The Tasmanian Government has unveiled a $3 million package to support around 26,000 temporary visa holders stuck in the state because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Women’s Safety NSW welcome this news which will give women in Tasmania on temporary visas experiencing violence a path to safety and are calling on the NSW Government to follow suit.
“We are seriously concerned for the safety of women on temporary visas and their children who are in a domestic violence situation right now and have no income and virtually no access to emergency accommodation” says Hayley Foster, chief executive office of Women’s Safety NSW.
“What can she do to protect herself and her children with no income and nowhere to go?”
Women’s Safety NSW is surveying its members who are frontline domestic violence workers across NSW as to how many of its 50,000 plus clients are in this situation, but indications are that the numbers are very, very small. They are just horrendous cases.
“If we extend income and emergency housing support to women on temporary visas and their children experiencing violence, we’re really not talking about very many cases, and it’s therefore not going to cost the world”, says Foster “But, I can assure you, it will save lives”…
“We need to stop the buck-passing when it comes to this critically vulnerable group of women and children,” says Foster…
