The Govt Has Unveiled A $925 Million Gender-Based Violence Initiative, Here’s What It Includes

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the Federal Government will commit $925 million over the next five years to help Australians flee violence. Alongside the announcement also comes a slew of initiatives which seek to put an end to violence against women.

Following a national cabinet on gender-based violence, Albanese shared the details of the Federal Government’s new commitments, including a new support strategy titled the ‘Leaving Violence Program’.

The national cabinet comes as an urgent response to the rising femicide epidemic in Australia and numerous rallies calling for action against domestic and family violence. It was also held on National Domestic Violence Remembrance Day.

Per Counting Dead Women Australia, 28 women have died due to violence against women in 2024 alone.

As part of this new program, individuals will be able to receive up to $5000 in financial support as they seek to leave domestic violence situations. They will also gain access to support networks and safety assessments.

The scheme is notably a reiteration on a Scott Morrison-era program called the ‘Escaping Violence Payment‘, which was trialled in October 2021. At the time, the program reportedly received 57,041 applications. Only 24,471 applicants received payment, while many were denied.

“Today is about who we are as a nation and as a society,” Albanese said at the national cabinet.

“It’s an issue for all of us to work together to deal with what is a scourge of violence against women.

“I’ll be satisfied when we eliminate this as an issue. I’ll be satisfied when we have gender equality.”

Here are the other initiatives included in the government’s $925 million scheme

Per Albanese, a new campaign titled ‘Stop It At The Start’ will be launched mid-June this year. This campaign will be a targeted suite of “counter-influencing campaigns” which seek to infiltrate online spaces awash with misogynistic content and messages.

The government will also seek to put in place “stronger consequences” for those who commit gender-based violence, with a particular focus on “high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders”.

On top of this, deepfake pornography will be banned in Australia, and there will be a stronger effort to reduce kids’ access and exposure to pornography.

“As a society, we do need to do more,” said Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.

“This a role not only for government, not only for regulators and civil society, but also for the platforms themselves.

“And part of this is putting the emphasis on the platforms to enforce their existing terms of service and where they are not doing that, to examine what are the measures governments can take.”

Although much more still needs to be done to put an end to violence against women in this country, this is at least a step in the right direction.