In Victoria alone, Police deal with almost 100,000 family violence incidents a year. There are many more unreported ones, especially within culturally diverse communities.
Yet, despite the evidence that culturally appropriate services can save lives – Victoria still does not have culturally specific refuges for women trying to escape life-threatening situations.
Both NSW and QLD have established culturally specific women’s refuges.
All women must feel able to reach out for support, and feel confident that their cultural needs will be understood.
We know that women from culturally diverse communities experience more social isolation, visa abuse and barriers to accessing services that often leaves them more vulnerable to family violence.
This is why we need to urgently expand and better fund culturally specific family violence response services and establish a network of culturally specific women’s refuges for those escaping dangerous situations in Victoria.
This is an important step in our mission to end family and domestic violence and to keep women safe.
Without a culturally-specific women’s refuge in Victoria, communities are being failed by a Government unwilling to invest in the tailored support they need.
We must act to protect women from violence.
Sign our petition to tell the Victorian Government that we need culturally specific women’s refuges in Victoria.