Overworked Queanbeyan domestic violence services will be able to employ two more staff members due to a government grant announced on Monday, August 1.
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The funding comes after the Queanbeyan's Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service saw an increase of more than 400 per cent in referrals for women in domestic violence situations.
The massive spike was caused by a change in police reporting legislation introduced in July 2015, that requires police to record every domestic violence incident they attend in a statewide, centralised computer system which then refers the victim on to local support services.
Queanbeyan Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service received 189 domestic violence referrals from police in February this year compared to an average of 32 per month prior to July last year.
The three months before February 2016 also saw an average of 150 referrals each month.
The funding is part of the Safer Pathways program being rolled out across NSW, which will inject $53 million over four years into domestic violence assistance.
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Pru Goward made the announcement at the Queanbeyan Police Station.
She said the program aims to ensure domestic violence victims receive consistent and effective responses regardless of where they live.
"Following the success of Safer Pathway's first six sites, the NSW government has committed $53 million over four years to expand Safer Pathway statewide, with 21 new locations rolling out in 2016-17," Ms Goward said.
Safer Pathways aims to connect various domestic violence organisations, such as child support, courts, police, drug and alcohol services and social housing, to direct the victim on the best, most supportive path for their unique situation.
"It sounds very simple, but there have been huge privacy rules that have stopped organisations and government departments from sharing the vital information that people need to know what's best for a victim of domestic violence," Ms Goward said.
"We know that if we keep them safe, they are less likely to go back to violence so they are less likely to be re-victimised, and offenders are less likely to reoffend."
Queanbeyan Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service co-ordinator, Kerry Mobbs, said the funding was "fantastic news".
"Since last July, we have been really overworked with the amount of referrals, I'm really grateful to minister Goward for allocating that money.
"It's been pretty tough for workers, but we've hung in there," Ms Mobbs said.
"So we are ready to go and we can't wait to get some new workers to start."
The new money will be put to use in March 2017.