The Centre for Non-Violence hopes the state government’s family violence package will help expand its services.

“We hope with some funding we can strengthen not only what we do from our service based in Bendigo, but also prioritise responding and providing much needed services across our region,” chief executive officer Margaret Augerinos said.

She said Echuca and Maryborough had some of the state’s highest rates of police attendances for family violence issues per capita.

“Across our region, certainly in regional and remote areas, there is high demand,” Ms Augerinos said.

“We just don’t have the capacity to respond to every call for assistance, which is a problem.

“We are hoping this investment in services will mean every woman we get a referral for will be contacted, and every man who is referred for assistance will be able to access the support they need.”

Even more important, Ms Augerinos said, was the focus on prevention in the state government’s package.

“We need to stop this happening and work on what the drivers of violence on women and children are,” she said.

“We don’t want to just keep responding to this issue, we want to stop it from happening in the first place.”

She said sometimes women went back to abusive relationships because there was nowhere else for them to go and welcomed the state government’s focus on housing. 

“It is so important because we have had an over reliance on inappropriate forms of crisis-supported accommodation through the use of hotels and holiday parks, and that is no place for someone who has experienced trauma and needs support to recover from their experience,” she said.

“Having access to good quality, secure housing, even if its only for a short term once we put things in place to get them home safely, will be a huge benefit.

“And the focus on keeping women and children in their homes, if possible, and in their community with community support is also really important.”