Page 1906 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 23 June 2021
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and relieve additional pressure arising from COVID-19. The government also provided $1 million in grant funding via the provider support fund to support community service organisations to adopt innovative ways to conduct essential business so that providers could continue operations remotely. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the extraordinary work of all front-line services to maintain and even expand their services during COVID-19, by providing online chat services, phone consultations or other remote meetings. These services stayed open and continued to support the community.
On a national level, the commonwealth government recognised the increase of the complexity and severity of domestic and family violence through the National Partnership on COVID-19 Response. Funding supported a range of initiatives to respond to increases in domestic and family and sexual violence as a result of COVID-19, and to ensure that services can continue to support those who need it most.
While the ACT continues to be well placed to respond to any additional impacts of COVID-19, we will continue to work closely with the sector to plan and prepare for the impact of COVID-19 on community members.
I would now like to highlight some of the significant achievements the ACT government and community have made over the last 12 months.
We know that domestic and family violence requires an integrated, collaborative response from government and non-government service providers. Integration is needed at a service level so that front-line services can easily work together to address the needs of families experiencing violence. Integration is also needed at a system-wide level so that the approach is consistent and considered and can respond to all those affected by domestic and family violence.
At a service level, we already have a number of examples of integrated service responses. Led by the Victims of Crime Commissioner, the Family Violence Safety Action Pilot is providing intensive case management for high-risk and complex cases of domestic and family violence. After less than a year of operation, the service is providing significant insights into how to effectively manage high-risk situations of domestic and family violence, prevent escalation to a point of crisis, and provide the specific support services needed by both the victim-survivor and perpetrator.
The pilot is supporting some of the highest risk cases of domestic and family violence in the community—cases in which there is sexual, physical, emotional, financial and psychological abuse; cases in which support is needed from across the service sector to provide safe accommodation, support for children, interventions for perpetrators, legal assistance, and health services.
The pilot provides intensive case management, working with individuals and their support services. The pilot provides not only case coordination but also advice and support for services. The pilot is also providing case coordination and advice where other services are providing intensive support but still require assistance to navigate the system for their clients. This kind of intensive response is not needed for all cases
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