By April Murphy
Queensland Government has injected a $2.5M boost in the state’s domestic, family and sexual violence service providers to assist the sector in responding to the impacts of COVID-19.
Attorney-General and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman, announced the successful recipients of nearly $2.5 million grants program.
“Over the past 12 months, many in our community have stayed home to protect themselves from COVID-19, yet we know that for so many across our state, home is not the safe space it should be,” Minister Fentiman said.
The news comes a week after Gold Coast mother Kelly Wilkinson was murdered in a Domestic Violence situation.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says Australia is in the grips of a domestic violence crisis, and it’s time for the country “to step up”.
“I think all of Queensland’s hearts just melted when we heard what happened to Kelly Wilkinson,” says Ms Palaszczuk.
Since the initial impacts of COVID-19 on the economy and way of life, we have also seen an unprecedented demand for domestic and family violence (DFV) services.
“That is why these grants of between $50,000 and $150,000 have been made available to support one-off initiatives to respond to the impacts of the pandemic,” says Ms Fentiman.
The Attorney General states that the response from the sector has been overwhelmingly positive, with the quantity and quality of applications so high that additional funding was allocated on top of the initial $2 million advertised, and more initiatives have been able to be supported.”
The 23 projects that had successfully received funding would target a range of specific groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the LGBTIQ+ community, people with a disability, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
“Projects to benefit communities right across the state will receive funding, including a partnership between Griffith University’s MATE Bystander Program and Torres Strait Island Social Justice Interagency Service to deliver training to help locals respond to violence in island communities, and the delivery of extra counselling services at the Centre Against Sexual Violence in the Redlands in south-east Queensland,” Ms Fentiman said.
Funding has also been allocated to the North Queensland Combined Women’s Services Inc. (in Aitkenvale) to develop services to assist and inform people who have experienced or are at risk of sexual violence in the North Queensland region.
These funds are from a partnership between the State and Federal Government’s to assist with domestic and family violence services during COVID. The State Government calls on the Federal Government to continue this funding. Service providers are still faced with the same pressures.
For more information and to view a complete list of projects being delivered through the Responding to COVID-19 in the sexual, domestic and family violence sectors grants program, visit: https://www.justice.qld.gov.au/about-us/services/women-violence-prevention/violence-prevention/responding-covid-19-sexual-domestic-family-violence-grants