Rosie Batty endorses Labor for election

Rosie Batty says the federal government's recent $328 million domestic violence commitment is a paltry amount so she's endorsing Labor.

WHITE RIBBON DAY MELBOURNE

Family violence campaigner Rosie Batty has endorsed Labor to win the federal election. (AAP)

Tackling family violence needs more than what former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty calls a "paltry" amount of federal money, so she wants Bill Shorten to win the next election.

The anti-violence campaigner has endorsed Labor to win the May federal election because she says the party is more committed to putting cash behind efforts to end family violence.

"The investment of money at a federal level is paltry," Ms Batty told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

"I believe that maybe if we do have a Labor government we will start to see that (stronger) kind of commitment."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently announced a national $328 million package to deal with family violence, with $82 million for frontline services and $78 million for safe places for women.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said while no one was critical of the funding, it didn't go far enough.

"Three hundred and fifty-odd million dollars spread across the entire country over four years is less than we boost funding each year just here in Victoria," he told reporters.

Mr Morrison said the commitment was a record amount for an Australian federal government.

"That is the single biggest package of funding ever for combating domestic violence," he told reporters in Perth.

"I would really hope that matters like that remain matters of bipartisan commitment and not the subject of politics."

Mr Andrews suggested the Commonwealth government create a dedicated Medicare number for family violence so women and children could get treatment at a GP "instead of having to almost pretend that something else is wrong with them in order to get funded to have enough time".

Ms Batty said she had spoken regularly with Malcolm Turnbull when he was prime minister, but she had never spoken to Mr Morrison, who had "said things in the media which do concern me".

On average, one woman a week is murdered by a current or former partner, and eight women are taken to hospital each day due to domestic violence.

Labor has recently pledged $60 million to create about 20,000 funding packages for people fleeing domestic violence if it is elected to government.


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Source: AAP


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Rosie Batty endorses Labor for election | SBS News