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Liberals promise new crisis accommodation beds for DV victims

The Liberal Party will build three new domestic violence crisis centres housing a total of 40 beds if it wins the March 17 election.

Mar 07, 2018, updated Mar 07, 2018
Liberal leader Steven Marshall announcing his election commitment on domestic violence today. Photo: AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Liberal leader Steven Marshall announcing his election commitment on domestic violence today. Photo: AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Under the plan, $1.5 million would fund a new 20-bed DV facility in southern Adelaide and $2.5 million would fund two 10-bed facilities in country SA.

The new facilities would act as crisis centres offering 24-hour security, toiletries, meals and counselling services.

Liberal leader Steven Marshall said the party had not yet chosen the exact locations for the centres but existing buildings could be converted to suit victims’ needs.

“We’ve been out speaking to the sector and they’ve already identified some possible places,” he said.

“If [they] were suitable then we could have people in these rooms certainly within 12 months’ time.”

A further $5 million would be spent on an interest-free 20-year loan scheme for the non-government sector to fund capital projects including expansions, renovations and upgrades of existing DV accommodation facilities.

“We’ll make the loans facility available day one and we’ll crack on with creating new rooms as soon as possible,” Marshall said.

Shadow human services minister Michelle Lensink said the Liberal Party had adopted a “safety first approach”.

“There’s a lot of people being accommodated in hotels or in their cars… if they’ve got children that can sometimes mean that they return to a dangerous situation,” she said.

“This proposal will provide a much more holistic service for families who are in that crisis situation just to relieve that emergency dire need in that particular point in time.”

St Vincent de Paul state branch CEO David Wark said domestic violence was escalating “seriously” in the state.

“The facility that we’ve opened for women out in the northern suburbs, we were thinking about 75 per cent occupancy would be around the mark but the reality is we’ve been over 91 per cent full for the three or so months that we’ve been open,” he said.

“There is a challenge right now but any money that’s coming into the sector we would welcome as soon as possible.”

Marshall said the Liberal Party would release their full policy on domestic violence “later on in the campaign”.

Part of their policy includes support for a statewide rollout of the Respectful Relationships domestic violence prevention program in schools.

In 2017-18, 8847 people who received assistance from homelessness providers in South Australia reported experiencing domestic violence.

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