In the 2021-22 Budget, the NSW Government committed to investing $204.9 million over the 2021-22 budget year in specialist domestic and family violence services164.
New funding was concentrated on initiatives that support victim-survivor safety, with the expansion of Staying Home Leaving Violence and joint investment in the National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence with the Commonwealth Government.
The NSW Government also invested in several support packages to help address the challenges experienced by domestic and family violence victim-survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
$484.3 million
to ensure victim-survivors have timely access to appropriate support.
$10 million
to support private rental assistance packages.
$2 million
for a temporary expansion of the Rent Choice Start Safely Program over 2 years.
In 2019, the NSW Government also introduced up to 10 days’ paid domestic violence leave for public sector workers and has advocated for national reform to extend this entitlement to private sector workers.
In 2018, the NSW Government developed a whole-of-government framework, the NSW Sexual Assault Strategy 2018-2021 (the Strategy), to improve prevention and response to sexual assault in New South Wales.
It included activities under five key priority areas, including prevention and early intervention, education, supporting victims and survivors, holding perpetrators to account, and reshaping the service system165.
The NSW Government is reviewing the Strategy’s implementation, including assessing progress on and outcomes achieved through the delivery of activities under the Strategy166.
In October 2021, the NSW Government introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Consent Reforms) Bill 2021 to Parliament.
The Bill proposed significant consent law reform, introducing a requirement that consent to sexual activity must be communicated by words or actions, and clarifying that consent cannot be assumed.
The Bill passed NSW Parliament in November 2021 and the new laws commenced on 1 June 2022.
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