'Solid action' needed to provide housing for women escaping violence

Anthony Albanese revealed the investment in the Leaving Violence program on Wednesday, making permanent a pilot initiative that provides up to $5000 in cash, goods and services to eligible people leaving a violent intimate partner relationship, as well as referral services, risk assessments and safety planning.

The funding will stretch over five years.

Women Illawarra general manager Michelle Glasgow said the program was a "great initiative" but could be clunky and difficult to access.

"It would be really beneficial if... frontline services who are actually dealing with the client are able to make that application on their behalf and expedite the process, so that clients are getting the money in their hand when they need it, rather than having to go through another external service to get the support that they require in those emergency situations," Ms Glasgow said.

Illawarra Women's Health Centre executive director Sally Stevenson was disappointed in the announcement, describing it as "very limited" in its scope, strategic outlook and the level of investment.

In its pilot phase, she said, access to the program was limited and even more so for Indigenous women and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Ms Stevenson said over five years the funding represented about $12 million for NSW each year, a "drop in the ocean".

"It's $12 million a year additional for NSW, when we know from figures 10 years ago that the cost to NSW was $7.6 billion a year [due to domestic violence]. It's pretty insulting," she said.

She said $5000 did not go far with today's high cost of living.

Ms Glasgow also noted that the program only extended to those experiencing intimate partner violence, not other forms of family violence.

"Violence is at epidemic levels amongst families, not just intimate partners, and we need the flexibility to be able to apply for these payments for people who are in crisis and in dangerous situations rather than having limitations to them," Ms Glasgow said.

Housing 'critical'

The provision of housing for women and children leaving violent situations is one area that is in need of urgent attention.

Ms Stevenson said 291 women left violent homes into homelessness every four days and housing was "absolutely critical".

"One of the things that's fed back to us on the frontline is that some women don't have the opportunity to escape violence because there's nowhere to go," Ms Glasgow said.

"There is no crisis accommodation, there is no temporary accommodation, there is no short-term accommodation, there are no refuges with vacancies available to them... Housing and safe accommodation for women is at critical mass and we need some really solid action on that as quickly as we can possibly get it."

Even if women have the resources to enter the private rental market there is little available in the Illawarra, which continues to experience extremely low vacancy rates.

Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin told the ABC on Thursday that housing was a "critical factor" in both recovery and prevention.

Ms Stevenson said it was also essential to look at offenders.

"How many times do we have to say, please focus on the perpetrators, because that's the only way we're going to bring it down. Where's the national perpetration study? Where's the profiling of perpetrators?" she said.

No To Violence (NTV), a peak body for organisations working with men who use violence, also wants a national study of perpetrators.

But Ms Stevenson was glad that the government was acting on pornography, of which she said 85 per cent was violent, humiliating or degrading towards women.

The government will introduce a pilot program of technology that aims to protect children from pornography and other age-restricted online content.

It will also introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography, and a new phase of a national campaign targeted at online spaces with misogynistic material.

Ms Glasgow said it was positive that the government was hearing the community's outrage about the crisis, although the sector had been "crying out" for action for years.

"There's been plenty of reviews, there's been plenty of inquiries, all of the information is there before the government. What we need to see is firm and action on the recommendations that are currently before them, we don't need to be wasting any more time," she said, adding that more men also needed to make their voices heard.

"It's not a women's issue. Unfortunately women and children are the ones that predominately suffer.

"It's a men's issue, and we need to hear good men in our community raising their voices and taking some stands against it."

On Thursday, Mr Albanese told ABC Radio National that it was "not job done" when it came to ending violence against women, while Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said on Seven "we need to commit to be doing more".