Funds a 'drop in the ocean' against Illawarra's rising wave of domestic violence

The Illawarra Women's Health Centre stands to win a piece of a $9 million funding pie announced by the government on Wednesday in response to booming demand for services nation-wide.

But with individual grants capped at $150,000, and the money to be spent in the short term, centre GM Sally Stevenson says the program represents "a drop in the ocean".

Ms Stevenson said women were waiting 2-3 weeks for an appointment at the centre earlier this year. But by late-April and early May waits began soaring towards their current 2.5-3 month-mark.

"For women who might be reaching out for the first time, or in a real crisis, that's just not acceptable," she said.

On Wednesday Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Mark Speakman invited applications for a new COVID-19 Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence Grant program.

Ms Stevenson will apply for a grant to pay for another counsellor or case worker at the Illawarra service, which currently has just three full-time equivalent workers: a counsellor, a case worker and a psychologist for 350-380 active clients. But she questions why the grant is not being awarded automatically.

"Our centre is nationally accredited, we're audited every year, funded by the state government," she said. "We get referrals from government services, women come to us because they trust us, and yet we still have to compete for funding."

"The fact that services like ours, under extreme pressure and under-resourced, have to compete for this money: that's actually not good enough. That the safety and access to support services for women in the Illawarra depends on my tender writing skills is really incredible."

In May, an Australian Institute of Criminology survey of 15,000 women found almost 5 per cent of women had experience relationship violence in the previous three months. One-third of these were experiencing violence within their relationshp for the first time. More than half of the women with prior experience of violence said it had gotten worse since the pandemic.

Mr Speakman acknowledged the important work performed by frontline workers when announcing the grants on Wednesday.

"Victim-survivors often contact frontline services before they make the decision to go to the police, which is why it's so important these organisations have the necessary capacity to deliver appropriate supports to those most in need," he said.

Federal Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston said the funding was part of a broader $150 million investment to boost services during COVID-19.

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