Ms TRISH DOYLE (Blue Mountains) (13:13): I move:

That this House:

(1)Notes that nearly 50 specialist workers attended the Blue Mountains domestic violence roundtable hosted by the member for Blue Mountains with the shadow Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

(2)Acknowledges that Government funding cuts have left women's refuges with much less capacity to provide services, and women and children are being turned away.

(3)Calls on the Government to urgently allocate funding to existing services and programs, and ensure that Safer Pathways and the It Stops Here recommendations are fully funded.

On 9 February 2016 I hosted a domestic violence roundtable in Springwood in the Blue Mountains. The event provided an opportunity to hear firsthand about the impact of the Going Home Staying Home reforms and other changes in government policy. It also examined service responses to domestic violence in the Blue Mountains and outer Western Sydney. Those in attendance consisted mainly of professionals engaged in working with women and their families affected by domestic violence. At no other time in modern history have we witnessed such a groundswell and willingness to address this issue and to say that enough is enough: Domestic violence is never okay.

As politicians we cannot take credit for this seismic shift in public opinion. Services such as the NSW Women's Refuge Movement, women's health centres, rape crisis centres, and victims and survivors groups were and still are at the fore of this struggle and the campaign to eliminate domestic violence and other forms of violence against women. I pay my respects to all of the brave, persistent and valiant women who have gone before. Service providers have told me that the growing community awareness of the problem has resulted in increased demand for services, yet the system simply does not have the capacity to respond. It is not good enough to encourage women to seek safety and support and then tell them that they have to wait eight weeks for help. Access to suitable emergency accommodation continues to be the number one priority.

Even if the Government will not admit it, it is widely recognised in the community that the Baird Government's funding cuts to women's refuges across this State have dramatically reduced their capacity to provide safe accommodation and support services. As a result, women and children are being turned away every day. Whilst the Government has repeatedly claimed that not one refuge has been closed in New South Wales, according to Save Our Services at last count there were only 14 specialist domestic violence refuges left. In my area we lost Blue Gum Women's Housing, which previously provided exit housing to women and their children who had escaped domestic violence and needed somewhere to stay.

A few months ago an elderly Aboriginal women—I will call her Lois—contacted my office seeking emergency accommodation. She was homeless following a lifetime of domestic and family violence. Sometime in the week before she made contact she had called the Link2home 1800 number. She was referred to a shelter. Upon arrival she discovered that in fact the shelter was not a women's refuge but a men's hostel. She was extremely traumatised by the experience. That is not good enough. I believe that, post the reforms, staff from that major referral service did not have any domestic violence [DV] training.

I was able to refer Lois to a local specialist domestic violence service, West Connect Domestic Violence Services, which provided her with accommodation and support. Fortunately, West Connect won the tender for the Blue Mountains, Nepean and Mount Druitt areas. For nearly 40 years it operated as Penrith Women's Refuge. Since the reforms the service has been running an Aboriginal women's refuge without any funding. Aboriginal women continue to be some of the most at-risk groups, yet West Connect continues to negotiate with Family and Community Services to get its funding for Aboriginal women like Lois.

Domestic violence does not keep business hours, yet so many services operate only nine to five. Women's services activist Roxanne McMurray explained that approximately 33 of the 78 government and non‑government refuges have 24-hour, on-call support. Some have it for only existing clients. We believe that 24‑hour, on-call support at every refuge is necessary. The Government believed that setting up a 24‑hour domestic violence hotline would be better than on-call staff, but it is not. Out-of-hours refuge staff are much more effective and appropriate people to speak to than a hotline.

With the current crisis in homelessness and massive underinvestment in social housing, exit housing for women and children leaving a refuge is the biggest barrier to safety. What happens to a woman and her children once she is out of the crisis stage? Where does she go? With 10 years-plus waiting lists for social housing, where will she go? The lack of system capacity does not end with refuges. A local Staying Home Leaving Violence project worker explained, "We have more women recently engaging in the Staying Home Leaving Violence project than want a support plan to leave safely. This is an important option for women, yet there are only two of us in this specialist role in this local government area. We simply can't meet this most urgent need."

Our women's domestic violence court advocacy services are desperate for increased funding. Last year they received an additional 20 per cent funding for six months only. This does little to address the massive increases in demand for service provision that has occurred with the introduction of the Domestic Violence Justice Strategy. From July to December 2015 there was an increase of 89 per cent in client contacts. In the same period referrals made on behalf of clients also dramatically increased by 61 per cent, yet funding has only been provided for six months. The voice of children is frequently neglected and there is a distinct lack of funding for child‑focused services, including therapy, counselling and mental health services. There has to be an investment in the safety and health of children if they are to recover from these childhood experiences and build a future free of violence. If we are serious about addressing this issue, we must listen to the voices of women and children, and to those who are committed to providing support and sharing their expertise—the specialist domestic violence services and their staff.

Ms MELINDA PAVEY (Oxley) (13:21): Many members were deeply moved by the inaugural speech of the member for the Blue Mountains where she talked about what she had gone through as a child. I am fortunate not to have experienced her situation but my mother bears those scars inflicted upon her family by my grandfather. Importantly, we have reached a stage where we are having the appropriate conversations around domestic violence. This Government has doubled the funding to domestic violence services across the State. I acknowledge and thank the member for bringing experts and others together at the Blue Mountains domestic violence roundtable. However, I indicate that the Government will not be supporting this motion. We are committed to addressing this issue but by taking a different approach. If the figures keep going up, it is not appropriate to keep doing the same thing.

Minister Goward, who is present in the Chamber, has been a champion in this area. I am very proud of the announcements of Minister Goward and the Deputy Premier, Minister for Justice and Police, the Hon. Troy Grant, in this area and what they are trying to achieve on the ground. The New South Wales Government is leading the nation in tackling this terrible scourge. For the first time in New South Wales, rather than a patchwork of services the Government is creating a domestic and family violence system that responds in a consistent and effective way. Every year too many people experience violence. In the 12 months to March 2016, more than 29,000 incidents of domestic violence-related assault were recorded by police in this State. Police in my electorate have told me that they are encouraged by these increasing figures because it means that people are coming forward and are able to access the support services. It is a good thing that this issue is no longer kept under the covers and that we are talking about it.

As I said, the Government recognises the work of specialist workers in the Blue Mountains. The 2016‑17 budget doubles the investment in specialist domestic violence initiatives to more than $300 million over four years. The Government has announced $53 million over four years to expand the Safer Pathway program across New South Wales, with 21 new sites to commence and two existing sites to expand in 2016‑17 in addition to the six locations where it currently operates. Safer Pathway is a key part of It Stops Here, a new approach to victim safety assessment, referral and service coordination, which was launched in September 2014. Under Safer Pathway, services work together and share information to create a coordinated, holistic response to victims and their children. We are trying to move away from the silo mentality that has been a part of governments for too long. Victims are offered tailored support to meet their safety, health and wellbeing needs. Safer Pathway ensures victims receive a consistent and integrated multi-agency response to secure their safety and support recovery.

Women's refuges play an important role in responding to women escaping violence. However, they are just one pathway of support. They are not the answer for all women experiencing domestic violence and not all women choose to go to a refuge. The New South Wales Government has invested record funding in the 2016‑17 budget for stable and safe housing for families leaving domestic violence, more than doubling its current funding for the Start Safely Private Rental Subsidy program. That includes $25 million over four years for the Staying Home Leaving Violence program to help women to stay in their own home or live in a home of their choice while the violent family member is removed.

The Staying Home Leaving Violence program will expand to four new sites, including Coffs Harbour, Inverell, Orange and Clarence Valley, bringing the total number of sites to 27 across the State. The funding also includes $100 million over four years through the Start Safely housing programs to help victims secure accommodation so that they do not have to return to a violent situation. Funding has been doubled and includes $43 million over four years in base funding and $57 million over four years under the Future Directions reform of social housing. The Safe Home for Life program focuses effort on delivering targeted services and support to vulnerable children, young people and families impacted by domestic and family violence. The Integrated Domestic and Family Violence Services program works with victims and perpetrators through a flexible, needs‑based approach, focusing on case work support and education.

The Government has also committed $6.6 million over four years to continue to fund the Domestic Violence Assistance Line, a 24-hour statewide service providing crisis and short-term counselling, specialist advice, information and referral services; and $34 million over four years for the Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Program. There is an office behind my electoral office at Kempsey; I know that it is a great program and makes a difference. The Government has also committed an additional $6.3 million over four years to meet unmet demand to respond to police referrals. This is another example of the great work of Minister Goward and Deputy Premier Grant to encourage communication across agencies. It is all about stopping the silos. We have to do things differently to make it work. The Government has also committed $13 million over four years to improve risk assessment and services for male victims, such as gay men or fathers and sons suffering family violence, through expert non-government organisation support.

The Premier's priority is to reduce the rate of domestic and family violence reoffending within 12 months by 5 per cent by 2019. That is a big goal. By setting a target, our key performance indicators can be checked. That shows that this Government is committed to achieving its goal. The Government is providing this funding to get the rate down, and the Premier has the strong support of the Cabinet in this regard. In tackling this situation, I applaud the Premier for making our goals transparent. This Government is investing money in these programs. It wants to get rid of the silos and for everyone to work together. As I indicated, the Government will not be supporting this motion but we on this side do fully support programs to prevent domestic violence across New South Wales.