00:00Workers on the front line of the ACT's domestic violence crisis response are struggling with
00:07the sheer number of calls for help.
00:10On a good day we are answering somewhere around 50 per cent of the calls that come through.
00:15On a bad day we're answering about 33 per cent.
00:18The risk attached to the violence that people are experiencing is escalating.
00:23We need to be ready for the secondary response once somebody reaches out for help and that's
00:29the big gap, that is where we can't respond.
00:32In 2016, in the wake of a spate of domestic violence deaths in Canberra, the ACT government
00:38announced a levy to help fund frontline services.
00:41It's now a $50 annual charge, included in rates bills, and one that has since raised
00:47more than $46 million in revenue.
00:51An audit of the scheme has now echoed the concerns of the community sector, finding
00:56poor communication, a lack of transparency and accountability about how funds had been
01:01allocated.
01:03It also revealed where the money had been spent.
01:06I think to find that some of it was used for mechanisms of government doesn't meet community
01:12expectation on what a levy should fund.
01:14Earlier this year, the ACT government did make changes, promising that from 1 July the
01:19levy would only go towards frontline services, and it says it will take the Auditor General's
01:24recommendations on board.
01:26One was around an ACT domestic and family violence strategy.
01:31One was around more performance monitoring of the programs that the levy does fund and
01:36obviously some more transparency around the programs that are funded.
01:40The strategy is expected to be released next year.
01:44Those on the frontline, and victims, will have to wait and hope it makes a difference.
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