Anthony Albanese's new $925 million pledge
Anthony Albanese has pledged $925 million to help victims of domestic violence flee dangerous situations, in the wake of the recent increase of violence against women.
The Prime Minister established the Leaving Violence Program on Wednesday, which will invest $925m over a five year period to help women escape violence at home.
Albanese convened an urgent national cabinet meeting after declaring violence against women a “national emergency” following the killings of 27 women across Australia this year.
Following the crisis talks, the Prime Minister announced the permanent establishment of the government’s Leaving Violence Payment to assist people experiencing violence with the financial costs of leaving a violent situation.
“Those eligible will be able to access up to $5000 in financial support along with referral services, risk assessments, and safety planning. This commitment builds on measures put in place by our government to help address financial barriers to escaping violence,” Mr Albanese said.
Australia will also introduce legislation that will ban the creation and distribution of deep fake pornography and the sharing of sexually explicit material using technology such as artificial intelligence.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said governments around the world were grappling with how to keep online spaces safe.
"I think the other important point to note is that as a society, we do need to do more and this is a role not only for government, not only for regulators and civil society, but also for the platforms themselves," she said.
"And part of this is putting the emphasis on the platforms to enforce their existing terms of service and where they are not doing that, to examine what are the measures governments can take."
The government will also bring forward legislation in early August to outlaw the release of private information online with an intent to cause harm, known as doxxing.
Albanese added that violence against women was a "national crisis", saying, "It's an issue for all of us to work together in the national interest to deal with what is a scourge of violence against women that is having a real impact out there, with one every four days a woman losing their life at the hand of a domestic or former domestic partner," he said.
Longer-term priorities include strengthening accountability and consequences for perpetrators, including early intervention with high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders, and better support for victim and survivors.
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