HAYLEY SORENSEN
today’s Sunday Territorian, it’s hardly “big bickies” to keep such an important service ticking.
“The real concern is that when police attend a DV incident at the weekend (or in the middle of the night) and deem it unsafe for that woman and her children to stay where they are our ability to accommodate those women off site is stopped as of the end of December, so we’re not going to be able to help them any more,” she said.
When the Sunday Territorian asked Families and Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher to explain why the Federal Government had decided Darwin could do without an after hours domestic violence service, he chose not to respond.
Fletcher stood at Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s left shoulder a fortnight ago to announce what was billed as the Federal Government’s biggest ever plan to combat family violence.
Combating the “hideous condition” of violence against women and children was one of his government’s “top priorities” the Prime Minister said as he stood in front of the Canberra media and reeled off the “damning” statistics.
“We know on average one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner,” Morrison said.
“On average eight women are hospitalised each day due
“Why the $328m wasn’t enough to keep Dawn House going hasn’t been explained”
to family and domestic violence. Intimate partner violence contributed to more illness, disability and prem death than any other risk factor for women aged 18 to 44.”
Why the $328 million funding Morrison and Fletcher announced that day in Canberra — $78 million of which was earmarked for “safe spaces” — wasn’t enough to keep Dawn House operating around the clock hasn’t been explained.
Cutting funding to Dawn House is a cruel, shortsighted and idiotic decision which must be reversed.
There is a federal election coming up, and if the Coalition is searching for an low cost election commitment to make an impact in Solomon, it needs to make sure the sun needs to rise again on Dawn House.
Hayley Sorensen is the Sunday Territorian’s resident columnist.