DV victims shun dodgy motel stays

motel rooms. That’s how clients have described them to me,” Ms Patterson said.

“They say they are told ‘you go to Brisbane and we will help you’. They are horrified (when they get there). They have people to see you every day but they are not qualified. They have hotel managers who don’t understand DV.”

The demand for the crisis accommodation has increased by 240 per cent in the past 12 months after 9000 women and 13,393 children attempted to escape domestic violence.

The women and their families are kept in the motels for three or four days before being sent to a refuge if space is available.

From July 2016 to February 2017, DV Connect’s budget for motels was $1,057,587 after funding 9194 nights. The taxpayer bill is expected to top $2 million by winter.

The lack of government funding and a legal dispute with government bureaucrats has threatened the future of Coast shelters like The Sanctuary and My Friend’s Place.

Ms Patterson is organising a domestic violence forum at the Burleigh Heads Life Saving Club on May 3 to help find a solution to the gap in Coast services.

She said one client in her 40s who fled from her home had been sleeping at the beach.

“They were told (by welfare workers) to put the window (of the car) down a bit because they had their dog there,” Ms Patterson said.

“By the time they get to us they are absolutely gutted by the rigmorale and runaround. They are saying ‘why is it that you have vacancies, why aren’t we being referred to you. We could have been killed in that time’.

“Red tape, call it what you want. People’s lives are in danger. After Tara Brown and Teresa Bradford, are we learning anything?”

Opposition MP Ros Bates said the Coast had 21 units for DV victims but they were always full.

“Warehousing victims and their children in motels is no solution and will see more victims returning to violent homes or forced onto the streets,” she said.

Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Shannon Fentiman has described the booking numbers as unfortunately “relatively consistent” year round.

DV Connect chief executive Di Mangan said a new mobile outreach service provided support in the motels and some of those rooms could accomodate family pets.

“DVConnect will always find a safe place for women and children until longer term planning can be arranged,” she said.