More people escaping domestic violence could be turned away from legal services during an epidemic of gender-based violence, a peak body warns.
Though the federal budget committed some funding to community legal centres, legal assistance programs dedicated to women affected by gender-based violence has been omitted, Women's Legal Services Australia found.
Their services are already forced to turn away 52,000 women every year, and without adequate resources, these numbers could grow.
The organisation's chair Elena Rosenman called the budget a step backwards.
"This budget means many women’s legal services will have to start planning to reduce services to women experiencing gender-based violence," she said.
"If we are asking Australian women to trust that the system will be there for them when they flee a violent relationship, we must ensure they can access the trauma-informed, integrated legal services they need."
One-in-four women across the nation experienced violence or abuse by an intimate partner and between 2022 and 2023 and one woman was killed every 11 days by a current or former partner.
While violence prevention organisation Our Watch has welcomed investment in women's safety, its chief executive Patty Kinnersly says more must be committed to frontline services including legal assistance services.
"Violence against women is a national emergency," she said.
Greens senator Larissa Waters decried the government's refusal to increase the Jobseeker income support payment, which could have given women the financial security to leave violence.
“This is a budget that does almost nothing for women’s safety, and the more Labor ignores this national crisis, the more women will die," she said.
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