Inadequate funding and reduced involvement by Corrections Victoria has North East men's behavioural change programs unable to meet demand, an MP says.
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Tania Maxwell's concerns were focused on "a series of difficulties" that she said were "increasingly compromising" the provision of such essential help.
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The Northern Victoria parliamentarian has directed these issues to Corrections Minister Ben Carroll in a speech to the Legislative Council.
Mr Carroll has not yet provided a response to Ms Maxwell's adjournment matter, in which she called for a re-think on the state government's funding levels.
A government spokesman said the minister would get "a formal response out" in a timely manner.
"Corrections Victoria and Family Safety Victoria continue to work closely together to ensure male perpetrators get access to these important programs, as we work to end the violence," he said.
This in turn was highlighted by Ms Maxwell in her speech to Parliament.
Ms Maxwell, a member of Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, said the program could actually only cater for far less than those 30 referrals.
This was discussed at a stakeholder meeting she attended on March 13.
"These programs are extremely important in terms of prevention and intervention and community safety more broadly, particularly in the area of individual case management for perpetrators trying to break their behavioural cycle and for victims as they seek to recover from their experiences," she told Parliament.
Ms Maxwell highlighted an article in The Border Mail's "Stop the Violence" series that explained how these programs "frequently provide long-term benefits in mitigating the crippling impacts of domestic and family violence".
That would be by "helping to ensure that offending is addressed in a time-frame conducive to genuinely stimulating a change in an offender's behaviour".
"However, a series of difficulties are increasingly compromising the provision of these services," she said.
"Foremost among them is declining funding and involvement from Corrections Victoria, which apparently no longer runs men's behaviour change programs and is instead referring people to non-government agencies.
"These agencies are already strained in meeting the demand for referrals just from Victoria Police along with other bodies and surrounding towns."
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Ms Maxwell said it was especially critical that this issue be seen in the context of a "dramatically reduced capacity" for early intervention.
She called on the minister to both reconsider the government's funding priorities and to join her in meeting domestic and family violence stakeholders in the region.
The spokesman said the government was "conscious" of the waiting lists and that this was something it was "trying to address".
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