Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are killed at more than five times the rate of other Australian women – and are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised.
The budget poured nearly $200m into stemming that tide, as part of an overall $589.3m boost to the government’s National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, announced in October.
“Australia’s first dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan … is being developed in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council on family, domestic and sexual violence to ensure the voices of First Nations people are at the centre of this work,” according to the Women’s Budget Statement.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are killed at more than five times the rate of other Australian women.
“The government is also providing funding to support the development of a stand-alone First Nations National Plan for Family Safety (and) providing $18.6m to prevent and address sexual violence, and funding to support migrant women, including women on temporary visas, to escape violence.”
Prior to the budget, the federal government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce recommended six priorities.
Three were delivered in the lead-up: the reinstatement of the single parenting payment for women with children over eight; abolition of the Parents Next Program, which aligned parenting payments to participation in vocational education; and abolition of the Childcare Subsidy Activity Test.
Originally published as Federal Budget 2023: $200m to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women