By Laura Michell
The state and federal governments are being urged to provide more support for family violence support services, with women’s health groups anticipating a surge in family violence incidents as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Women’s Health in the North, which supports women in Hume, and Women’s Health Loddon Mallee, which services the Macedon Ranges, has joined 48 other women’s health and gender equity groups in calling for more funding for specialist family violence services.
The groups, led by Gender Equity Victoria, issued a joint statement raising concerns that women will be at risk of family violence while self-isolating at home.
They say the research shows that family violence incidents spike during and after “catastrophic” events.
“Gender and Disaster experts know that during and after a significant catastrophic event that the pressure on families becomes enormous,” the statement said.
“There can be a return to rigid stereotypes which see men assume far more dominant roles in the household. In a pandemic with long periods of quarantine, these issues are more acute.
“Family violence incidents are anticipated to rise, as is the severity of those incidents as forced isolation during the pandemic puts further stress on families.
“The increase risk of family violence across the whole community is high.”
Gender Equity Victoria said the state and federal governments needed to fund specialist support services and emergency responders to help services respond to requests for help.
It comes as the Interface Councils, which includes Hume, call on the state government to open Orange Door Hubs in growth areas.
The hubs and their associated outreach services are a recommendation from the Royal Commission into Family Violence and provides support to people experiencing family violence.
Interface Councils spokeswoman Karen Egan said there are currently no Orange Door Hubs in the Interface Councils region.
“Melbourne’s outer suburbs already have higher rates of family violence compared to the Melbourne metropolitan average,” Cr Egan said
“There is an urgent need for the Victorian Government to open more Orange Door Hubs.”
