NSW budget allocates $100 million to women’s safety and domestic violence support
Image: NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet (centre-right), and MP Natalie Ward (centre-left) announced a $100 million budget for women's safety in NSW. Photo: Facebook
By ERIN MODARO
The NSW Government has committed to a budget of $100 million to improve safety for women in both public spaces and in the home. The budget will include a $30 million allocation that will go towards improving street lighting and CCTV cameras in public places, with target locations for the project being in The Rocks and Parramatta.
Minister for Women’s Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Sexual Violence Natalie Ward said in a social media post that the $30 million is to “prevent harassment on our local streets”.
Minister Ward said at a press conference today that the NSW government is “making sure we are listening to women and girls and providing safer cities”.
Proud to be joined by the @MarkSpeakman to announce an additional $69.6m from the Perrottet Gov for domestic and family violence victim survivors.
I especially acknowledge Amanda Morgan who is a victim-survivor and founder of ‘Make a Seat Australia’ for her continued advocacy. pic.twitter.com/3MZKasInX4
— Natalie Ward (@natwardmlc) June 18, 2022
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said that “this investment today of over $100 million will make a real difference to women and young girls right across NSW”.
“Wherever you live in our great state you should feel safe and be safe.”
Workplace harassment and domestic violence to be addressed in budget
The budget will also address women’s rights in the workplace, with $4.8 million going towards funding a ‘Respect at Work Taskforce’ to prevent sexual harassment in professional settings.
A further $69 million will go towards improving support systems for domestic violence victims, in a project called ‘safer pathways’.
The NSW Premier also called a statistic revealing that 1 in 6 women across Australia have suffered from sexual harassment or sexual violence from either a current or previous partner a “travesty”.
@DV_NSW were honored to be at this announcement today. With services on the ground stretched thin, we need all the funding support we can get to improve women’s safety. https://t.co/q0NhbYzXYh
— DomesticViolenceNSW (@DV_NSW) June 18, 2022