Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Serious concerns are being raised in the domestic violence sector.
Now we know that Dawn House which provides a safe
haven to women and children, so that they're turning away
around two hundred victims a month, and just a month
ago in budget estimates, it was revealed that the Northern
Territory government acted sixty five million dollars promised years ago
(00:21):
to refurbish the shelter. Now joining us on the line
is the Chief Executive, Anna Hison. Good morning to you, Anna.
Hopefully we've got her there. Let's try that again. We're
just having some issues here with this phone line. I
will just try one more time. Good morning to.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You, Anna, Good morning Katie. Can you hear me? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I can. Sorry about that. A few tech issues in
here could be my fault. Now, Anna, obviously this is
a real concern. Can you give us some context around
those numbers. Is the shelter continuously at full capacity?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So we turn away between one
hundred and fifty to two hundred women that reach out
for support at Dawn House every single month. Our shelter,
our crisis shelter spate run runs constantly at about one
hundred and ten percent capacity, so we're always full, and
the threshold for the woman that we are able to
(01:21):
support as getting higher and higher. The risk is getting
higher and higher, and we're just not seeing an end
in sight at the moment. And like you said before,
we had so it was six point five million, not
sixty five million. Six point five million dollars dedicated to
infrastructure to rebuild our facility which was falling down around us,
(01:42):
and it was also going to increase our bed capacity,
so going from six crisis shelters to ten, and during
estimates that that money was pulled, we were not aware
of the changes and had sort of made all of
our plans according to that, hoping that would sell some
of these gaps for these women that we too the way,
and it just feels that we've gone back, we're not
(02:03):
making any steps forward and the need of not getting
any lead.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So six point five million, not the sixty five I
do apologize six point five million. And really the way
that you found out that that was no longer going
to be going ahead was through watching the estimates process. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Correct, we found out at the same time as everybody else,
and has been promised to us three to four years
prior through the previous government, and we've been working very
actively with Department of Infrastructure and Department of Children and
Families planning for this design and purpose belt and we
were ready to go. So it was such a huge
(02:41):
blow to us to find out that we've sort of
gone back for five years and we're right back to
consoct stage.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Ana, can you talk me through I mean, you've said
that you're operating at one hundred and ten percent capacity,
you know on any given day, when we then look
at the fact that there's two hundred women that could
be turned away in any given months, can you just
can you give us some insight into, you know, into
(03:09):
how or or what the situation is. Are we talking
about women that you know that they call you or
that they turn up and they're saying, you know, we
are trying to flee a domestic violence situation and you're
not able to take them in.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, Look, that is what's happening. Some are identifying the
need for supports early on, so maybe there's been one
violent incident with a partner and they really want some support,
and then some are actively needing to flee. We've got
a woman from within the Greater Darwin area, but also
from all of the nt wanting to flee to Dawn House.
(03:45):
And we have to assess based on need and the threshold.
Like I said before, that we can taken just purely
due to our capacity. Issues are the highest of highest.
So the women that do end up in our shelter
at immediate risk of death. So we are having to
bring in those women who are deemed as the most
at risk. But in saying that, the woman that we
(04:07):
do turn away are absolutely at risk as well. And
then we are stuck in this loophole of trying to
call all the other shelters. They're in the exact same
situation as us. It's not just us that are in
this situation, so we're having to rely on other places
that we can put them to keep them safe, and
those aren't always available. It's just this constant loophole that
(04:27):
my frontline staff are having to do every single day.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, is there a risk assessment tool that helps you
to decide who's in greater need? Like that's a really
tough situation for you, you and your staff to be in.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, there's a common risk assessment tool known as the
crat that frontline staff but also police use. And what
that does is it gives everybody a score essentially, So
anything above a twenty eight is deemed as very serious risk.
They are doing a serious risk and need active specialist
support from somewhere like Dawn House. Now we're aware seeing
(05:05):
scores as high as in the sixties and seventies, which
is just so high risk. That means that they are
an immediate risk of very very serious harm or death.
And these are the women that we're having too to
bring in. So we're turning away people that have got
scores of forties and fifties when we know that they
are at theorious risk. Yeah, it's really alarming.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So what you know, do we then see women and
children going back to those violent situations? What is happening? Wesh?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Sometimes sometimes there's no other option and they've got nowhere
to sleep, so they are staying in the situations longer
than they should be. Or women sometimes will put themselves
into homelessness because it's safer, or they are going and
staying with other friends. It's just this awful cycle. When
when a woman reaches out for the first time and
says I need help, that's when we need to jump.
(05:57):
Not in six months time when it got to the
point where they are an immediate risk. You know, we
should be able to support them the first time they
call us. And just due to capacity as across the sector,
the women that are getting sort of leaft behind, I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Where too from here? Anna, because it sounds like you
guys are in a situation where it is at crisis point.
You know, if you're turning away women that are at
really serious risk of you know, well they're in those
domestic violence situations and then they've got nowhere to go.
But you're also now in a situation where the six
point five million that you thought you were going to
(06:37):
be receiving to obviously expand those services to some degree
doesn't seem as though it's going to happen. We're too
from here?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Where's here? From here? I mean our Minister sat say
is that there's a whole new strategic plan and this
is priority. I really hope that that's the case. We
yet to have these sit downs with the Department to
push for what crisis that we're in. We can't keep consulting,
we can't keep coming up with new strategies. We've done it,
We've done it. It feels like every new government, we go
(07:05):
back and start all over again and nothing's changing. It
is good to hear that the Minister has committed to
making change in the space, but it needs to happen now.
I can't wait another six months. I can't turn away
another thousand women before the end of the year. It's
just something has to happen right now. The fact that
we've come together, we've got a lot of solutions and
a lot of possible things that we can try because
(07:27):
something needs to change. But we just are going back
to that consult stage and nothing's happening, and we can't
keep waiting.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Well, it sounds like a really difficult situation. I will,
I mean we often, we often speak to the Chief Minister,
so we'll certainly ask her some questions about this, and
I might even see whether we're able to have a
discussion with the Minister for the Prevention of Domestic violence.
I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for
(07:57):
making us aware of the situation.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me Katie.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Thank you
Serious concerns are being raised in the domestic violence sector.
Now we know that Dawn House which provides a safe
haven to women and children, so that they're turning away
around two hundred victims a month, and just a month
ago in budget estimates, it was revealed that the Northern
Territory government acted sixty five million dollars promised years ago
(00:21):
to refurbish the shelter. Now joining us on the line
is the Chief Executive, Anna Hison. Good morning to you, Anna.
Hopefully we've got her there. Let's try that again. We're
just having some issues here with this phone line. I
will just try one more time. Good morning to.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You, Anna, Good morning Katie. Can you hear me? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I can. Sorry about that. A few tech issues in
here could be my fault. Now, Anna, obviously this is
a real concern. Can you give us some context around
those numbers. Is the shelter continuously at full capacity?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So we turn away between one
hundred and fifty to two hundred women that reach out
for support at Dawn House every single month. Our shelter,
our crisis shelter spate run runs constantly at about one
hundred and ten percent capacity, so we're always full, and
the threshold for the woman that we are able to
(01:21):
support as getting higher and higher. The risk is getting
higher and higher, and we're just not seeing an end
in sight at the moment. And like you said before,
we had so it was six point five million, not
sixty five million. Six point five million dollars dedicated to
infrastructure to rebuild our facility which was falling down around us,
(01:42):
and it was also going to increase our bed capacity,
so going from six crisis shelters to ten, and during
estimates that that money was pulled, we were not aware
of the changes and had sort of made all of
our plans according to that, hoping that would sell some
of these gaps for these women that we too the way,
and it just feels that we've gone back, we're not
(02:03):
making any steps forward and the need of not getting
any lead.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So six point five million, not the sixty five I
do apologize six point five million. And really the way
that you found out that that was no longer going
to be going ahead was through watching the estimates process. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Correct, we found out at the same time as everybody else,
and has been promised to us three to four years
prior through the previous government, and we've been working very
actively with Department of Infrastructure and Department of Children and
Families planning for this design and purpose belt and we
were ready to go. So it was such a huge
(02:41):
blow to us to find out that we've sort of
gone back for five years and we're right back to
consoct stage.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Ana, can you talk me through I mean, you've said
that you're operating at one hundred and ten percent capacity,
you know on any given day, when we then look
at the fact that there's two hundred women that could
be turned away in any given months, can you just
can you give us some insight into, you know, into
(03:09):
how or or what the situation is. Are we talking
about women that you know that they call you or
that they turn up and they're saying, you know, we
are trying to flee a domestic violence situation and you're
not able to take them in.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, Look, that is what's happening. Some are identifying the
need for supports early on, so maybe there's been one
violent incident with a partner and they really want some support,
and then some are actively needing to flee. We've got
a woman from within the Greater Darwin area, but also
from all of the nt wanting to flee to Dawn House.
(03:45):
And we have to assess based on need and the threshold.
Like I said before, that we can taken just purely
due to our capacity. Issues are the highest of highest.
So the women that do end up in our shelter
at immediate risk of death. So we are having to
bring in those women who are deemed as the most
at risk. But in saying that, the woman that we
(04:07):
do turn away are absolutely at risk as well. And
then we are stuck in this loophole of trying to
call all the other shelters. They're in the exact same
situation as us. It's not just us that are in
this situation, so we're having to rely on other places
that we can put them to keep them safe, and
those aren't always available. It's just this constant loophole that
(04:27):
my frontline staff are having to do every single day.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, is there a risk assessment tool that helps you
to decide who's in greater need? Like that's a really
tough situation for you, you and your staff to be in.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, there's a common risk assessment tool known as the
crat that frontline staff but also police use. And what
that does is it gives everybody a score essentially, So
anything above a twenty eight is deemed as very serious risk.
They are doing a serious risk and need active specialist
support from somewhere like Dawn House. Now we're aware seeing
(05:05):
scores as high as in the sixties and seventies, which
is just so high risk. That means that they are
an immediate risk of very very serious harm or death.
And these are the women that we're having too to
bring in. So we're turning away people that have got
scores of forties and fifties when we know that they
are at theorious risk. Yeah, it's really alarming.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So what you know, do we then see women and
children going back to those violent situations? What is happening? Wesh?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Sometimes sometimes there's no other option and they've got nowhere
to sleep, so they are staying in the situations longer
than they should be. Or women sometimes will put themselves
into homelessness because it's safer, or they are going and
staying with other friends. It's just this awful cycle. When
when a woman reaches out for the first time and
says I need help, that's when we need to jump.
(05:57):
Not in six months time when it got to the
point where they are an immediate risk. You know, we
should be able to support them the first time they
call us. And just due to capacity as across the sector,
the women that are getting sort of leaft behind, I mean.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Where too from here? Anna, because it sounds like you
guys are in a situation where it is at crisis point.
You know, if you're turning away women that are at
really serious risk of you know, well they're in those
domestic violence situations and then they've got nowhere to go.
But you're also now in a situation where the six
point five million that you thought you were going to
(06:37):
be receiving to obviously expand those services to some degree
doesn't seem as though it's going to happen. We're too
from here?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Where's here? From here? I mean our Minister sat say
is that there's a whole new strategic plan and this
is priority. I really hope that that's the case. We
yet to have these sit downs with the Department to
push for what crisis that we're in. We can't keep consulting,
we can't keep coming up with new strategies. We've done it,
We've done it. It feels like every new government, we go
(07:05):
back and start all over again and nothing's changing. It
is good to hear that the Minister has committed to
making change in the space, but it needs to happen now.
I can't wait another six months. I can't turn away
another thousand women before the end of the year. It's
just something has to happen right now. The fact that
we've come together, we've got a lot of solutions and
a lot of possible things that we can try because
(07:27):
something needs to change. But we just are going back
to that consult stage and nothing's happening, and we can't
keep waiting.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Well, it sounds like a really difficult situation. I will,
I mean we often, we often speak to the Chief Minister,
so we'll certainly ask her some questions about this, and
I might even see whether we're able to have a
discussion with the Minister for the Prevention of Domestic violence.
I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for
(07:57):
making us aware of the situation.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me Katie.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Thank you
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