E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Topics: Funding announcement for Safe Places program; Crisis accommodation services in Bendigo; Gendered violence; National Plan; Leaving Violence Program.
LISA CHESTERS, MEMBER FOR BENDIGO: Good morning. Well, welcome. My name is Lisa Chesters, the federal member for Bendigo. I’m very proud to be here today at the Centre for Non-Violence with my good friend and Minister, Amanda Rishworth, who is here to make a very special announcement. Can I also acknowledge the three organisations that have joined up today – the Centre for Non-Violence, Haven Home Safe and Annie North, three organisations that I am proud to represent in our Federal Parliament who do extraordinary work each and every day to support people who are homeless, who are at risk of homelessness, women and children fleeing family and domestic violence. These three organisations each and every day do the work to keep women in our community safe. And when I saw their application go in I was so excited, and I’m very proud to be here today to not only recognise their great work but what they’re going to be able to do with the announcement today. So I’ll hand over to Minister Amanda Rishworth who’ll make the announcement, and then we’ll hear from our three amazing organisations for the work and what they’re going to do with the work that we’re announcing. So, Minister.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Well, thank you very much, it’s really wonderful to be here today with Lisa Chesters. I’ve been in the parliament with Lisa for a long time, and you could not get a bigger advocate for Bendigo than Lisa Chesters in the parliament. And the issues that she raises and advocates for in her local community are so numerous, but one of the areas she is incredibly passionate about is ensuring that we tackle the issue of family and domestic violence. When it comes to family and domestic violence, this has been an issue that has been around for decades, but we need to tackle it. And the Government has, of course, worked with victim-survivors along with states and territories to establish the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, and a shared goal to do this in one generation. And this is an ambitious plan, but it’s a plan that we do need to all work towards if we’re going to have a safer world for everyone. Now, of course, under that plan there are 85 different initiatives equating to $3.4 billion of investment from the commonwealth. One of those programs is the Safe Places Program. This was a program of $100 million to provide community organisations with funding to build emergency crisis accommodation for women and children escaping family and domestic violence. This was really a great initiative in which we invited community organisations to apply. Now, I’m really pleased to announce today that there’s a consortium of organisations here in Bendigo that were successful for $2.5 million to provide 18 safe places here in Bendigo. The organisations are, of course, at Haven Home Safe, the Centre for Non-Violence and Annie North. These are three organisations that came together particularly, I think, at Lisa Chesters’ roundtable and are working really closely together to deliver not only houses but the wraparound support. And we’re really proud to be partnering with these three organisations so that we can see more support on the ground here in Bendigo. Of course, these three organisations already have an incredible track record individually on the ground providing a range of support, whether it be housing solutions but also support to get people back on their feet, support around case management and working in a way that supports women, children as well as men recover from family and domestic violence. So these organisations are really important, and this funding of $2.5 million to build new safe places for women and children is a really important thing and one as a Commonwealth we are really proud to partner on. So I might hand to Trudi now to add some comments as the CEO of Haven Home Safe.
TRUDI RAY, CEO OF HAVEN HOME SAFE: Thank you so much, Minister. And thank you, Lisa, for your tireless advocacy for Bendigo. We know we couldn’t absolutely do it without you. I’d like to acknowledge traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to all elders past and present. And I particularly want to pay homage to the staff who are here today and for the work that you do on a daily basis ensuring that women and children are as safe as they possibly can be. And to my wonderful partner agencies, I couldn’t be prouder. We’ve worked with the Centre for Non-Violence and Annie North for generations. And the work that we do, we don’t always get to work together as closely as this project will be able to facilitate, but when we do we absolutely know we have collective impact, and it’s certainly something that I’m particularly proud of. We are so thankful for this funding. It is – as a housing provider, it is always really difficult to get the funding that we need to build the bricks and mortar that is required to ensure that people are kept safe. Housing is fundamental to ensuring that all the support programs and the Housing First principles can be in place so that we can ensure and can do as much as we possibly can to keep people as safe as we can. The $2.5 million will absolutely help facilitate these developments and provide shelter but, more importantly, we’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity for the piece of land which we have to ensure that we could have greater consistency, continuity of our services and ensure that it would have greater impact. And I’m proud that this finally found the right funding source to make this happen. So I’m incredibly thankful for that. This program will generate a lot more activity on the work that we do. We’re hoping that together we can filter and funnel through the other programs that we have and utilise our current support networks to ensure that it’s not just about the collective impact of the women that will be coming through these properties but what else can we collectively do together to make sure its longstanding and its absolutely sustainable. So I might just leave it there but I just want to thank you all very much for coming out. We’re very thankful. We’re very excited to get started, and I’ve got all my development team ready looking at contracts and all that kind of thing. So that’s always fun. But as soon as we start to turn that dirt, I think we’ll be all really happy. So thank you very much. Thank you.
MARGARET AUGERINOS, CENTRE FOR NON-VIOLENCE: Hi, everyone, I’m Margaret Augerinos from the Centre for Non-Violence. I’d also like to acknowledge the traditional owners. Thank you, Minister Rishworth, thank you, Lisa Chesters, for your tireless advocacy, as Trudi mentioned, but also your commitment to women and children’s safety in ensuring we do realise our vision of gender and social equality in a violence-free world. These – this initiative is going to be life-changing for many women. And for the Centre for Non-Violence as the – as the principal crisis response services, we house many women and children in really substandard emergency accommodation options. So this will support women and children to live with dignity, for us to value and respect and honour their experience and their journey away from violence. Currently women and children are supported in crisis accommodation such as motels, caravan parks and, on average, spend 30 to 40 nights in those properties. Imagine being a mother with three children under five years of age, no cooking facilities, no play facilities, no laundry facilities. So being able to offer this accommodation will be life-changing and support women and children to move on to safety. So this is a fantastic opportunity. It’s great to also formally work again with our partners – or continue to work with Haven Home Safe and Annie North Women’s Refuge. We are integrated services in action. We work closely every day. Our staff support our community in an integrated and collaborative way, and this builds on those many, many years of partnership and collaboration. So we’re thrilled. We’re thrilled with the opportunity. We think this is a starting point, Minister. We hope to see many more of these announcements going forward to really build on the strong support network that exists in this community and really just to say that with Federal Government support our services are leading the way in innovation and in being creative in responding to these very, very complex problems. So we thank the Minister and we thank our federal member and also, yes, we look forward to continuing to work together. Thank you.
MADELEINE HARVEY, ANNIE NORTH WOMEN’S REFUGE: Hi, I’m Madeleine; I’m Madeleine Harvey. I’m from Annie North Women’s Refuge. I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land. Margaret stole a lot of the words I would like to say. I would really echo what she said about the unsuitability of emergency accommodation for women and children who are leaving family violence. It’s really sad that they need to choose between being in an unsafe home or being in unsuitable accommodation. That added stress of homelessness, you know, of not having room for children to run around, not sure whether to enrol children at school or whether they’ll be moving again. So I’m really proud of the work that I do in refuge. I’ve been there since 2008, but what I would say is that there are not enough pathways out of refuge. We could do with so much more. We also provide the after-hours program with CNV and we see just how many women and children are forced into motel accommodation and don’t know where they’re going the next day. So we are really excited by the – this new build. And I’ve been at Annie North since 2008 and in all that time and before my time we’ve had excellent strong partnerships with the Centre for Non-Violence and Haven Home Safe. We’re all about working together to do the best we can for women and children leaving family violence. So this is very exciting, and it will be life-changing, like you said, Margaret. Thank you.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Do we have any questions?
JOURNALIST: Minister, we’ve heard from these agencies that the situation at the moment, the reality is subpar and there are women and children who are in, you know, unsuitable accommodation. How quickly can these safe places be built?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, look, the Safe Places round was really done in a way that funded projects that are ready to go. So I know that Haven Home Safe is ready to go, got the development applications and will start building very soon. We want to get houses on the ground as quickly as possible. Obviously that does take time to build the houses, but supply is key here, and I know that many of the projects – not just the one here, but around the country – are shovel ready. They’re waiting for the money and the delivery of this money will be able to see builds happening very soon.
JOURNALIST: And we’ve heard as well - since it started - it sound like there is a really, you know, sense of urgency and, I guess, a desire to see that it all just keeps happening again and again with more building, more homes. Can you commit to that?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, absolutely our Government has been very clear that we want to see greater supply. We’ve started with investing money through the state governments, a $2 billion investment around social housing. Obviously with our Housing Australia Future Fund we are seeing money start to roll out the door to ensure that we have homes being built on the ground. So investing in supply, building more houses is a critical commitment by this government. It’s part of our $32 billion Homes For Australia plan and it’s a really significant investment and something we’re very proud of.
JOURNALIST: What’s the government’s latest work to end gendered violence?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Yeah, look, ending gender-based violence has been something that as Minister and our Government has seen as a key priority. That’s why part of my work has been really focused on this issue. We, of course, worked to make sure that we had a National Plan which was led by victim-survivors and we have our Action Plans. Under that we’ve announced, as I said, 85 different initiatives. Some of those are the work that we – I heard about today at the Centre for Non-Violence, and that is making sure that men are part of the conversation, that we are working are men to stop the cycle of violence. But, of course, it’s also ensuring that women are safe. And one of the big investments that we made at the last Budget was the Leaving Violence Program. And this was a program that was – that had been trialled, which is a $5000 worth of support. But what became really evident is that a large number of those women – approximately 80 per cent – had not necessarily had contact with other services. They’d been self-referred. And so making sure that the women coming into the program got the financial support but also some basic risk assessment and connection with other services were critical. We’ve also been, for example, looking at programs to work with faith leaders because, of course, many people go to their faith leaders for relationship advice. It’s very important that they have the support and the skills to intervene and support people, help women particularly and children that may be experiencing violence. So there’s a whole range of different programs. But, really, what’s important is that we have an investment right across the board from prevention, early intervention, response and healing and recovery. If we don’t invest in each of those areas we are not going to break this cycle. We need to break this cycle. The work done here by the frontline workers is critical to that, as it is done by frontline workers all around the country. We’ve all got to work together, though, and that is key if we’re going to end family and domestic violence.
JOURNALIST: The Safe Places announcement comes from, you know, $172 million. Is there a similar funding stream that can be set up to support the National Plan?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, there is $3.4 billion supporting the National Plan with, as I said, 85 different initiatives, and that includes housing initiatives both through the Safe Places but also the Housing Australia Future Fund, whereas – where there’s been specifically cordoned funding to – for housing for women and children escaping family and domestic violence. But, of course, what’s also important is then housing options for people to go to, transitional housing. And, of course, in cooperation with the state governments along with our Housing Australia Future Fund there is significant partnership and work going on about how we have a range of different housing supply and options.
JOURNALIST: And these 18 new safe places, is that 18 new builds? What’s the breakdown?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: So this is – and, you know, happy to answer. This is probably a question for Trudi. This will be three townhouses with three bedrooms each that allow for families of different configurations to live in. And, of course, importantly, as Trudi illustrated this morning, it has connection to their other programs and housing stock. So what I think is really special about this in partnership with the other organisations is it actually will allow not only the ability to get crisis accommodation but then options to other programs to support women get back on their feet. And I was really just so delighted to hear one of those stories this morning about how what great work is done to support women in particular get back on their feet and really get involved in their local community, get involved in parenting programs that are run by the local organisations. So that’s really important as well. Don’t know if you wanted to add.
JOURNALIST: We’d love to hear – we heard, you know, about the standards or, I guess, the situations that, you know, women and children are finding themselves in. So what was kind of the thought process behind these safe places? What were some of key things that you were like ‘yep we need this’, it needs to be on a school or a bus route, things like that?
TRUDI RAY: Yeah, great, really important that we have a housing continuum. We always talk about the housing options that we have, but we know that we need to meet housing where people are at, at that time. What that means is crisis, transitional, long term, you know, hopefully on to their own home ownership at some point. But that’s a very lofty aspiration. So we’re just about how do we connect people with the housing they need at the time that they need it. So what this program will do is bring people through the crisis and then we’ll wraparound services and we’ll look to our other housing portfolio in Bendigo, which we do have quite a lot of stock, and then work through the housing continuum. Part of that is through our other programs that we offer and which sit side by side to this particular development. So we’re really excited by the opportunities not only just what the $2.5 million can do but what it actually can have collective impact further on into the years as we go.
JOURNALIST: Trudi, what’s your waiting list like at the moment?
TRUDI RAY: Yeah, look, being a critical access point is incredibly challenging at the moment. So we operate three across the state. The one that we offer in Bendigo we see about 5,000 people per year. So it’s – whether it’s through services that’ll coming into the centre but certainly through phone calls and other types of referrals. We don’t keep a wait list as such, but we do have demand on our centre which is up about 40 per cent across the state. What we are doing – again, we worked with the state government on providing initial assessment and referrals because it’s so hard to refer people to nothing, right? So we are looking at what other services we can offer. We work with services such as these two but also others because we just need all the help and all the services to come together to ensure we can have that collective impact. But what I will say, emergency accommodation in town, in regional Victoria, really, really tricky, particularly tourist towns. You know, it’s so great that we get some really wonderful projects and programs in Bendigo, but every time it happens, a little part of me gets really upset because we know that those people that are in emergency accommodation through hotels et cetera are no longer able to stay. So it is a challenge, but these types of programs are really helpful to build on the existing stock that we have and ensure that we can move people up and down the continuum when they need it.
JOURNALIST: How far off do you reckon is the business supply and the demand at the moment?
TRUDI RAY: Yeah, sure. Look, it’s a big problem and, you know, the investment from the Federal Government is just outstanding, and we’ll always say that because it’s such an interesting problem that we find ourselves in – still languishing from the pandemic. We’re seeing regional Victoria, you know, was migrated to quite heavily, so the vacancy rates across the state of Victoria are quite interesting depending on where you are. The lower the vacancy rate the less choice and options that we have and the higher the prices are. So as quickly as we can get supply on the ground, really important. So obviously with the Federal Government investment and the big housing build investment in Victoria, we are seeing quite a lot of stock coming online in regional Victoria. We’re one of 34 CHPs, so we do our bit, as they do theirs. But with the Housing Australia Future Fund coming imminently, we’re hoping that we’ll have a lot opportunities to build in regional Victoria.
JOURNALIST: I’ve got just one last question, sorry. Of that, at least 5000 people waiting and that 40 per cent in there. What proportion of that would you say is families fleeing violent homes?
TRUDI RAY: Yeah, that’s a massive part of that number. So we have seen of that number about 35 per cent of that number have been women and children facing family and domestic violence. We’re seeing it – it’s disproportionate around the state. Up in the Mallee it’s quite – more significant and then as we move through. Look, it’s a challenge. And, you know, I know that the teams work so closely together to try and find the best possible outcomes. And, you know, it’s a real challenge. And that’s why I always want to shout out to the staff because they do this day in, day out. And, you know, we might be the ones that get to meet these wonderful people giving us wonderful money, but it’s about the staff and the impact that it has on them in the frontline is so crucial to the work that they do.
JOURNALIST: Margaret, are you right to just answer a question just about what was the process like for someone fleeing a violent relationship to get into a house? Could it be streamlined in any way and, yeah, could you just talk to that process?
MARGARET AUGERINOS: Yeah, look, I think in Victoria we’ve certainly had significant reform and investment with the creation of the Orange Door network. We’ve got a well-established, you know, after-hours crisis system and our refuge partner is a critical part of that as well. You know, making contact with the service is one thing; being able to get a timely response, the demand at the moment is significant. And one of the things that we are critically conscious of is that our Orange Door network is at capacity, it’s beyond capacity. Our case management services are the same. We doubled our case management targets last financial year and still we didn’t get to everyone. So these are some of the trajectories that we’re seeing in terms of demand. We would say that what we’re hoping for is a system where anyone who reaches out can be seen, provided the tailored service that they require, including access to housing. That is a critical pathway. But equally important, we have things like community legal centres that are one of the critical things that we need access to. And we’ve got great relationships with our local provider, but we do know that they’re also stretched and under strain. So having capacity across our system, frontline services are absolutely critical, but some of these other support services we need to make sure our police have adequate resources, that we’ve got the adequate infrastructure on the ground in terms of housing. And also – but there’s also really great things happening as well. You know, the crisis payments that we have access to, the brokerage packages that are funded through federal government, really, really important to help women and children access safety and focus on perpetrators. So, throughput, you know, demand is a constant stress and tension, but what we know is that when women and children or victim survivors access and receive specialised support, outcomes are better for them. And the system wraps itself around them, we are able to provide safety, we support the system to keep perpetrators in view so that we know what’s happening and can information-share with the necessary authorities to ensure safety. So, you know, it is difficult work. Our frontline staff are incredible advocates for everyone who comes to our service. And, Minister, and Lisa, also had the opportunity to talk to some of our staff who were able to talk to and tell their stories of what it means to deliver life-changing, life-saving services.