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The state government will target the needs of regional communities when rolling out its $572 million family violence package.
“What we know about high risk groups is that, unfortunately, women who live in rural and regional communities come into that category,” Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson said.
She said crime statistics showed all of the top 10 local government areas for family violence in Victoria were outside metropolitan Melbourne.
“What this means is that we need to be far more targeted and responsive to the needs of victims in these communities,” she said. “Each and every one of the announcements made today has a statewide focus.”
“This is new funding, and it is designed to address a real gap between demand for services and supply.”
She said money for front-line services, housing and the expansion of the Respectful Relationships program in schools would have obvious benefits for central Victoria, but could not provide specifics.
“The report talks specifically about the need to create support and safety hubs,” she said. “One of the systematic failures that’s been identified is the silo-ing of services.”
The state government will create 17 hubs based on health department boundaries.
“We know the location of these hubs and the kinds of services they provide…need to be tailored to these communities,” Ms Richardson said.
She said it was important all agencies in the family violence space in communities were working together, and identified several Bendigo-based initiatives as models for strategies the state government was considering implementing.
She praised the Centre for Non-Violence, the core and cluster refuge being built in Bendigo, and signatories to the Loddon Mallee Action Plan for the primary prevention of violence against women.
“The issue came through loud and clear at each of my meetings with local government agencies... that communities are acutely aware of the scale of the challenge they are facing in their local areas,” she said.