Multicultural groups will receive an extra $2 million in funding as part of a record investment by the Liberal and Nationals Government to address domestic and sexual violence.
NSW Minister for Women’s Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence, Natalie Ward, said the funding will ensure faith and community based response services can assist more people than ever before.
“Domestic violence does not discriminate and every victim survivor should be able to receive the help they need regardless of their background,” Mrs Ward said.
“We know there are victim-survivors in multicultural communities who are reluctant to seek mainstream support because of their visa status, the absence of a trusted social network in Australia, linguistic gaps and cultural barriers.
“These grants will increase the capacity of our response services across NSW and provide more targeted support for victim survivors in multicultural communities.”
Eligible faith and multicultural community based applicants can apply for a one-off grant from a minimum of $20,000 up to $150,000.
Minister for Multiculturalism Mark Coure said it was important to provide multicultural groups with the tools they needed to respond to violence in culturally inclusive and responsive ways.
“Domestic violence is a global issue, it is not isolated to any one community or any one group,” Mr Coure said.
“NSW is the most culturally diverse state in all of Australia and we need our first line of response to reflect that.
“We know from past learnings that a one size fits all approach doesn’t work, and so it is in our best interest as a state to equip our multicultural communities with tools and resources to address these issues.”
These grants build on a range of existing supports provided by the Government to support domestic violence victims, including:
- Waiving the Rentstart Bond Loan eligibility criteria for people leaving domestic violence;
- Providing access to both the First Homer Buyer Choice and First Home Buyer Assistance schemes to victim survivors;
- Facilitating the immediate termination of a tenancy to escape violence;
- Providing 24/7 support via the NSW Domestic Violence Line to help victims find a safe place to stay, or transport for them and their children; connecting them to police, courts, lawyers and counsellors; and help with a safety plan;
- The ‘Right To Ask’ scheme where people can find out if their partner has a history of domestic violence offences;
- $20 million over two years for up to 200 additional electronic monitoring devices;
- Liberal and Nationals Government are committed to reviewing all sentences for domestic violence related offences in NSW;
- A re-elected Liberal and Nationals Government will fund a specialist Domestic and Family Violence List across three local courts and fund a surge of an additional five magistrates to ensure cases are heard earlier.
The NSW Liberal and Nationals Government is investing record funding of over $700 million in intiatives to support Women’s Safety including:
- $426.6 million to expand the Core and Cluster initiative, to deliver and operate new women’s refuges that will support up to an additional 2,900 women and children escaping domestic and family violence each year. This is the largest funding commitment ever made to the domestic violence sector;
- Landmark laws to criminalise coercive control in intimate partner relationships
- Nation-leading affirmative consent laws, which commenced on 1 June 2022.
- Grant applications will open on 13 February and close on 27 March.
Funds will be released in June 2023 following the grant assessment and approval process and must be expended by 30 June 2024. Ongoing or recurrent funding is not available.
