No to Violence

Two years ago, the Prime Minister called family violence a national crisis. But last night’s Budget suggests it is no longer being treated like one.

While there were positive steps, including investment to address systems abuse through the Child Support Scheme and support for First Nations-led responses, the bigger picture remains unchanged: Australia still lacks a coordinated national strategy focused on stopping men’s violence before it escalates.

Violence against women and children costs Australia more than $28 billion annually, yet funding to implement the National Plan accounted for less than 0.2% of government spending from 2022 to 2025. And that’s before next to nothing new was invested for family violence in this budget.

For women and children trapped in violent homes, tonight’s budget offers them no relief. We cannot keep waiting until families are in crisis before acting.

Every budget is a statement of priorities for the Government.

Australians are constantly being told that governments need to spend more and more on nuclear submarines, missiles, and miliary capacity to “keep Australians safe.”

The Federal Government is set to increase Defence spending by $53 billion over the next decade, while investment in implementing the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children has accounted for less than 0.2% of government spending in recent budgets.

At the same time, family violence continues to cost Australia more than $28 billion every year, while women and children are still being terrorised, controlled and killed in their own homes every day.

If family violence continues to receive fragmented responses while the crisis escalates, Australians will draw their own conclusions about where the safety of families really sits on the national agenda. Tomorrow, we need the Albanese Government to invest in stopping family violence before it starts. Here’s what needs to be done:https://ntv.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/NTV_2026-27-Federal-Budget-Submission-2.pdf

Today’s Victorian Budget represents a serious failure of leadership, delivering no meaningful investment in preventing men’s violence and - ten years on from the Royal Commission into Family Violence - no plan for what comes next.

The Budget continues to fund piecemeal crisis responses but fails to stop family violence at its source, despite clear evidence that violence is patterned, progressive and predictable and can be stopped before it escalates.

More than 1.1 million, or roughly one in three Victorian men are estimated to use violence over their lifetime. A significant proportion of violence is never reported, yet the available data already reveals an overwhelming level of harm. Victoria Police responded to more than 106,000 perpetrators last year, 80 per cent of them repeat users of family violence.

Any investment that strengthens safety for victim-survivors is important, and we welcome progress where it occurs, but the Budget does not:

• Expand early intervention responses to stop violence at its source
• Address critical service and workforce gaps
• Ensure people can get the help and support they need
• Deliver a coordinated, whole-of-government response

With Victoria heading into an election year, the absence of a clear plan and investment in prevention should be a central issue for voters and policymakers.

Tomorrow’s budget will be a defining moment for Victoria, and will signal this Government’s key priorities moving into the election.

Victorians are feeling the pressure, whether it’s at the grocery store, or at the petrol pump- and it’s rightfully being treated as a whole-of-government issue.

Men’s use of family violence must be treated the same way.

Family violence does not sit alongside these pressures, it runs through them, and shapes demand across housing, health, police, courts and community services. But time and time again, it’s treated as a funding afterthought.

This Budget can change that.

We can keep throwing money at the consequences of violence, or we can invest in preventing it. Right now, we are doing the former, and Victorians are paying the price.

To address this crisis, this budget must deliver:

• A clear commitment to closing the early intervention gap in Victoria’s family violence response
• A renewed, long-term family violence strategy, with a dedicated focus on addressing men’s use of violence at its source
• Targeted initiatives that engage men using violence earlier, placing them on a path to accountability and sustained behaviour change
• Investment across the full continuum of the system to reduce reliance on crisis responses and better support earlier intervention
• A shift away from short-term, stop-gap funding toward sustained investment, and a system that can meet demand and support long-term safety and recovery.