It took Lisa* and her son just three days to receive a disaster support payment after they were forced to abandon their flooded Brisbane home in February.
But Lisa says after fleeing an allegedly physically and sexually violent relationship, she waited eight months for an initial payment from the state government through Victim Assist Queensland (VAQ).
The alleged perpetrator has been charged with two counts of rape and one count of strangulation, with a trial date still to be set.
“I was strangled and raped,” Lisa alleges, referring to the charges.
“Since then, I have just been on income protection which was substantially reduced from my normal wage,” Lisa said.
“It’s been a struggle surviving on that money.”
Lisa said when she first called Victim Assist Queensland asking for support, she was told the wait time would be two years and that financial hardship would not fast-track her application.
She also rang Centrelink to see if she was eligible for a crisis payment. “But because I didn’t apply within seven days of [moving home after the alleged incident], I wasn’t eligible.”
Lisa’s wait was far from the longest.
There are 394 domestic violence victims still waiting for a decision on applications made two years ago to VAQ, according to Queensland government figures tabled last week.
This is reflective of the overall demand for assistance from victims of crime and those who have experienced domestic violence, with applications to VAQ rising by 16% so far this financial year.
The increasing demand has brought with it extensive delays, with the average wait time blowing out to 114 days for all applications received from March 2020.
The longest wait time for a case finalised in 2021 was 1,180 days. It is unclear whether that was for an application under the victims of crime payment or for domestic violence assistance.
Those statistics were revealed last week in a response from Queensland’s attorney general, Shannon Fentiman, to a question on notice from Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman.
Berkman tells the Guardian it is “completely unacceptable that domestic violence victim-survivors are waiting so long for victim assist payments”.
“Even under the government’s new ‘streamlined process’ people are waiting nearly four months, and it’s just not good enough,” Berkman said.
“Not having the financial means to escape a violent relationship literally puts people’s lives at risk. We need the state government to do better.”
Fentiman said in the response that VAQ prioritises “urgent and immediate expenses” including for funerals, medical treatment and security and relocation expenses referred through the “high-risk teams”.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, Fentiman said since financial assistance under VAQ was extended in 2017 to include non-physical forms of domestic and family violence, an 78% increase in applications has been recorded.
“To support VAQ to handle this increased demand we have invested an additional $1m per annum for an extra 10 full-time staff to help process cases,” Fentiman said.
“As a government, ending violence against women is a top priority which is why we have invested over $600m to tackle DFV since 2015.”
Lisa has been diagnosed with post-traumatic disorder and says she is currently unable to work.
She’s set aside the $10,000 “recognition payment” from VAQ to pay her rent, but is still awaiting a decision over her medical costs, along with tens in thousands she’s lost in wages.
Now, Lisa says she’s growing anxious over what she’ll do once her income protection runs out in July.
“When you’re at the most vulnerable, it seems to navigate the system you have to be your own advocate, and that takes a lot of strength to do that,” Lisa said.
“There seems to be a lot of token gestures … but to me, it hasn’t translated into much actual tangible assistance.”
*Name has been changed to protect the individual’s identity
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
