yemaya Women’s Support Service with an $180,000 per annum to hire 1.5 full time equivalent additional staff in crisis services, and
- Huon Domestic Violence Service with $96,000 per annum to hire a 0.8 full-time equivalent frontline staff member.
Further, we will improve consultation between Safe at Home and specialised services, and have non-government services on the Integrated Consulting Committee, Family Violence Consultative Committee and Intergovernmental Committee to ensure a greater understanding of violence and capacity for more appropriate responses.
And we’ll allocate existing departmental funding in a more targeted manner to specialist services.
A Labor Government will also continue to fund and support our ARCH centres around the state, and we will focus on ensuring victim-survivors have access to housing, by implementing extra protections for tenants experiencing family violence.