The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP
Minister For Social Services
Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister For Finance
Minister For Women
The Hon Ged Kearney MP
Assistant Minister For Social Services
Assistant Minister For The Prevention Of Family Violence
Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Albanese Labor Government is announcing an almost 40% funding boost for 1800RESPECT as more Australians than ever before are identifying signs of violence and contacting 1800RESPECT for help.
Since its inception in 2010, 1800RESPECT has seen a 3,000% increase in contacts with the service from people seeking help.
Last financial year, 1800RESPECT received over 342,000 calls, video calls, online chats and texts, and demand is expected to increase. More Australians understand the signs of family violence and are feeling able to seek the help they need.
That's why we're proud to announce that the Albanese Labor Government is investing an additional $41.8 million in 1800RESPECT to make sure everyone who seeks help can get it. This brings funding to deliver 1800RESPECT to $146.8 million until 30 June 2027.
This announcement delivers on the Albanese Labor Government's commitments under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 to support the 1800RESPECT service and ensure those experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence have the trauma-informed and more easily-accessible support they need.
In recent years 1800RESPECT has launched a new on-demand video counselling and SMS capability to help empower victim-survivors to seek support via the best medium that suits their needs.
Since the SMS channel launched in late 2023, the channel has been used over 25,000 times by people seeking support. Since the video channel launched in early 2024, 1800RESPECT has received over 900 calls from people seeking support.
The Albanese Government has invested more than any Australian government ever - more than $4 billion in family, domestic and sexual violence frontline services, preventative programs, behaviour change and programs for children across government.
The Government has also:
- Made the Leaving Violence Program permanent, so women have the financial support they need to leave abusive relationships
- Introduced legislation to make sure our social security system can't be weaponised by perpetrators of abuse
- Funded programs that intervene earlier with men who want to change their behaviours
- Invested $1.2 billion for emergency and transitional housing to ensure women can reach safety
- Invested a record $3.9 billion in legal services - with an extra $800 million for family violence legal services
- Taken action to deal with high-risk perpetrators - investing over $82 million to detect, monitor and intervene with repeat offenders
- Supported the recovery of children who have experienced violence, investing $81 million for services like child specific counselling
- Legislated 10 days paid domestic violence leave, so workplaces support women to stay financially secure and connected
- Made it illegal to fire someone because of their experience of domestic or family violence
- Launched an inquiry into domestic, family and sexual violence related suicide
- Established the National Higher Education Code to prevent and respond to Gender-based Violence in universities
- Implemented all the recommendations of the Respect@Work report
- Legislated a positive duty for employers to protect staff and customers from sexual harassment and abuse
