PM announces $925 million to help people leave violent relationships

The federal government will commit $925 million over five years to establish the Leaving Violence Program, a fund that will help people flee abusive relationships.

Those escaping violence will be eligible to receive $5000 in financial support, along with access to safety assessments and referrals to support pathways.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the program following a meeting of national cabinet this morning, along with a suite of other anti-violence against women measures.

The national cabinet also backed the introduction of legislation to ban the creation and distribution of deepfake pornography.

The Stop It At The Start campaign will also enter a new phase from mid-June until May 2025.

This will include “counter-influencing campaigns” in online spaces flush with violent and misogynistic content, Albanese said.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said governments around the world were grappling with how to keep online spaces safe.

“I think the other important point to note is that as a society, we do need to do more and this is a role not only for government, not only for regulators and civil society, but also for the platforms themselves,” she said.

“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.”

The government will also undertake classification reforms with states and territories, which Albanese said would examine options to reduce exposure to violent pornography.

Rowland said the classification scheme was well-designed, but hadn’t kept up with the digital era.

“I am pleased that this is one of the items that was discussed at national cabinet because we do need that agreement in order to move this forward,” she said.

The reporting date of the review of the Online Safety Act has been brought forward by a year, to this August, “to ensure we’re keeping up with emerging online threats and harms”, Albanese said.

Albanese said that violence against women was a “national crisis”.

“It’s an issue for all of us to work together in the national interest to deal with what is a scourge of violence against women that is having a real impact out there, with one every four days a woman losing their life at the hand of a domestic or former domestic partner,” he said.

Longer-term priorities include strengthening accountability and consequences for perpetrators, including early intervention with high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders, and better support for victim-survivors.

Prevention work through “targeted, evidence-based approaches” will also be a focus, according to a statement.

The government will also maintain a focus on missing and murdered First Nations women and children, and the impact of domestic and family violence in First Nations communities.

State and territory governments will examine how to achieve greater uniformity and effectiveness across the justice system for violent offenders, with a further national cabinet meeting set for the next quarter.

“What I heard from the premiers and chief ministers, is the commitment to best practice, to examine what works, and they will work in a coordinated way to look at how they can deal with issues like our laws,” Albanese said.

“That will require, obviously, some individual legislation across the jurisdictions, so that will, if you like, take place by states and territories with the Commonwealth essentially playing a role in bringing people together, bringing together jurisdictions.”

Asked whether a national offenders register had been considered, Albanese said shared data had been discussed, and that everybody was keen on “progressing” the idea.

“We are conscious of the fact that our society is more mobile than it has ever been, people live in different states, they travel around,” he said.

National Domestic Violence Service: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).

If you are in immediate danger call triple zero (000).