The NSW government has been accused of failing rape victims after it was revealed officials chose to spend zero dollars out of a $20 million federal fund to help survivors.
Premier Dominic Perrottet and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard are expected to be grilled about the government spending decision at budget estimates hearings later this week.
The revelation comes as a rape crisis organisation warned services for victims were badly underfunded and a third of callers reaching out to a helpline were not able to get through.
NSW was handed the first payment from a $80 million federal support package to boost domestic, family and sexual violence services in November, but the state government chose to only fund the first two types of services, leaving frontline rape services out.
The NSW Minister responsible for preventing sexual violence, Natalie Ward, told a recent budget estimates hearing she had no idea if any of the money had gone to sexual violence services.
But the Department of Communities and Justice confirmed the snub in a statement to NCA NewsWire.
The statement said $10.5 million had been spent on domestic and family violence services, and that the rest had gone to programs supporting children in refuges and male victim-survivors, men’s behaviour-change programs, and an organisation supporting people with HIV.
Hayley Foster, chief executive at Full Stop Australia, which has been tasked by the state government to run a 24-hour helpline for sexual violence victims, said the service hadn’t had a substantial funding increase in a decade.
One in three people who call the helpline cannot get through to a counsellor because the service can’t hire enough staff.
“It is devastating to victims of sexual violence that they cannot get the support they need, when they need it,” she said.
She said callers who couldn’t get through would often hang up and risked “falling through the cracks”.
“The NSW government is failing these people,” she said.
When the Commonwealth announced the National Partnership Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence last year, worth a total of $260 million, it said it expected support for rape victims to be one of the areas to be funded.
But the NSW government removed any mention of those services when it acknowledged the $20 million payment in a press release last November.
The department said it was up to NSW Health to deliver sexual assault services.
However, it left the door open for possibly using some of the remaining $60 million to support rape victims.
“DCJ will be consulting with stakeholders, including domestic and family violence and sexual violence peak organisations and other government agencies such as NSW Police and NSW Health, about further allocations under the NPA,” the department said.
“No decisions have yet been made about future allocations.”
Acting department executive director Pia Van De Zandt told at a budget estimates hearing that sexual violence services would be considered for funding when the next payment from the Commonwealth arrived.
Asked why the decision was made to only fund domestic and family violence services with the first payment, she said: “Those were just the priorities that were agreed on at the time.”
The health department said it had given the NSW Sexual Violence Helpline $1.5 million in funding during the most recent financial year.
Full Stop Australia says it needs at least another $900,000 per year to fully staff the service and respond to every call.
Ms Ward’s office said she declined to comment further and referred to the department’s statement.
NSW Health did not directly respond to a question of whether a funding increase would be considered and pointed to the statement as well.
It’s understood Health Minister Brad Hazzard has scheduled a meeting with Full Stop Australxjmtzywia ahead of his own budget estimates appearance this week.
A spokeswoman for Mr Hazzard said he was unable to comment further and added that Ms Ward was the Minister responsible for preventing sexual violence.
Domestic Violence helplines
