Domestic violence services hopeful of NT political parties’ promises of additional funding
Services on the frontline battling domestic, family and sexual violence have welcomed both Labor and the Country Liberals pledging 180 million dollars towards combatting the issue. But with rising costs across the board, some advocates say they'll be limited in what extra services they can deliver.
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00:00Like many front line services, Dawn House struggles to grapple with the scale of the Northern Territory's domestic violence crisis.
00:10We turn people away every single day. There's not enough shelters, there's not enough outreach support, there's not enough education.
00:16She's welcomed both Labor and the CLP announcing they intend to increase spending by $180 million over five years, but the extra cash won't go far.
00:27It's definitely going to continue operations as usual because as we know inflation has made everything a lot harder for us.
00:34Ana is among advocates saying the funding boost is just the bare minimum.
00:39We just hope I think that it's not a little throw of money now and then not in the future because it is a long term solution is what we need and a long term commitment to funding.
00:49The original ask was for $180 million over five years and ongoing, so let's not take our eye off that ongoing ask.
01:00The government defending waiting nearly two years to commit to the funding request.
01:06Overall we have to do this incrementally and now is the time to make sure that we make that commitment going forward.
01:13The CLP's DV prevention spokeswoman Jo Hersey was unavailable for an interview but said in a statement the party will work with the sector to roll out the funding if elected according to the government's action plan on the issue.
01:27Also on the agenda today revelations that the campaign director for the CLP's candidate for Knightcliffe had made social media posts online accusing women who were domestic violence victims of not doing enough to get themselves to safety.
01:42The CLP in a statement distancing themselves from those comments saying that they did not represent the views of the party and that campaign director was not paid for his work and was only a volunteer.