Federal funding for rent assistance and homelessness services will be reassessed to provide better services for victims and survivors of domestic violence and guarantee value for money, the federal social services minister, Christian Porter, has said.
Although homelessness and housing assistance falls largely under the remit of state governments, the federal government provides money for several programs.
State governments and service providers have criticised the federal government for uncertainty about the long-term funding of some of these programs, including the national partnership agreement on homelessness.
They argued that funding uncertainty had led to women’s refuges being shut and women and children being turned away.
Porter said the way the funding was allocated was under the spotlight.
“One of the things that the treasurer spoke about is reassessing that global amount of funding, which is at the point of about $11bn, and try to work out ways to get better value in the long term for that spend,” he said on Wednesday. “I’m engaged with the treasurer about how we can provide better continuity ... but also get better results for what is a large expenditure.”
Money for the national partnership agreement on homelessness was due to run out in June, and the federal government stepped in only weeks before its expiry date. Funding is now guaranteed until June 2017.
Domestic violence is one of the main drivers of homelessness in women, and a recent Senate inquiry recommended that the partnership agreement be funded for at least four years to allow service providers to plan.
To coincide with white ribbon day on Wednesday, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and Porter launched a study into attitudes on violence against women. It found that victim-blaming was rampant, and deeply entrenched community attitudes were a barrier to reducing family and domestic violence.
Turnbull said violence against women and children was one of the “great shames of our nation”, and said men needed to intervene when they saw other men mistreating women.
“Clearly a big part of this is ... that ‘passive dismissive’ attitude. It’s not a term I’ve heard before, but I think it acutely sums up the cultural problem that we’re grappling with,” he said. “We’ve all got a shared responsibility here.”
Also on Wednesday Labor released its policy on domestic violence leave, saying if it won office it would mandate five days of leave so survivors could attend court, find accommodation or seek counselling.
“Survivors should not have the added stress of missing work and all the financial uncertainty that creates,” the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said. “If we do not provide them this support, they are more likely to have to stay where they are.”
Turnbull said that the Productivity Commission would look into the proposal as part of its review of fair work laws.
“We will consider it very carefully,” he said during question time.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has criticised the proposal, saying small businesses cannot afford to pay for mandatory days of domestic leave.
“They must be free to respond to the circumstances of their employees in effective ways that work for both parties,” its chief executive, Kate Carnell, said. “These may include granting time off, enabling access to other forms of leave and affording maximum flexibility with working hours and locations.”
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on Wednesday announced that Queensland public servants would be entitled to 10 days of domestic violence leave a year.
“My government wants to be a champion for workplace cultural change,” she said. “I encourage all Queensland employers to look at what we are doing and think about what they can do in their own workplaces to help colleagues at their most vulnerable.”
