Domestic Violence In Australia

Domestic violence can be defined as any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women (World Health Organisation, 2001). With statistics of domestic violence being as high as one in three Australian women experiencing physical abuse since the age of 15 years old (Cox, 2016), the need for adequate support and services has never been more important. Regrettably, despite these statistics the Australian Liberal Party have recently proposed funding cuts to services and support networks for Australian women of domestic violence of at least $12.1 million (Killalea, 2017). The consequences of these cuts have been highlighted by Killaleas’ (2017) article.

The proposed

Funders behind these programs feel the need to know that their money is significantly and positively impacting these victims, however cutting the funds and demanding an evaluation has the ability to endanger the victims that they are trying to protect (Sullivan, 2011). At current standards, the combination of health, administration and social welfare costs of domestic violence have been estimated at $27.1 billion per year, however without additional funding to more services, these costs are projected to increase to over $323.4 billion over a thirty-year period (Price Waterhouse Coopers, 2015). Evidently there is significant need for additional funding rather than the Liberal Party’s proposed decreases. Both State and Commonwealth government branches have an obligation to the funding of the types of domestic violence services that provide safety and security to victims and bear 36% of the responsibility (Price Waterhouse Coopers,

“Homicide in Australia: 2010-11 to 2011-12, National Homicide Monitoring Program Report, Volume 23. Australian Government Canberra, 2012.

Cox, P (2016). “Violence against women: Additional analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Personal Safety Survey, 2012”, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s safety to Reduce Violence against Women & their Children, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 2 – 143. ANROWS Horizons, December 2016.

Killalea, D (2017). “Domestic Violence Cuts In Australia Will Have Devastating Consequences”, News.com.au. 23 March 2017, viewed April 19 2017

Macy, R, Giattina, M, Sangster, T, Crosby, C & Montijo, N (2009). “Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services: Inside the Black Box”, Aggression and Violent Behaviour, Volume 14, pp. 359 –