Family violence activist Rosie Batty has called out federal election campaigners for their "deafening silence" on the issue of women and children's safety as she prepares to launch a national trauma recovery alliance.
After a year of reckoning over the treatment of women, Ms Batty said she expected the issue to have played a bigger role in the lead-up to this month's federal election.
"I have to say that when I tune into the news and hear snapshots about what is happening on the campaign trail, I have heard very little about women and the priority that needs to be placed on this issue."
She said one woman a week was being murdered in an issue that was "not going away".
"Violence is preventable [and] we must have a concentrated investment that recognises that this is a key priority," Ms Batty said.
New alliance launches
The 2015 Australian of the Year will on Thursday launch a newly formed, community-based Australian Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Recovery Alliance.
"I have certainly recognised through my own journey that recovery is a long process," Ms Batty said.
"Really up to today we have not recognised the recovery of victims of family violence and prioritised it."
The alliance has a number of immediate priorities including securing new funding for specialised trauma and violence-informed recovery centres.
It also wants the development of children-focused services that recognises children are victims in their own right.
At a federal level, it wants the government to recognise trauma behaviour as a response to violence and abuse and to treat it as an injury.
It also wants victim-survivors to have access to trauma-specific, evidence-based therapies under the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
Advocating post-crisis support
Survivor advocate Lula Dembele said the alliance reflected a body of work that had been neglected on post-crisis support, which sought to help victim-survivors get their lives back on track.
"To make sure they are not continually vulnerable, being targeted by their perpetrators or other perpetrators or falling into traps of homelessness and poor health," she said.
"But also, to make sure you are out of survival mode, so you have accommodation, you have income, you can focus on building a fulfilling life for yourself."
Ms Dembele is a member of the Independent Collective of Survivors and believed the issue had been benched while the federal government was in caretaker mode after it circulated its draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children in January.
She said she was "surprised at the inattention".
"I would still like to be seeing the major parties, the Greens, and independents talking about women's safety and gender equality for Australia's prosperity," Ms Dembele said.
"And that is a sad indictment on how Australia and Australian politicians and parties view the values of women and children's lives in this country."
Hopes for a new beginning
Earlier this year, the Illawarra Women's Health Centre (IWHC) received $25 million in the federal budget for an Australian-first Women's Trauma Recovery Centre.
IWHC general manager Sally Stevenson, who is also part of the new alliance, said that while funding for the local program was "really exciting" more was needed to fill the "serious gap" in national services.
"We are raising this as an election issue and seeking a commitment to ongoing and sustained funding for recovery services," she said.
"We need to ensure it has the right focus and the right funding attributed to it."
What's on the table
In the March federal budget, the government promised $1.3 billion over six years across 17 initiatives for women's safety.
This included $100 million for 720 new emergency accommodation projects, grants for women escaping violence, additional counselling services, and funding for the Women's Trauma Recovery Centre.
It has also matched a Labor pledge by appointing a national domestic and family violence commissioner.
Federal Labor has pledged to build 4,000 homes across Australia for women and children fleeing violence, and an extra $100 million for crisis accommodation.
It has also unveiled plans for 500 community service workers to support women in crisis.
The Greens have a $12-billion National Plan for Ending Violence Against Women and Children, and a standalone National Plan for First Nations Women developed by survivors of violence.
Ms Batty said she was encouraged to see recovery recognised as one of the four pillars of the federal government's National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, but argued more money needed to be dedicated to the response.
