It’s hard to believe, but at the last Federal Election, addressing family violence was a key campaign issue, with both major parties committing to combat what the now-Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described as a ‘national crisis’.
Fast forward three years and not much has changed for women. What we’ve seen during the 2025 Federal Election campaign is that a crippling cost of living crisis, international unrest, and arguments about defence and energy, have pushed women’s safety well down the list of priorities of all the parties.
During most of the campaign, measures to prevent and respond to family violence have rarely been mentioned in a policy context, and when they are raised, they are often discussed in reference to ‘community safety’ measures. And there, we discover crime prevention is high on their parties’ agenda.
Except that crime isn’t a growing problem in Victoria; family violence is.
Victorian politicians and candidates are correct to point to examples of businesses being firebombed and occasional gangland murders over the past two years, but the fact is there has been a two per cent fall in the number of offenders facing police proceedings in the past year – the lowest rate recorded since 2008.
Family violence incidents, on the other hand, reached an all-time high in 2024, with Victorian figures reaching a new high of 98,816 incidents in 2023-24, a six per cent increase on the previous year.
If addressing family violence is important to you and how you will your vote, here’s a snapshot of what each party is promising. More detailed policy information can be found on the parties’ websites, with links at the bottom of each section.
ALP
When questioned about family violence policies, until this week, Labor has tended towards pointing to what the party has already done to address women’s safety, including funding already committed under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.
This week, though, Labor unveiled a suite of policies they say is aimed at combating domestic violence by focusing on financial abuse carried out by perpetrators. It includes $8.6 million in funding for management of DV perpetrators, including measures such as electronic monitoring, ankle bracelets for high-risk offenders, intensive behaviour change programs, and early intervention services for young people.
You can read more about Labor policies here.
Liberals/Nationals
The Liberals have waited until late in the campaign to finally present their policy. To date, crime had been a key policy for Liberal and National candidates and according to the party, this includes family violence. Some of the promises include toughening bail laws, developing uniform knife laws, and making it an offence to use mobile phone and computer networks to cause an intimate partner or family member to fear for their personal safety, to track them using spyware, or engage in coercive behaviours.
With just over a week to go – and about a million votes already cast – they have finally announced their $90 million domestic violence strategy focused on “prevention, early intervention and crisis response”.
The Liberals/Nationals have promised that a Coalition government would trial a national child sex offender register, a national database of domestic violence offenders, and a controversial royal commission into sexual abuse in Indigenous communities.
They are also planning to reinstate the punitive childcare activity test, which prevents our most disadvantaged families from access subsidised childcare. CSMC Board Member Maddy Butler discusses the Libs childcare policies here.
You can find out more from media coverage of the Coalition announcements on addressing women’s safety.
You can read other Liberal/National policies here.
Greens
Where the two major parties have been weak on family violence response, the Greens have been more forthcoming.
“In November last year, the Greens announced our $15 billion costed election policy package to address the national FDSV crisis, hoping the major parties would again copy our homework,” said Greens Senator Larissa Waters.
“But it’s the Greens alone offering measures such as full funding for frontline services with $12 billion over 12 years, doubling the Escaping Violence Payment, and establishing a national real-time toll of women killed by violence, to name a few.”
You can read more about the Greens policies here.
Independents
Like their major party colleagues, Victorian Independents (Teals) have also been light on family violence policy. There are a number of Independents running for seats right across Victoria, all with individual policy platforms, so here we are concentrating on policies of currently sitting MPs, who are up for re-election.
Zoel Daniels (Goldstein) recently spoke at the 2025 Federal Election Family Violence Forum hosted by No to Violence, where she said violence against women and children should be a core election issue.
“We know the family home is statistically the most dangerous for women to be,” she said. “In my community, the vast majority of the police case load is family and domestic violence — more than 50% of the police case load in [Goldstein].”
Ms Daniels said that if re-elected, women’s safety and economic security will remain a key focus and policy area.
Dr Monique Ryan (Kooyong) is also talking up community safety, promising to ensure police are well-staffed and supported to investigate crimes, apprehend offenders, and carry out proactive policing interventions, but has failed to address family violence to any great degree.
“We need to provide better support for youth justice, homelessness, mental health, and local family violence services,” she said.
The other Victorian Independents, Russell Broadbent (Monash) and Helen Haines (Indi), have been largely silent on family violence prevention and response.
You can read more about the policies of Independent candidates here:
Tell politicians what single mother issues they need to address
The Federal Election will happen 3 May, and Victoria has some of the most contested seats in the country. That means that politicians are devoting a lot of time and money campaigning here. It also makes this is a great time to make our voices heard.
Family violence is among the four critical issues we have identified for single mothers this Federal Election. If these issues resonate with you, now is the time to contact candidates.
We’ve set up a platform that enables you to directly email your sitting Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, telling them them the issues you care about and sharing your stories.
