The communal model of shelter offered to women fleeing domestic violence in NSW needs to change. It would need to change even if the state government hadn't caused major disruption to women's refuges with its poorly thought-out Going Home, Staying Home policy, but now the policy is in place the need is even sharper.
The communal model of women's refuges with shared kitchens, bathrooms and living spaces is a product of the 1970s and arrived at with good intention. In theory it offers women the opportunity to share their experiences with others in the same situation and to gain support from them. In some cases this may happen, but the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.
Many women find the shared spaces noisy and alienating. Traumatised children not only have to adjust to living in a strange place but also with strangers. Sometimes mothers with adolescent boys can be excluded. Catering for women or children with disabilities can be difficult.
And now that Going Home, Staying Home requires refuges to offer places to all homeless women, not just victims of family violence, many women may find themselves living in close quarters with others who have very different life experiences and needs to theirs. Going Home, Staying Home was announced in 2012 and saw services put out to tender for the first time in 25 years.
Advocacy group SOS Women's Services has proposed the state government move away from communal accommodation to self-contained units, which would provide privacy and calm. It has suggested four pilot sites where existing facilities can build the new-style accommodation. Full marks to pop star Guy Sebastian and his wife, Jules, for offering to provide furnishing, via their Sebastian Foundation, if the state government climbs aboard.
Phasing out communal refuges was a key recommendation of Victoria's groundbreaking Royal Commission into Family Violence and Victoria is committed to it, at a cost of $70 million. The cost in NSW is estimated to be larger because the system is bigger.
Since applying the shock therapy of Going Home, Staying Home, the NSW government has been working to restabilise the refuge sector. Last November, Minister Brad Hazzard gave it funding security, announcing refuge services would have their contracts extended until 2020. This was a significant and welcome move. The state government's other domestic violence reforms such as Suspect Target Management Plans, under which police monitor high-risk offenders, and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, which allows potential victims to check on their partner's history of criminal violence, are excellent.
Endorsing the conversion of communal refuges to self-contained units statewide and starting work on the four sites suggested by SOS would continue this positive trajectory. It would properly support the changed nature of many refuges, which the government's own policy has forced.
But it would still put the Baird government behind the Victorian government in adequately funding and modernising our response to domestic violence. Demand has never been higher. Nor has the public's desire to see real change.
The Andrews government has pledged an unprecedented $572 million over two years to the chronically under-funded sector ($500 million in new money). If the Baird government is serious about tackling domestic violence, it needs to assess and acknowledge the true need for services in NSW and fund them accordingly.