Thomson welcomes technology investment to keep women safe across the Hunter

Nationals candidate for Hunter, James Thomson, has today announced a further $150 million investment into a range of measures to deliver on their commitment to ending family, domestic and sexual violence as they continue to build a safer and stronger Hunter.

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The funding includes a $104 million technology-focused package to keep women and children across the Hunter safe and prevent devices being used to perpetrate or facilitate family, domestic and sexual violence, including:

• establishing a $20 million fund for states and territories to trial electronic monitoring of high-risk and persistent family and domestic violence offenders based on Tasmania’s award-winning Project Vigilance

• $54.6 million to support up to 30,000 victim-survivors to stay safe in their own homes through security assessments and upgrades including cameras, bug sweeps and safe phones

• $26.6 million for online safety initiatives including supporting the eSafety Commission to set up a team of experts who will provide victim-survivors practical and personalised support to address technology-facilitated abuse through referrals from counselling services.

The new investment comes as the Government launches the $19 million fourth phase of the Stop it at the Start campaign, Bring Up Respect.

Mr Thomson said this phase of the campaign will assist adults to discuss respect with children from an early age.

“It will screen across television, cinema and social media from 27 March 2022 and be featured on bus stops and other prominent locations across the Hunter,” Mr Thomson said.

“These ads are a powerful reminder of our influence on the next generation and I encourage parents, teachers, sports coaches and other role models to make sure they are having these conversations so that young people in the Hunter grow up understanding respect and our whole community can thrive This announcement is another example of how the Nationals in Government are creating a safer and stronger Hunter.”

The Nationals in Government are also committing an additional $46 million to roll out two further phases of the Stop it at the Start campaign to drive change in people’s attitudes towards violence and raise awareness of new and emerging issues such as tech-facilitated abuse.

This investment will form part of the Commonwealth’s commitment to the First Action Plan 2022-2027, under the next National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, which is currently being finalised with states and territories.

These measures respond to significant stakeholder feedback during the 18-month consultation for the next National Plan to increase the provision of expert safety support to address and prevent tech-facilitated abuse and strengthen the application of intervention orders.

It follows the Morrison Government’s $189 million commitment to new prevention and early intervention measures announced earlier this month which comes on top of the record $1.1 billion investment in women’s safety in the 2021-22 Budget.

A wide variety of tools and resources can be found at www.respect.gov.au to support adults in building positive attitudes and behaviours around respect. Broadcast-quality television commercials and high-resolution versions of other advertisements are available at www.respect.gov.au/the-campaign/media/

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.