Member for Northern Victoria Region, Candy Broad has called on the Baillieu-Ryan Government to continue funding of the Bsafe Program in north-east Victoria and to extend this program across rural and regional Victoria because Victorian women and children deserve to be safe in their own homes.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Ms Broad said the Bsafe personal alarm system allows women and children escaping family violence to activate an alarm and through a priority process, to alert police.
“Bsafe enables women and children to feel safe and with support, to stay in their own homes and communities which is what women so desperately want. Bsafe has been piloted at a cost of $250 000 in Victoria's Hume region in my electorate over the last three years,” Ms. Broad said.
“The pilot is an outstanding partnership between Victoria Police and Women's Health Goulburn North East, and the funding has been provided by the Federal Government”.
“Bsafe has been evaluated and has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing family violence and increasing the accountability of violent men. Some 72 women and 143 children have participated in the pilot project. In 2010 the program won an Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Award,” Ms Broad said.
“Bsafe has proven to be a most cost-effective form of crime prevention when compared with the cost of supporting family members who are forced to leave home. Accordingly Bsafe is strongly supported by Victoria Police and family violence and sexualised assault services”.
Ms Broad said that she has raised this matter for the attention of the Premier because preventing family violence demands an integrated response from many parts of Government.
“Women's Health Goulburn North East has already met with the Minister for Crime Prevention, who is also the Minister for Corrections, Mr McIntosh, and with the Minister for Women's Affairs, Ms Wooldridge, to present the case for continuing funding for the Bsafe program”.
“According to The Nationals Member for Murray Valley, Mr McCurdy, who has spoken up in support of Bsafe, the Ministers have asked the Bsafe representatives to conduct further consultation with local Government and the local community before making a further submission for ongoing funding,” Ms Broad said.
“Meanwhile, funding for the program is about to end and a request from a Victorian Police Officer at Wodonga for a Bsafe personal alarm for a woman who is a victim of physical violence and who has an intervention order, has had to be refused,” she said.
“This is not good enough, and I call on the Premier to intervene and to ensure that a proven and tested, effective and affordable program to prevent family violence continues”.