Women escaping domestic and family violence are facing greater barriers due to the cost-of-living crisis with advocates calling for dedicated funding for support services in the federal budget.
An estimated 1000 women each week are being turned away from support services due to a lack of capacity.
In its submission to the 2025/26 federal budget, Women's Legal Services Australia (WLSA) has called for urgent funding of $52 million over five years to help meet demand and ensure victim-survivors of violence can access the specialist legal help they need.
"This is a national crisis, and the demand for our services is only growing," WLSA chair Elena Rosenman said.
"Financial stress is a well-documented factor in domestic violence, and rising living costs are making it even harder for victim-survivors to leave abusive relationships."
More than 26,000 women accessed legal assistance and non-legal support from WLSA in 2023/24.
Along with the rising cost-of-living, a number of additional factors are contributing to the increased need for legal services, the peak body said in its submission.
This includes the increasing frequency and severity of climate disasters which exacerbates financial stress within families and escalates domestic violence.
Digital abuse is also becoming a major issue as well as the rise of misogynistic online movements.
On top of meeting the extra demand, WLSA said a federal funding boost would improve pay parity for legal sector staff and expand migration law expertise for women on temporary visas experiencing violence.
Ms Rosenman said adequate pay for the predominantly female staff working for women's legal services across Australia was an important factor.
"The work our staff do every day is incredibly difficult: supporting women in crisis, handling complex legal matters and ensuring victim-survivors receive justice," she said.
"Without dedicated and fairly compensated staff, women simply won't get the support they need."
The budget submission also called for $15 million over three years to expand a successful pilot program providing trauma-informed legal assistance for victim-survivors of sexual assault to all states and territories.
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