THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
THE HON SHAYNE NEUMANN MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR AGEING
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
MEMBER FOR BLAIR
TERRI BUTLER MP
SHADOW PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR CHILD SAFETY AND PREVENTION OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
MEMBER FOR GRIFFITH
LABOR'S COMMITMENT TO FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION
A Shorten Labor Government will give Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS) the funding they need to adequately protect Indigenous women who have been affected by family violence.
Ensuring victims get the legal representation they need, a Shorten Labor Government will provide $1.5 million a year over three years in dedicated funding and will work with the FVPLS to ensure they have the funding certainty they deserve.
The need is great. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised for family violence than non-Indigenous women. The national annual cost of violence against Indigenous women and children is projected by the Department of Social Services to reach $2.2 billion by 2021-22.
The Abbott-Turnbull Government has delivered crushing uncertainty for FVPLS, shifting them from the Attorney-Generals Department to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Their funding has also been merged with the Indigenous Advancement Strategy, forcing the FVPLS to bid for funding against other services rather than having their own dedicated stream.
This has created significant funding uncertainty and made planning difficult. Only Labor will give FVPLS the dedicated and dependable funding they need.
This pledge is part of Labor's $47.4 million package to boost front-line legal services to tackle family violence, which includes $42.9 million to increase funding for Community Legal Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, previously gutted by the Abbott-Turnbull Government.
THURSDAY, 16 JUNE 2016
