Our Plan to Address Family and Domestic Violence

We live in the best country in the world. However, currently, one woman is killed by her current or former partner every 11 days. It is a national tragedy.

Every Australian has a right to live free from harm, violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation. Women should be respected in their homes, their workplaces, their community, at school and online.

Tragically, women and children are still enduring or being exposed to violence and trauma, many at the hands of those close to them.

The Coalition believes that Australians’ safety and security are the first responsibility of government.

Across Australia, reported incidents of domestic and family violence continue to rise. Recorded sexual assaults reached a three-decade high in 2024 and 45,000 children remain in out-of-home care. Women are calling helplines every four minutes, with police responding to a domestic violence incident every six minutes.

The Coalition will always be committed to addressing this terrible scourge.

In government, we invested more than $3.5 billion in women’s safety. Our initiatives meant more frontline support, emergency accommodation and access to legal and health services for women and children in need. We have a strong track record on online safety and cracking down against image-based abuse.

The Coalition supports the 10-year National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. The National Plan sets out a path to end violence against women in one generation. It is an ambitious goal, but one our country must strive to achieve.

It is clear much more must be done. An elected Dutton Coalition Government will address key gaps in ending family, domestic and sexual violence and improve the outcomes of those escaping violence.

A Dutton Coalition Government will:

Implement a National Domestic Violence Register, allowing police across Australia and relevant agencies to access and share information about previous family violence convictions to better manage risk and avoid future offending.
Take strong action against perpetrators of family and domestic violence through specialist early and behavioural intervention programs and tougher monitoring measures.
Establish new domestic violence offences with tough bail laws.
Develop uniform national knife laws with the states and territories.
Lift the threshold for fast-track property settlements in the family law courts, so that separating couples with an asset pool of up to $1.5 million (excluding superannuation) can quickly and fairly resolve matters that do not involve children.
Improve online safety for women and children.
Expand the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program to assist more victim-survivors and their families escaping violence.
Support women and children fleeing domestic violence with emergency payments through the Leaving Violence Program.
Increase crisis helpline support so victim-survivors fleeing family and domestic violence have their calls answered and get the immediate assistance required.
Support community organisations to deliver domestic violence awareness training.
Recycle mobile phones so victim-survivors of family and domestic violence cannot be tracked, harassed or further abused.
Improve child safety and protection and ensure the delivery of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.
Launch a Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse in Indigenous communities to address these horrific crimes and do everything possible to ensure all Australian children are safe and their childhood protected.
Strengthen Commonwealth taxation, welfare and superannuation systems where practicable to eradicate financial abuse, coercive control and unfair outcomes following family and domestic violence.

These priorities will help keep Australians safe, particularly women and children.

Our Plan

1. Implement a National Domestic Violence Register

A Dutton Coalition Government will implement a National Domestic Violence Register, to allow police across Australia and relevant agencies to access and share information about a person’s family violence convictions. This will allow police to better manage risk and avoid future offending.

There is currently no single information register for police and other agencies to identify domestic violence perpetrators, especially when they move around Australia. As a result, police are often called upon to make risk assessments based on limited information about a person’s offending history. The lack of one national ‘source of truth’, which is quick and easily accessible, can hamper that decision-making.

The Coalition’s National Domestic Violence Register will draw together data from states and territories to make information accessible to police and other relevant agencies. The Register would build on and complement recent family law amendments initiated by the Coalition which allow information sharing in the family law courts. This initiative builds on existing datasets at the state level to better enable police to identify individuals with a history of family violence, and to respond to risks, across Australia.

2. Strong action against perpetrators

The Coalition will commit $8.6 million to take strong action against perpetrators of family and domestic violence. This has been an area neglected by the Albanese Labor Government, who are now playing catch up on this important issue.

We will strengthen the responses to perpetrators of family and domestic violence through specialist early and behavioural intervention programs. We will also work with the States and Territories to further boost law and order initiatives, such as electronic monitoring and ankle bracelets for high-risk perpetrators.

This commitment builds on the Coalition’s strong record of addressing the issue of family and domestic violence at its source: by stopping perpetrators and taking action to ensure they don’t reoffend.

It will also complement our proposed new National Domestic Violence Register which will allow police across Australia to access and share information about a person’s family violence convictions and better manage risk and avoid future offending.

3. Establish new domestic violence offences and develop uniform knife laws

A Dutton Coalition Government will make it an offence to use a carriage service to cause an intimate partner or family member to fear for their personal safety, to track them using spyware, or engage in coercive behaviours.

These types of behaviours can be precursors to violence. The new offences are designed to empower police to step in much earlier, before the behaviour escalates. These federal offences will be able to be used by state and territory police forces, giving them an additional tool in the armoury which can be used regardless of the state and territory police forces across the country.

Importantly, these new Commonwealth offences are backed by tough bail laws which establish a strong presumption against bail, which must be considered by a judicial officer who is required to make the victim’s safety the paramount consideration.

In addition, the Coalition will provide much needed leadership on the prevention of knife crime. We will work with states and territories to develop uniform knife laws across all jurisdictions. This includes laws which give police the power to stop and search people using detector wands – like Queensland’s ‘Jack’s Law’, and laws which limit and restrict the sale and possession of knives to minors and dangerous individuals.

We will support a national roll-out of detector wands, in every jurisdiction, to empower police to get weapons off our streets.

4. Expand Fast-Track Family Law Resolutions

The Coalition will lift the threshold for fast-track property settlements in the family law courts, so that separating couples with an asset pool of up to $1.5 million (excluding superannuation) can resolve matters that do not involve children quickly and fairly.

In government, the Coalition established the “PPP500” as a pilot program to speed up cases involving separating couples where the dispute centred on the division of property valued at less than $500,000. The initiative allowed family law cases to be resolved quickly, through a simplified fast-track process.

The “PPP500” initially operated in the Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Parramatta Registries of the Family Law courts. The Australian Institute of Family Studies reviewed the program and recommended it be continued and expanded.

Prolonged court proceedings can be a risk factor for family violence, and fast-track property settlements in the family law courts help address that risk. The scheme frees up resources in other parts of the family law courts to deal with domestic and family violence. Under an elected Dutton Coalition Government, this highly successful program will be increased to include an asset pool of up to $1.5 million (not including superannuation) and offers access to simple and quick family law and property settlements, including for vulnerable parties.

5. Improve online safety for women and children

The Coalition will ensure that the safety and protection of women and children online is a top priority. It was the Coalition which introduced the world-leading Online Safety Act. We also established and fully funded the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.

Protecting children and young Australians from the harm of social media is one of the defining issues of our time. In no other generation have children been exposed to so much damaging material at such a young age. It is crucial that we act to address this issue. This is why a Dutton Coalition Government will act to boost e-safety education for children through a $6 million boost to the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.

The Coalition has a long record of implementing world-leading reforms to ensure Australians remain safe online. Other important initiatives from our time in Government included:

Providing over $16 million towards Women’s Safety Online to establish a new telephone service providing support for women and children experiencing technology-facilitated abuse;
$10 million to boost support for Non-Government Organisations focused on online safety, with organisations such as the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and Alannah and Madeline Foundation;
$5 million for eSafety to expand its national awareness campaign, bringing total funding for the campaign to $10 million;
Establishing an inquiry into social media and online safety;
A new Online Safety Youth Advisory Council;
Drafting new laws to improve online privacy and ensure social media companies give primary consideration to the best interests of the child when handling their personal information; and
Updating Australia’s Classification System to protect children against content such as loot boxes in video games and to address content that sexualises children or depicts suicide and violence against women and children.

6. Expand the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program

The Safe Places Emergency Accommodation program provides capital grants for the construction, renovation, or purchase of new emergency accommodation facilities for women and children experiencing family and domestic violence.

The Coalition will amend the current requirements to allow approval of grants starting from $20,000, rather than from $100,000 (with the current grant cap of $10 million maintained).
The process of building new crisis and transition housing for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence is lengthy. Housing approvals have slumped, and material costs have gone up and up. As a result, we need to support the shelters already providing critical services to women and children.

That’s why refreshing existing crisis accommodation needs to be ramped up to recognise that renovations and refurbishments can be completed more swiftly than new home builds, to support more women and children more quickly.

Under the current scheme, grants under the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program start at $100,000, which may be out of reach for some shelters needing cheaper internal fit-outs, like splitting an open plan room into private rooms. Many crisis accommodation locations could benefit from a smaller grant to refresh a space to make it more suitable for women with children.

The availability of smaller sum grants from $20,000 would also see small, local building companies be able to commit to quick projects that provide significant benefit to existing shelters to service more of the community.

7. Supporting emergency payments

The former Coalition Government established emergency payments to support women and children fleeing domestic violence through the Escaping Violence Program in 2021, the forerunner to the current Leaving Violence Program.

Under the program, eligible victim-survivors can receive an individualised financial support package of up to $1,500 in cash and up to $3,500 in goods and services, as well as safety planning, risk assessment and referrals to other essential services for up to 12 weeks. Of the $1,500 cash payment, up to $500 can be paid as an immediate assistance payment to those in crisis during the application process.

An elected Dutton Coalition Government will continue our support for this important program to provide critical assistance to victim-survivors at the most vulnerable time.

8. Increase crisis helpline support

The Coalition will increase funding for crisis helpline support so women fleeing family and domestic violence have their calls answered and receive the immediate assistance they require.

The Coalition’s expanded support for crisis helplines will ensure that there is a single entry point for callers to Commonwealth-funded services as well as text or internet contacts, directing them to available operators. This one-door approach will provide an immediate response and reduce stress for people requiring frontline support.

Helplines are often the first, and sometimes only, point of contact for victim-survivors and crucial for those isolated by their circumstances. However, these vital helplines struggle to meet the demand of a call from a woman every four minutes. These missed opportunities to respond to calls for help occur across Australia. For isolated Australians and those living in rural, regional and remote areas, helplines may be their only avenue for immediate assistance.

9. Deliver domestic violence awareness training

The Coalition will provide $10 million to support community organisations to deliver domestic violence awareness training and help prevent these horrific crimes.

Everyone has a role to play in calling out family and domestic violence. Our invaluable community groups interact with thousands of people every day. We want to ensure they have the tools to help raise awareness and reduce family and domestic violence rates in their communities.

Equipping people with information regarding family and domestic violence and mental health issues will enable more people in the community to assist in recognising, advocating and addressing the factors that have led to the increasing incidence of domestic violence.

This policy recognises that everyone has a responsibility to be informed about domestic, family, and sexual violence, and identify behaviours and warning signs. The awareness training to be delivered by community organisations will disrupt pathways to violence, improve community safety and prevent the deaths of more women in Australia.

10. Recycle mobile phones for victims of domestic violence

The Coalition will support organisations recycling mobile phones for victim-survivors of family and domestic violence, especially small, community-based groups. These organisations source second-hand phones and restore them for distribution to victims and those at risk of domestic violence for use in times of need and protection. This initiative ensures that victim-survivors of family and domestic violence cannot be tracked, harassed or further abused.

This practical support will protect victim-survivors and their families, and help these organisations to support more people in need at critical times. Having access to communication devices when under threat or in need will deliver vital help for victim-survivors and their families. This is practical, local support which could help to save lives and protect families.

11. Improve child safety and protection and deliver the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children

The Coalition will implement a National Child Protection Risk Assessment Framework to ensure a single, best practice approach to child protection matters across all government services.
Every Australian child should be treated the same. Yet there is currently no single approach or best practice to risk assessment in child protection matters. The social, human and economic cost is immense. More than half of children aged 10 and over subject to child justice supervision during 2021-22 had been the recipient of a child protection service in the previous five years.

The National Child Protection Risk Assessment Framework will introduce a national best practice approach for all government services assessing children in their respective child protection systems.

A unified Framework will eliminate cross-jurisdictional child protection challenges and ensure that no matter where they live, each child will be assessed to the same standard and better protected.

The Coalition will also require all organisations that receive Commonwealth funding to comply with the Child Safe Framework.

In addition, a Dutton Coalition Government will ensure the delivery of outcomes under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission’s role would be expanded to include reviewing and reporting on the delivery of outcomes for all funding provided under the National Plan.

To further improve child safety, we will also launch a Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse in Indigenous communities to implement reforms to address these horrific crimes and do everything possible to ensure all Australian children are safe and their childhood protected.

The Coalition will establish the Super Home Buyer Scheme to allow older women and women fleeing family and domestic violence to access up to $50,000 of their own superannuation to help with the purchase of a home.

This will support older women and women fleeing domestic violence to overcome the prohibitive challenge of saving for a home deposit by allowing superannuation savings to be used to help build their deposit.

We believe in empowering Australians to build a secure future.

For many older women and those leaving family and domestic violence, a relationship breakdown or separation later in life can be financially devastating, stripping away shared assets, financial security and increasing the risk of homelessness.

It’s a reality faced by many women who, despite working and contributing, find themselves locked out of home ownership.

By enabling access to their own superannuation towards a deposit, we offer another pathway to stability, dignity and financial independence in retirement and after the trauma of family and domestic violence.

12. Stop the use of Commonwealth systems to perpetrate financial abuse, coercive control and unfair outcomes

A Dutton Coalition Government will strengthen Commonwealth taxation, welfare and superannuation systems where practicable to eradicate financial abuse, coercive control and unfair outcomes following family and domestic violence.

As recommended in the recent Report of the Government’s Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches, the Coalition will seek to implement changes to stop perpetrators of family and domestic violence from “weaponising government systems”. The Coalition will always take strong action against perpetrators to end their abuse in all forms.

The Choice

Only the Coalition will take strong and decisive action to keep Australians safe.

The need for evidence-based, effective prevention and early intervention is critical to protect Australians, prevent them from becoming victim-survivors and take the pressure off an overwhelmed frontline sector.

The Coalition’s new commitments to address family and domestic violence build on our strong record and previous policies.

The Coalition has already committed to a range of policies that will directly or indirectly support victim-survivors of family and domestic violence, including: restoring the number of Medicare-subsidised psychological sessions from 10 to 20; delivering a comprehensive Women’s Health package; and doubling funding to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

The Coalition’s comprehensive approach stands in stark contrast to that of the Albanese Labor Government, which has shown a lack of urgency in addressing family and domestic violence.

The Coalition understands that violence can be at the end of a chain of events across someone’s life. But we also know that, with the right decisions and the right interventions, we can break the chain and save women not only from the most extreme end of violence, but also from disrespectful behaviour and coercion.

If we get this right, our society will be a safer, happier and healthier place.

Only an elected Dutton Coalition Government will comprehensively address family and domestic violence to improve women’s and children’s safety.