Key Points
- The NSW government is boosting its support for women who are fleeing violent homes, partners and relationships.
- Newly announced measures will include housing and homelessness support and a specialist program for schools.
- The announcement comes amid calls for a royal commission into Australia’s domestic violence crisis.
The NSW government has announced the development of an emergency package to address violence against women, expected within days, as it bolsters investment in crisis response and frontline services for those fleeing violent homes, partners, and relationships.
Deputy Premier Prue Car announced the package on Friday morning, saying it would also look at prevention and early intervention.
It will be one part of a broader strategy exploring short-, medium- and long-term actions that will drive cultural change and stop women from dying, she said.
“We heard very clearly from today, investment must be in the frontline and crisis response services, but the primary prevention and the early intervention does need more attention because we need to drive the cultural change that stops this from happening,” Car told the media on Friday, following a cabinet meeting to discuss growing rates of violence against women.
The meeting heard from multiple experts as well as people with lived experience who advised on “what the NSW government can and should be doing immediately and into the future”.
The announcement comes amid calls for a royal commission into , which the federal government .
Penny Sharpe, leader of the government in the Legislative Council, welcomed Friday’s announcement, saying it represented a “breakthrough” with regard to violence against women that governments have failed to achieve for “many, many decades”.
“Unless we put safety of women, equality of women, at the heart of what we do, women will die, women will be seriously injured and women every day outside this room will continue to live in fear,” Sharpe told the media.
“Today, what this government has done [has] started a process that has taken too long but that is about urgent action. It is about medium-term thoughtful things that are going to change the dial and it is about the long-term prevention of ensuring that actually the violence and the cohesion and the behaviour does not start in the first place.”
Car, who is NSW’s housing minister, said a specialist program for schools was “most certainly on the table”, noting that “education is always, always part of the answer, but the government needs to make sure that schools are supported to be able to do that’.
Housing and homelessness measures will also be included in the government’s long-term plans, according to NSW housing and homelessness minister Rose Jackson, who said it was “critical” for women to have a safe place to go.
Jackson indicated that the government may explore behavioural change programs for men.
“One of the things that actually did come up … in terms of the generational work we need to do with young men and boys, is the urgent crisis we have right now with men who think this behaviour is acceptable,” she said, noting that one response might involve appealing to men’s instincts to be good fathers.
“So we’ll be exploring that.”
If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence or sexual assault call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit
In an emergency, call 000.
Women from migrant and refugee backgrounds who are experiencing family or domestic violence can contact inTouch, the Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence on 1800 755 988 or visit .