Ms SONIA HORNERY (Wallsend) (13:10): My question is addressed to the Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Will the Minister update the House on the support provided to children and families fleeing domestic and family violence since the Minns Labor Government was elected?

Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown—Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault) (13:10): I thank the member for Wallsend for her question and for her ongoing, tireless support for victims of domestic and family violence, ensuring people both in her electorate and nearby are safe. The Minns Government has been consistently working hard to build a safer New South Wales for women and children by taking urgent action to address domestic and family abuse. It has done that by boosting support services for people escaping violence across New South Wales as well as by doing the important work that has never been done before to stop that violence before it starts.

Since coming to government, Labor has increased the budget for domestic and family violence services every year. In fact, it has increased the domestic and family violence program budget by more than 50 per cent. In the most recent budget, the Government invested over half a billion dollars of additional funding as part of a justice system package. That included $272.7 million for frontline domestic, family and sexual violence services so they can continue their work supporting victims while the Government continues to reduce violence against women and children. Last year the New South Wales Government enshrined in legislation a standard non-parole period of 25 years for the murder of a current or former partner. That is the first time a specific non-parole period for intimate partner homicide has been legislated in Australia, and it is among the highest non-parole periods for any offences in New South Wales.

Those reforms build on the Government's consistent and ongoing work to protect victim-survivors and hold perpetrators to account. The Government has also had a strong and consistent focus on closing program gaps in regional and rural locations to ensure that crucial services are available for victims of domestic, family and sexual violence no matter where they live. That includes the statewide expansion of the Staying Home Leaving Violence and Integrated Domestic Family Violence programs so that those who were missing out can now access those services. As part of that, the Government has been working with local Aboriginal communities to develop the Staying in Community Leaving Violence program in Bourke, Kempsey and Nambucca, supporting healing and recovery for people in those communities. Another important expansion was to the Specialist Workers for Children and Young People program. [Extension of time]

That program provides important support to children, treating them as victim-survivors in their own right when they come to a refuge. A year after the expansion of that program, I am pleased to report that those workers have helped about 1,800 children to rebuild and break the cycle of violence. They are only some examples of the work the Government is doing. It has also made it harder for perpetrators to get bail, introduced new offences for serious and repeated breaches of apprehended violence orders, modernised the definition of stalking, and introduced serious domestic abuse prevention orders to keep victims and potential victims safe into the future. We are now seeing promising signs, with new data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research showing the highest number of domestic violence prosecutions ever recorded. Reports of domestic violence incidents have remained stable for the past two years, as have domestic violence homicides.

But we are not taking our eyes off the ball. We are serious about stopping the violence before it starts. We are on the side of women and children escaping violence and those still experiencing violence every day. We continue to invest in local support services and primary prevention for the next generation—stopping the violence before it starts. We have rolled out the State's first primary prevention strategy, funded to the tune of $38 million, to change the attitudes and behaviours that condone gendered violence. We are partnering with workplaces, schools and sporting clubs, and working with boys and men to promote respect and healthy relationships. It is long‑term work that has been neglected for too long, but the Minns Government will continue to do that work to keep women and children safe in New South Wales.