Samantha Ratnam’s Member Statement on IWD23: We need better funding for family violence services
We are 9 weeks into 2023, and already 11 women have been killed in Australia because of family or gendered violence.
Our multicultural communities are at the frontlines of the family violence epidemic.
They are losing women every week and their stories are not being heard.
Today, and all days, we condole the loss of these women – we keep their families and communities in our hearts.
Mainstream approaches have failed our communities. We still don’t have a culturally-specific women’s refuge in Victoria despite many other states getting on with these life saving initiatives.
Without such services we’ll continue to see more lives tragically lost to family violence.
Funding Victoria’s first culturally-specific refuge is an important step in our mission to end family and domestic violence and to keep women safe.
This #internationalwomensday, we call on the state government to better fund family violence services for our culturally diverse communities in Victoria.