The Hodgman Liberal Government is taking action on family violence in our State to keep Tasmanian woman and their children safe.
In August, we demonstrated our strong commitment with a new, $26 million Family Violence Action Plan, which was hailed as nation leading.
Today, on White Ribbon Day, I am pleased to launch the Safe Homes, Safe Families Implementation Plan (August 2015 - December 2016) to drive that investment.
Under this plan, the Liberal Government has provided funding for additional counselling services for adults and children impacted by family violence, and we have appointed three new police prosecutors.
We are also finalising funding agreements to community legal services to provide additional community legal advice and outreach services.
We’re well advanced on our new flagship unit – Safe Families Tasmania with Inspector Brett Berry appointed as the head of the Unit and recruitment underway for operational staff.
The first family has already been housed under the Rapid Rehousing program with five community providers participating in a plan to establish a pool of 50 homes.
We have now commenced recruitment for three additional psychologists and three additional social workers to support children in our schools who have been affected by family violence.
We’ve already amended the Family Violence Act and there will be more legislative changes to come after the examination of provisions for dangerous or persistent family violence offenders and the Sentencing Advisory Council’s report into Family Violence Sentencing, soon to be released.
With $100 million in Federal funding announced, we are also working to see how we can partner with the Commonwealth on additional initiatives.