A PROGRAM that has saved the lives of domestic violence victims in the North East has won a national award but still has no government funding.
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The Bsafe program, which provides personal alarms to women and children escaping family violence, was presented with the Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Award last week.
Funding for the project ended in December after a three-year pilot in the Hume region and has not been renewed.
Women’s Health Goulburn North East chief executive Susie Reid said $10,000 in prizemoney from the award was now being used to support 13 women who were too scared to hand the alarms back when the trial ended.
When activated, the alarms alert police that victims may be in danger, ensuring a prompt response.
But Ms Reid said the prizemoney would only support the women until June if no other funding is secured.
“We’ve proven with this award that the program saves money and saves lives,” she said.
Ms Reid said the program helped 72 woman and more than 130 children in the trial.
“We originally thought it would keep women safe at home but it’s actually allowed women to be a part of the community because they feel safe about leaving the house and they can continue to shop and take the children to school,” she said.
“One little boy even returned to football practice because he was able to take a unit with him and feel safe away from his mother because her ex-partner had threatened his life.
“But it was even as simple as being able to sleep at night because they knew they had this immediate response if they needed it.”
Ms Reid has raised the issue with Corrections and Crime Prevention Minister Andrew Macintosh who said he would meet with her this week.
She said the alarms were regularly activated throughout the trial and had been successful in breaking the cycle of offending by perpetrators of domestic violence.
“Ironically, despite winning this national award, no government department has put up funding to roll out this program that is showered with high praise from police, women and workers,” Ms Reid said.
Women’s Health Goulburn North East was also presented with an Australian Heads of Government and Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Service award for a research project into intimate partner rape.
“The whole point was to improve the knowledge of legal and health professionals about partner rape, because one in 10 women are raped by their partners,” Ms Reid said.
