A one-off funding boost for Northern Territory domestic violence services falls dramatically short of what is needed, according to women operating shelters from Darwin to Alice Springs.
A $10.7 million boost announced by the federal government yesterday was welcomed by NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, who called it a "first step" towards the level of federal funding needed.
But the manager of Darwin's Dawn House shelter said federal Labor had disregarded long-running calls for the NT's allocation of funding to be based on the actual rates of violence rather than population size.
The NT has the highest rates of domestic violence in Australia, with Aboriginal women 18 times more likely to experience violence.
Dawn House manager Susan Crane told ABC Radio Darwin the NT government had asked for ongoing funding of $15 million a year, based on consultations with organisations on the frontline.
"The $15 million wasn't a figure that was pulled out of the hat," she said.
"There was a lot of research and collaboration coming up with that figure and that was the baseline figure."
The $10.7 million one-off payment matches a promise made by the previous Coalition government before the May election.
When asked about the calls for needs-based funding, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth told reporters that Labor was making other investments including through the new national 10-year plan in development.
More support needed in remote NT
The manager of the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women's Shelter (DAIWS), Regina Bennett, said "they're going to need a lot more than $10 million" to address levels of violence that continue to increase.
Ms Bennett said her shelter was seeing more women who had come to Darwin to escape violence in remote areas, including large communities that are missing out on support services.
"The majority of our women and children come from remote communities," she said.
"The government needs to look back at where they're coming from, and look what's happened."
The ABC this week highlighted the lack of safe places for victims of violence in the Timber Creek region southwest of Katherine, which is a service hub for a number of isolated communities.
Ms Fyles said she was aware of the situation but could not guarantee a share of the new funding allocation would go to the region.
She said funding priorities would be determined by a inter-agency working group guided by a new action plan that is overdue for release as part of a 10-year violence reduction strategy.
Funding follows murder-suicide near Alice Springs
The funding announcement came weeks after the death of 30-year-old AK and her 15-week-old baby, in what police are investigating as a suspected murder-suicide by AK's partner.
No updates have been released about the investigation since last month.
Larissa Ellis, chief executive of Women's Safety Services of Central Australia, said the silence was creating a vacuum "for excuses for behaviour, for blame to be laid" and urged police to release more information.
She said the sector would be advocating for ongoing, needs-based funding, but "at the moment, we're in crisis and we'll take what we can".
Apart from increased funding, Ms Ellis said the number of deaths in central Australia in recent years highlighted an urgent need "to look at where did we fail these women and children, what do we need to improve and how do we go about doing it".
"There is absolutely no doubt there is room for improvement — great improvement — across the board, and that includes our service," she said.
In Darwin, Ms Bennett said she believed more trouble had been created by the NT government's lifting of Intervention-era alcohol restrictions, which Aboriginal health groups have said was done without a proper transition period.
The NT government said the restrictions were discriminatory and ended with the expiry of federal legislation.
Ms Fyles said while recent levels of violence in central Australia are "still too high", she had "anecdotal evidence that things have gone back to the figures [prior to the end of alcohol restrictions.]"
Ms Rishworth said the new 10-year national plan to end domestic violence is due for release in October.
