The Victorian Government has put up $20 million to move perpetrators of domestic violence into new homes.

Victoria has a policy of excluding perpetrators of family violence from the family home in order to keep victim-survivors safe. 

This means that when it is safe to do so, victim-survivors do not have to flee their homes, take their kids out of school, leave their jobs and otherwise uproot their lives in order to flee family violence.

Providing accommodation for perpetrators of family violence when they are excluded from their homes can significantly improve the safety and wellbeing of victim-survivors, whereas, if a perpetrator is removed from the family home and becomes homeless as a result, it makes them more likely to try to return home or harass victim-survivors to take them back.

Domestic Violence Victoria (DV Vic) has welcomed an announcement by Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews of $20 million into interventions with adults and young people who use violence in order to keep victim survivors of family violence safe.

“Providing perpetrators who use violence with crisis accommodation enables their behaviour and actions to be monitored, minimises opportunities for them to breach Family Violence Intervention Orders and cause further harm to victim-survivors,” says Tania Farha, DV Vic CEO.

“It also importantly opens opportunities to engage with services that can support them to examine the impact of their use of violence on their families and invite them to change.”

The new funding is also aimed at creating a dedicated focus on adolescents who use violence in the home. This is a group that historically has not had many options for targeted support to change their behaviour and to address the root causes of their violence.

“We know that the pandemic is being ‘weaponised’ by people who use violence and used to justify and excuse coercive and controlling behaviour,” Ms Farha said.

“Today’s announcement clearly says that COVID-19 is no excuse to use violence and abuse against family members.

“Despite the pandemic, if someone chooses to use family violence, there will be a broader range of interventions available to engage with them about their behaviour and focus on keeping adults and children safe from harm.”