Family Violence
What we are asking
Urgent funding for crisis accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula:
- to keep women and children safe when fleeing family violence until longer-term housing can be found.
More local support services, including:
- increased funding for localised family violence support services to meet unmet local demand
- services located where the need is greatest – the Southern Peninsula and Western Port areas
- an expanded focus offering support services at the ‘recovery’ stage for victim-survivors.
Ongoing funding is required to support Council’s role in primary prevention – creating the long tterm community change required to stop the violence before it occurs.
What makes this unique
There is no adequate or built for purpose crisis accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula. The duration of crisis housing is often not long enough and families need safe and affordable housing after crisis housing.
In 2023-24 there were 2,138 family violence incidents reported to Police on the Mornington Peninsula. This is an increase from 1,995 in 2022-23. Research shows this is just the tip of the iceberg, as many women don’t feel safe to report.
This high demand for services means local families are missing out on crucial support.
Our inadequate public transport system makes accessing support services and crisis accommodation away from the Mornington Peninsula unrealistic and forces women and their children to stay in abusive situations, or have to leave their community and local support networks.
Violence against women and their children is recognised as a national crisis, with enormous individual and community impacts and social costs.
Women are disproportionately affected and make up 74 percent of those impacted by family violence in 2024.
The unmet demand for crisis accommodation on the Peninsula is clear: temporary crisis housing donated by a developer temporarily, has seen all 13 rooms full almost every night since it opened more than a year ago.
A family violence refuge presents the perfect opportunity to address the critical gap in the provision of crisis housing and provide safe and secure accommodation.
The benefits – supporting evidence and strategies
All forms of violence against women and their children are underpinned by gender inequality, which is compounded by other forms of disadvantage and discrimination. Primary Prevention is key role for local governments to lead. A long-term strategic approach that seeks to engage people of all ages in the places where they live, work, learn and play. It aims to drive social and cultural change towards a society where we can live free from violence.
Our Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2030 considers the key drivers of violence against women and identifies a range of actions to prevent violence. These actions are currently being delivered across the Peninsula in alignment with the Victorian Gender Equality Strategy, Free from Violence and the Gender Equality Act 2020.
This request aligns with the Victorian Government’s Family Violence Reform – Rolling Action Plan 2020-2023:
- A focus on crisis accommodation and the creation of 19 new ‘core and cluster’ family violence refuges