[Greens-Media] Greens Welcome Government Interest in Safe at Home Program to Counter Domestic and Family Violence

[Franks, Office]

The Greens' spokesperson for Families and Communities Tammy Franks MLC has welcomed the Government's interest in a 'Safe at Home' Program in Question Time in the Legislative Council today in response to her question regarding the 'Bsafe' initiative.
"The Bsafe Program is an innovative domestic violence prevention program that has recently been trialled for three years in regional Victoria and was a recipient of the 2010 National Crime and Violence Prevention Award.
"Based on a successful Swedish model of personal safety for victims of family violence that used a personal alarm system to alert police, Bsafe offers an intervention to prevent further violence and enables women and children to remain in their own homes and communities," Ms Franks explained. "Undoubtedly, Bsafe has changed lives and very likely saved lives.
"Collated data from women, workers and police proved the success of the BSafe program during the three year trial, with a reduction in physical assaults and a decrease in Intervention Order breaches.
Bsafe provided an added level of support and security that enabled 68 per cent of women in the pilot project to remain in their homes, significantly reducing, if not eliminating, their risk of homelessness.

"Initially it was hoped Bsafe would enable women and children to remain safely in their own homes. Within months, the resounding response from women was that it allowed them to go out into the community and lead a 'normal' life.
"The costs of 'Safe at Home' programs such as Bsafe have been proven to be one-third to one fifth the costs of removing those women and children from the family home. It not only makes sense to support their right to safety and to retaining their home, school, work and social lives,  it is also a better investment and better for the state coffers.
"I look forward to the Minister's interest translating into Government's support for this innovative, cost effective and life-saving initiative and I hope and trust that all sides of politics can co-operate to support and ensure better outcomes for all at risk of domestic violence," Ms Franks concluded.

For further comment contact  Jamnes Danenberg 0457 549 938