This story contains references to domestic violence.
Countering the tracking of people by abusive current or former partners is the focus of a new government plan, and survivors are desperate for the millions of dollars in investment to deliver immediate support, says the CEO of a peak domestic violence group.
The federal government on Friday pledged a $104 million funding package focused on technology programs, including preventing devices from being used to perpetrate domestic violence.
The response would involve more investment towards having mobile phones checked for spyware and homes swept for cameras to better protect survivors of abuse.
Full Stop Australia CEO Hayley Foster said technological safety — including preventing tracking, stalking and spying — was a critical area of need for people at risk of this targeting.
“At the moment it is a real issue around technological safety around stalking, tracking and not just the abusive conversations that happen online,” she told SBS News.
“But also around the use of technology to spy on someone — we need support on the front line to be able to support our clients.”
The latest investment includes $54.6 million to support up to 30,000 people who have suffered abuse, through security assessments focused on phone safety and sweeps for cameras.
Minister for Women’s Safety, Senator Anne Ruston, said the aim was to ensure more survivors of abuse were safe to remain in their homes.
“What we’ve seen is that whilst victim-survivors should be able to use technology to make them safer — often it is the weapon of choice of perpetrators,” she told reporters.
“We want to turn it around so victim-survivors get the benefit of empowerment of technology.”
But Ms Foster said the reality is at this time police were not resourced to monitor the high level of demand for people at risk of having their lives monitored by abusive partners.
She's suggested any response needs to also work with frontline services to provide assistance to abuse survivors.
"We need to upskill the frontline sector to support clients because we are the ones seeing clients day in and day out on the frontlines," she said.
The funding commitment also includes $20 million to fund states and territories to trial electronic monitoring of high-risk domestic violence offenders.
It is based on an existing successful trial in Tasmania where people with apprehended violence orders (AVOs) against them — considered high-risk offenders — have a monitoring system placed on them.
The survivor is also given a pendant for the police to monitor their locations via GPS and be alerted if the two people are in the same area.
This would allow police officers to assess whether there is potential for an escalation in violence and intervene.
Senator Ruston said trials of the program had seen a reduction of up to 70 to 80 per cent in people breaching AVOs, as well as reoffending once these were over.
"We hear all too often that perpetrators flagrantly ignore the conditions of family violence orders and continue to be violent, harass and stalk their victims," Senator Ruston said.
"[The program is] making perpetrators more accountable and improving police response times through real-time tracking."
But Ms Foster said the use of the devices was a long way from mass rollout, which is why investment in this area needed to be rapidly progressed.
“For example in NSW we use electronic monitoring for this as well but we’ve only got 60 devices across the whole of NSW,” she said.
“You’re talking about 30,000 domestic violence assaults so it is just scratching the service we need to see much more investment.”
Another $26 million is going towards online safety programs, including supporting the eSafety Commission to set up a team of experts for survivors.
The investment comes as the Morrison government on Friday launched the fourth phase of its Stop it at the Start campaign focused on changing the culture around respect in relationship in Australia.
Ms Foster said prevention remained a key area to address in the mission to combat domestic violence.
“We know gender inequality and disrespectful attitudes towards women are the primary drivers and sexual and family violence,” she said.
“We have to tackle those problematic attitudes in the community.”
If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit . In an emergency, call 000. The Men’s Referral Service provides advice for men on domestic violence and can be contacted on 1300 766 491.
