Fight for funds: No guarantee for family violence prevention service

The changes could see the demise of the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS) program nationally, unless urgent action is taken by the Prime Minister.

Under the new guidelines, FVPLS’s are no longer recognised as a stand-alone program or as a core service model that provides legal assistance services.

Instead FVPLS’s may apply for funding as one of many potential activities under a broad ‘Safety and Wellbeing Programme’; alongside health, welfare and other service providers. It is not yet clear whether legal services are even eligible to apply. 

The tender process for the new funding model opens on September 8, with eight weeks until the tender process closes in which anyone can apply for the money.

Binaal Billa’s project coordinator Michelle Kable said Binaal Billa is currently only funded until June 30, 2015 and unless they get funding in the new tender process, they may be forced to fold.

“We are a front line legal service; if not for us our clients would receive little to no legal assistance, and definitely not to the degree that Binaal Billa FVPLS currently provide,” Mrs Kable said.

“Binaal Billa FVPLS work closely with our clients and mainstream community, providing legal assistance, advice and advocacy, as well as providing essential community legal education to the schools, community groups and other service providers throughout the Forbes region. 

“Cuts to our service will cripple the early intervention work that we have been providing to the Forbes community, as well as increasing the workload on police, service providers and of course the court system.”

Convenor of the National FVPLS Forum Antoinette Braybrook said the FVPLS program has been in existence for 16 years.

“The FVPLS program is already reeling from budget cuts and now vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children are being put at greater risk,” she said.

Earlier this year the Abbott government announced a cut of $3.6 million over three years to the national FVPLS program which costs only $20 million per annum.

This compares to the economic costs of domestic violence, estimated at $14.4 billion per annum or 1.1 per cent of Australia’s GDP.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 31 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of violence and 15 times more likely to seek support from homelessness services to escape family violence.

Despite this, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims / survivors of family violence continue to have very limited access to legal advice and representation.

“It would be negligent to take away a legal service that advocates on behalf of our most under-represented and disadvantaged people,” Mrs Kable said. 

“Furthermore in the majority of our service areas if you were to take away FVPLS there would be no other option for our ATSI victims, as our service is often the only community legal service available. 

“Removing our service would leave our most vulnerable people to face the justice system without any legal advice or representation – a basic human right that should be afforded to all community members.”

 In the last five years the incidents of domestic violence have increased, and Forbes is still ranked in the top 10 in cases of domestic violence per population. 

Binaal Billa FVPLS work with local police, Yoorana Gunya, probation and parole, Forbes Women’s Refuge, Forbes Shire Council, Forbes Domestic Violence Committee and other service providers to assist victims and prevent further incidents of violence. 

They sayd they have also built a reciprocal working relationship with the courts, the magistrate and the police in Forbes.

“We would like to gain support in keeping this invaluable service, in our already under-serviced regional area and to prevent the loss of yet another essential service to our community,” Mrs Kable said.

“Binaal Billa FPVLS is staffed by local professionals who are passionate about the work that they do, and familiar with the individual complexities of our community. 

“It would be a great loss to Forbes to lose a respected local legal service due to short-sighted funding cuts.”

The National FVPLS Forum is seeking a direct allocation of funding for current providers for the next three years, in order to protect access to justice for FVPLS clients through existing capacity and technical expertise, ongoing delivery of services and the integrity of the FVPLS service model.

“Our members are calling for an immediate allocation of funding to keep the FVPLS program alive,” Ms Braybrook said.