Minister for Domestic Violence Sabine Winton pledges $10.7m for extra refuge DV units at Albany Women’s Centre

The number of refuge units for women and children escaping domestic violence in the Great Southern is set to quadruple under a re-elected Labor government, the minister for prevention of family and domestic violence said this week. Sabine Winton promised $10.7 million for an additional six units to be built at the Albany Women’s Refuge Centre on Thursday, adding to the six Federal Government-funded units, set to break ground at the end of 2025. The centre, which services a 50km radius around Albany including Mt Barker and Denmark, has four units, with the next-nearest refuge centre in Narrogin. Put forward by the Southern Aboriginal Corporation as part of the Safe Places Project, stage two of the development will also see the construction of outdoor reflective areas, storage sites and carparks. SAC chief executive Asha Bhat said the expansion was “critical” to address a significant gap in crisis accommodation across the region. “The reality is family and domestic violence continues to devastate far too many families across WA,” she said. “Aboriginal women remain disproportionately impacted, and in our region alone, research indicates a critical unmet need for crisis accommodation.” Anglicare WA will operate its services from the site, with its service director Philippa Boldy saying the organisation welcomed the promise as the community needed an “improved response”. “At the moment, the current women’s refuge has quite a low capacity, and it’s really not a contemporary building to be able to respond well to women and children’s needs,” she said. “So we’re very excited to be partnering with Southern Aboriginal Corporation, with now the support both of Federal and State government to see a new and contemporary site developed in Albany to support women and children in this community.” The development aims to address the scourge of domestic violence across the region, with statistics from Great Southern police reporting 655 family assaults and 142 reports of threatening family behaviour from January-September in 2024. Ms Winton also pledged $1.6m to establish the Safe at Home program in Albany, an initiative that supports victim-survivors to stay safely in their own homes after a perpetrator has been removed. “It’s the right of women to actually stay at home,” she said. “Their lives shouldn’t have to be interrupted or their children. “They should be able to stay in their family home, stay connected to their family and friends. “So this a really critically important part for those women where there is low risk, to be able to support them to do that, because whilst the refuge is a really important part, where possible, everyone would rather that women actually stay at home and not have to seek the shelter.” 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)