One in two women in Australia does not feel safe walking alone at night, according to a report released as state and federal ministers prepare for a summit on family violence.
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The report, by the Community Council of Australia, looks at the kind of country it believes Australians want to live in, using a range of factors such as personal safety, education levels, suicide, incarceration rates and the gap between rich and poor.
"We want a generous and kind Australia, where we take pride in supporting the less fortunate," the council's chairman, Tim Costello, said. "Ultimately, we are all much more than passengers in an economy."
The report, The Australia We Want, found that although Australians like to see themselves as a tolerant community, with a she'll-be-right attitude, the reality for many people is much darker.
It found only one in two women feels safe walking alone at night, a figure that was lower than in similar countries.
The findings come as ministers prepare to attend the National Family Violence Summit in Brisbane on Friday.
Parliament heard last week that more than a year after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced his Women's Safety Package, much of the money allocated to a key initiative remains unused.
In September last year, $12 million was committed to a trial for new technology designed to keep women safe, such as GPS trackers for domestic violence perpetrators.
Last week the government confirmed that only one project, worth $180,000, had been announced.
"As is so often the case, the Turnbull government is big on talk but small on delivery," Labor's family violence prevention spokeswoman, Terri Butler, said.
"The minister claims to have another nine unannounced projects in the wings, but it has been more than a year since the measure was announced."
Announcements of the other projects would be made in the near future, Social Services Minister Christian Porter told a parliamentary debate on Tuesday.
"It is not true to say that the money has not been allocated, but because those grants and the trials are done in co-operation with state and territory jurisdictions, they rely on a bilateral rather than unilateral announcement of those projects," he said.
Former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty has called on ministers to change the Family Law Act so that victims of family violence are no longer able to be cross-examined by their abusers in court.
The issue should be the first priority for ministers, Ms Batty and Women's Legal Services said.
