State Budget 2019–20
The Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women will invest $71.9 million in 2019-20 for domestic and family violence services. The department will lead and facilitate efforts to prevent and respond to domestic and family violence, including engaging community and corporate stakeholders.
The department will continue to contribute to the implementation of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy, Queensland's Framework for Action — Reshaping our approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander domestic and family violence, and the Action Plan for Queenslanders with disability who experience domestic and family violence.
Budget highlights include:
- Additional funding of $11.9 million over four years to fund new and expanded services to prevent and respond to youth sexual violence. This includes community education activities and place-based trials to respond to young people who have experienced sexual violence or are engaging in early sexual offending behaviour.
- Additional funding of $1.5 million over two years to respond to the needs of women with a disability, and their children, who experience domestic and family violence.
- Additional funding of $1.2 million over two years to continue and enhance people’s behaviour change programs, which provide intervention services to hold perpetrators to account, help break the cycle of abusive behaviour and reduce domestic and family violence.
In addition, a total of $57 million has been allocated in 2019-20 to sexual assault and women's health and wellbeing services.
The department will engage communities and stakeholders to address the prevalence and impacts of sexual violence through the development of a new Sexual Violence Prevention Framework and address violence against women in all its forms through the refresh of the Queensland Violence Against Women Prevention Plan 2016-2022.
Additional funding of $7.9 million over three years was provided for a suite of pilot programs and services that target the needs of women prisoners and offenders, comprising a parenting program for mothers on remand, and victim counselling and accommodation support to assist women transitioning from remand to bail.
This funding will also support an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Rehabilitation and Healing program, early intervention community program, and procurement of women’s re-entry services at the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre.
For more information about the State Budget 2019-20, including information about child and family services, women, youth and youth justice funding visit www.csyw.qld.gov.au/news/2019-20-budget