A Shorten Labor Government will commit $1.5 million to the Illawarra Womens Health Centre to establish a service to support women escaping and recovering from domestic and family violence (DFV).

This election will be a choice between a united Shorten Labor Government which will support the vulnerable in our community, or more of the Liberals cuts and chaos.

The service will link family violence services with health, legal and financial counselling to better support women and children escaping family violence.

In 2017-18, almost 800 women presented with DFV as their primary issue at the Illawarra Womens Health Centre. More recently, up to five women a day have come to the Centre seeking crisis support.

This service, based at the Illawarra Womens Health Centre in Warilla, will provide services across the Southern Illawarra region.

In partnership with Lifeline South Coast and the Illawarra Legal Centre, the Illawarra Womens Health Centre will establish a team to simultaneously address a womans critical financial and legal issues arising from domestic and family violence while providing trauma-informed health and wellbeing support.

This project, based on the Macaulay model developed in Victoria, provides crisis support while developing pathways to safety, financial and legal independence, and psychosocial and emotional recovery.

A Shorten Labor Government will more than double investment in the Fourth Action Plan to prevent and respond to family violence, delivering record Commonwealth funding of over $660 million.

More information about Labors policies to prevent and respond to family violence is available here.

This election is a choice between better services with Labor, or more cuts and chaos under the Liberals.

End the chaos. Vote for change. Vote forLabor.