A counselling support hotline for victims of sexual, domestic and family violence is warning that without urgent federal funding, it will have to shut down.
Corporate funding for Full Stop Australia's 24-hour national hotline will dry up in June, and the organisation is now lobbying the federal government to intervene.
The National Violence and Abuse Trauma Counselling and Recovery Service, known as 1800FULLSTOP, receives around 4,800 calls from people seeking help to deal with the impacts of sexual violence and abuse each year.
For three years it has been backed by funding from NRMA Insurance along with other corporate sponsors.
However, Full Stop Australia says their major sponsor is "unable to continue footing the bill for this essential service" and is now pleading for federal funding.
The service needs around $586,000 each year to keep running and CEO Hayley Foster will visit Parliament House this week to urge the Albanese government to provide the funding injection.
Full Stop Australia's clinical director Tara Hunter said the hotline helps people in need of crisis support and fills the gap for those waiting for face-to-face counselling.
"We're often a front door for people that are seeking support in a way where potentially they can be anonymous," she said.
"We work with people from the perspective of responding to crisis, but we also work with people in an ongoing way."
Ms Hunter said the service provided support to people who may experience barriers accessing support, including young people, people with a disability, non-English speakers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those living in rural and remote areas.
"To cut a service like ours, where we know even just accessing basic mental health care is so challenging, it just leaves our most marginalised communities even more in more distress," she said.
Hotline accessibility key
Survivor-advocate Harrison James said the hotline was a "lifeline" for those who had experienced trauma and found it daunting to disclose their stories to friends or family.
"The thought that it's at risk of going away is really concerning," he said.
He is a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse and is now a member of Full Stop Australia's advisory group.
"We have that fear of retaliation, that fear of the shame that we carry, the fear of judgement, these are all intense emotions that are all-consuming," he said.
"Helplines like this are just one of the most accessible ways for survivors to connect with counsellors."
NRMA Insurance said it donated $2 million to Full Stop Australia at the beginning of the pandemic, which was used to launch the national hotline along with another scheme which provided cash grants to people impacted by sexual, family and domestic violence.
In a statement, a spokesperson for NRMA Insurance said the company was proud that its contribution helped Full Stop Australia provide support to thousands of people during the height of the pandemic.
"We have been in regular conversations with Full Stop Australia over the last two and a half years about the services and support the donation has provided," an NRMA Insurance spokesperson told the ABC in a statement.
"We appreciate the important work of Full Stop Australia and recognise they are close to exhausting the donation, and we are supporting them in their efforts to secure ongoing funding."
The federal government has funded Australia's national online and telephone counselling service 1800RESPECT since 2010 to provide free and confidential 24-hour support to victims of sexual and domestic violence.
Telstra was last year awarded a $200 million Commonwealth contract to deliver the 1800RESPECT service for five years.
Calls to 1800RESPECT surged dramatically over the last decade, increasing from 11,000 calls in 2010-2011 to more than 220,000 last financial year.
'States, Territories determine funding'
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the government funded 1800RESPECT as the national "front door for anyone experiencing or at risk of family, domestic or sexual violence".
In a statement, she also said state and territory governments held the primary responsibility for the delivery of frontline services.
"They determine where funding is allocated based on local need," Ms Rishworth said.
"The Federal Government is providing up to $270.7 million for a two-year National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses with state and territory governments to support frontline family, domestic, and sexual violence services."
