Media release – Anglicare Tasmania, 10 October 2024

Unsafe and Unhoused: responding to the domestic and family violence emergency in the north west

A new report from Anglicare Tasmania calls on governments to prioritise the north west region when allocating funding to assist victim-survivors of domestic and family violence.

National Cabinet recently announced a national $4.7 billion plan to boost frontline supports across the country over the next five years.

Unsafe and Unhoused reveals the north west’s current shortage of affordable housing is compromising the safety of victim-survivors. It was released by Anglicare’s Social Action and Research Centre in Burnie today.

The report shows the north west is a domestic and family violence (DFV) ‘hot spot’ with Tasmania Police reporting rates of DFV that are 1.35 times higher than in the south. The number of people seeking housing assistance due to DFV is also 3.75 times higher in the north west than in the south. When compared to other regions, the north west has fewer self-contained crisis shelter units for women and children and further resourcing is needed for the women’s shelter.

“The recent announcement by National Cabinet provides a unique opportunity to focus on responding to the needs of the region by delivering more housing and other supports,” said Policy and Advocacy Officer Ginny Toombs.

“One of the greatest barriers to the safety of victim-survivors in the north west is the shortage of safe and affordable housing, especially for those on low incomes,” she said. “Housing options give people greater opportunity to leave abusive situations and access help and support.”

Anglicare called on the Tasmanian Government to allocate funding for additional crisis accommodation in the region, and to deliver more transitional and social housing suitable for people who have escaped domestic and family violence. No new units specifically for victim-survivors have been built in the north west in the last five years.

Unsafe and Unhoused also recommended:

– improvements to how agencies including police, share information, assess risks and respond to DFV situations;

– a clear timeline for delivery of a north west ARCH Centre to provide coordinated support for people affected by sexual violence;

– that the supportive residential program Bringing Baby Home be made available in the north west; and

– increased funding for specialist family violence counselling services, including children’s counselling, in the region.

Anglicare welcomed recent government announcements of dedicated Family Court premises within the Burnie Court Complex and funding to improve access to legal services in the north west.

“This is great news for DFV victim-survivors in the north west but more is needed,” said Ms Toombs. “There must be a substantial investment in housing and other specialist support services if we’re to make a real difference in people’s lives and break the cycle of disadvantage in families and communities.”

Executive summary

For a number of years, staff of a domestic and family violence support service in north west Tasmania have been concerned that there is ‘often no way to keep women and children safe’. This project responds to those concerns by identifying barriers to supporting victim-survivors and recommending actions to address them.

Anglicare Tasmania is funded by the Tasmanian Government to deliver Relationship Abuse of an Intimate Nature (RAIN), a free service that supports people impacted by domestic and family violence. Experiences of participants and staff of the RAIN program and other services reveal that there are barriers to participants achieving their goals and being safe due to:

lack of affordable and readily available housing

constraints on access to support services

system responses that fail to keep victim-survivors safe and prevent further trauma.

Despite higher rates of domestic and family violence (DFV) in north west Tasmania, provision of crisis accommodation specifically for victim-survivors of DFV in the region is lower than in the rest of the state (per capita). At a minimum, additional investment in services in the north west is needed to address the level of need in the region.

This report identifies barriers that can prevent victim-survivors of DFV in the north west achieving their goals.

To address the most pressing needs of DFV victim-survivors in north west Tasmania, Anglicare Tasmania recommends that:

  1. The Tasmanian Government fund and deliver more crisis accommodation, transitional housing and social homes in north west Tasmania including:
    1. increasing crisis accommodation that is safe and suitable for women and children fleeing domestic violence to meet demand, based on the regional prevalence of DFV
    2. ensuring that homes provided to tenants under the Rapid Rehousing program are safe and suitable for the needs of victim-survivors
    3. building an additional 967 social homes.
  2. The Tasmanian Government implement additional measures to improve access to housing, including:
    1. measures to bring existing housing stock into the long-term residential rental market
    2. consideration of ‘meanwhile use’ transitional housing for victim-survivors of DFV
    3. supporting family reunification by subsidising community housing to provide parents awaiting reunification with housing that meets the needs of the reunified family.
  3. The Tasmanian Government develop and fully implement an information sharing and risk assessment framework, that results in the effective use and recognition of the Tasmanian and Rural Risk Assessment (TARRA) tool across government and non-government agencies for the benefit of victim-survivors of DFV, including
    1. amendment of the Family Violence Act 2004 (Tas) to recognise risk assessment completed by agencies other than the Police
    2. continuing training for Police to ensure recognition of domestic violence behaviour patterns and consistent responses to support the safety of victim-survivors.
  4. The Tasmanian Government prioritise the delivery of the NW ARCH Centre by committing to a publicly available implementation plan detailing key milestones and ensuring that victim-survivors can access the multi-disciplinary centre at the earliest possible opportunity.
  5. The Tasmanian Government remove barriers to delivering the Bringing Baby Home program in the NW
  6. The Tasmanian Government provide funding certainty to DFV support services by delivering on its commitment to 5-year contacts for frontline DFV services, and in partnership with the Federal Government, guaranteeing sufficient indexation on contracts to fund support for victim-survivors.
  7. The Tasmanian Government increase funding for specialist family violence counselling services including children’s counselling in partnership with the Federal Government, to reduce waitlists for therapeutic counselling and deliver on its commitment to increase counselling services for children and young people experiencing family violence (Tasmanian Government 2022).
  8. The Tasmanian and Australian Governments increase access to legal services for people impacted by DFV by:
    1. providing funding certainty and allowing services to offer market competitive salaries to recruit and retain lawyers
    2. ensuring provision of permanent premises for the Family Court in Burnie
    3. providing financial incentives to attract lawyers to work in the north west
    4. increasing the hourly rate payable from grant funding to private lawyers to ensure representation for vulnerable women
    5. increasing casework capacity of legal services
    6. increasing access to the property pool pilot for parties by increasing the limit on the property pool.
  9. The Tasmanian Government amend the Family Violence Act 2004 to require parties to an application for a protective order to bear their own costs, except where an application is frivolous, vexatious or in bad faith.
  10. The Australian Government increase income support payments to above the Henderson Poverty Line.