FIT the funding formula or get slapped around by the system, that’s the message the State Government sent to the Western Women’s Domestic Violence Support Network.
The government has ignored the Sunshine-based service in the latest funding round for family violence support agencies, which will result in the closure of the network in June.
But Network coordinator Geraldine Ellawala is determined to keep the service alive, because it’s the only organisation in Melbourne offering long term one-on-one support for survivors of domestic violence.
The network has helped women in the City of Maribyrnong and across the West for 11 years, and last year alone helped more than 450.
Mrs Ellawala said family violence support services also depend on the network, with 46 agencies in the West referring clients to the service during 2005.
She said the network wasn’t closing its doors because the community didn’t need the service but because it did not fit neatly into the funding formula worked out by government bureaucrats.
The State Government last week launched a new system of funding for agencies which help women caught in the cycle of domestic violence.
This year’s funding of $9.4 million is part of a $40.6 million package that will be paid to about 70 agencies over three years.
Housing Minister Candy Broad said it was the “biggest package to assist family violence victims in Victoria’s history, more than doubling funding for these family violence services”.
Organisations that will benefit from the package include Women’s Health West, McKillop Family Services and Western Region Health Centre.
But, Mrs Ellawala said the new system of funding pitted family violence services against each other in the competitive tendering process, while there wasn’t even a classification under which the Western Network could apply for cash.
“In the funding specifications, they talk about crisis intervention, they talk of prevention, they talk of repeat service users and intensive case management,” Mrs Ellawala said.
“Nobody is talking about post-crisis support.”
Network volunteers support women who have left domestic violence situations, and who must untangle official red tape relating to restraining orders, divorce, child visitation laws, child care, maintenance and other issues.
Volunteers even attend Family Court when requested.
The wider community acknowledges the work of the network, commissioner of Victoria Police Christine Nixon awarded it a certification of appreciation in 2005 for reducing the incidence of domestic violence in Brimbank.
State MP for Footscray Bruce Mildenhall also supports of the service.
When the network realised last year it would run out of funds, he petitioned ministers in various departments for funding but without success.
Mr Mildenhall will again try to convince the State Government that the West needs the network.
“I have drawn this to the minister’s attention already in telephone calls, and I know there is a level of awareness there that I am hopeful we can convert into additional resources,” he said.
Mrs Ellawala said the network needed $239,000 a year to run effectively.
“That is to adequately reimburse our volunteers, employ a couple of full-time staff, an admin worker and child care for our group and for our volunteers,” she said.
“At the moment, when our volunteers go to court we are reimbursing them only for out of pocket expenses for travel and phone calls.
“When they put their children in child care to support the service, they are out of pocket.”
Mrs Ellawala said it was important that on-going post-crisis support remained available to women in the West.
“Years of abuse cannot be solved by quick fix methods, and the provision of long-term support by specially trained volunteers and staff is the major strength of the network.”
