The Fyles Government largely ignored its own interagency Domestic Violence taskforce’s recommendations on a raft of measures aimed at improving outcomes for victims of domestic violence, including funding only 11 per cent of the required expenditure for necessary programs, internal government documents show.

The taskforce identified a need of $180 million to be spent over five years on various initiatives to combat domestic violence in the Northern Territory, but that figure was reduced to $90 million before eventually being funded at only $20 million over two years, the records show.

The various reports and ministerial briefings, which were released by the Coroner as part of the ongoing inquest into domestic violence in the NT, show massive failures by the Fyles Government to properly fund already proven successful initiatives, while also cutting its funding commitment to two years from five, which was predicted to lead to any new programs not being properly assessed to determine if they might be working.

Other records show the government consistently decreased funding to the Office of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Reduction since it came to power in 2016.

The government decision to only fund domestic violence programs for two years was also identified as a “high” risk for failing to make real reforms to end Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV), an internal report from the taskforce stated.

The interagency taskforce, known as the “DFSV Inter-Agency Coordination and Reform Office”, spent 12 months reviewing the government’s coordination of DFSV actions and consulting with experts in the field with the express purpose of producing recommendations for reforms and prioritising government spending.

It appears most of their work was ultimately ignored.

Minister for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Kate Worden was warned in one briefing from May that not funding the proposed domestic violence programs raised by the taskforce properly was “likely to cause serious concern from stakeholders” due to the short-term nature of the funding and that it “might” be perceived from those involved in the development and consultation process as “insufficient commitment”.

Another report stated failure to address service gaps and continuing inconsistent polices could result in “serious harm or death”.

“Robust evaluation of the new funded initiatives, and impact of interventions overall, is not feasible within the two years of allocated funding,” the ministerial briefing stated.

The secret government advice also stated that the shortfall in funding effective DV programs “is particularly resonant due to the impending coronial inquiries into the deaths of 4 women caused by DFV”.

Nevertheless, the briefing documents contained a media strategy for Ms Worden, recommending she tell the public that addressing domestic violence “requires long-term commitment and generational change”, while suggesting it is preventable when “we…put the safety of women and children at the centre”.

Those exact lines were used in an April 2023 government release and similar phrases were used in a government media release on Wednesday from Ms Worden, announcing that the government was “creating generational change” with a “victim-centred response” to DFSV through its “Action Plan 2”.

According to the internal documents, some of the domestic violence programs facing funding shortfalls included an “Aboriginal community-led DFSV” prevention program that aimed to fund prevention initiatives designed and delivered by Aboriginal communities, which was reduced from $3.85 million over five years to $700,000 over two years, with no plans to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

Another initiative that would have expanded the capacity of prison programs to reform domestic violence offenders under a single “evidence-based framework” saw its proposed funding slashed from $33.05 million over five years to $9.13 million over two years.

Yet another initiative to “strengthen the specialist DFV Court Model that has been successfully trialled at the Alice Springs Court” was recommended to be funded at $3 million over five years, but was now being supported by a Federal Government partnership at $230,000 a year over three years.

Another program to “strengthen the response of specialist services towards child victim survivors to reduce impacts of DFSV” was not specifically funded, the documents show, with only a pledge to use $690,000 of federal money per year over three years.

All of these programs were touted in Ms Worden’s media release on Wednesday announcing the government’s “Action Plan 2”, without providing any information on the funding for each.

The release stated that the action plan and programs would be funded by the $20 million, which was previously announced.

Reports show other ongoing cuts to domestic violence office, failure to coordinate

The recommendations totalling $180 million over five years was first put forward by the Interagency Coordination and Reform Office in April, which had been established as a multi-agency taskforce to coordinate a joint Budget submission to “underpin Action Plan 2 under the DFSV Framework”.

A report to the Minister, dated April 2023, stated that getting all departments on the same page was “required for real change to the DFSV crisis”.

“If these multiple systems are working in a fragmented way, if there is no clear ‘system owner’, no central point of accountability, and no underpinning governance arrangements, DFSV reforms are unlikely to be effective, and the human and economic costs of DFSV (estimated to cost over $600 million per year in the Northern Territory) will continue to exponentially escalate,” the report stated.

“Service users, policy makers, and government representatives have expressed frustration with an often dislocated and fragmented system with disparate governance, policies and consultative arrangements running parallel and, occasionally, at cross-purposes.

“…At best, this may result in unnecessary complexity, confusion, duplication, service gaps or inconsistent practices. At worst, the consequences can include serious harm or death.”

The report also called for a politically bi-partisan agreement for reforms, a clear evaluation plan, transparent monitoring and long-term sustainable funding.

In another section, the report shows that the budget for staffing in the Office of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Reduction was cut significantly from $1.7 million in 2016-17 – the first year Labor formed government – to only $530,000 in 2017-18. This year, it has a budget of $570,000.

The office is responsible for implementing domestic violence policies, monitoring the government’s DFSV “action plan” progress and managing federal funding, which the report said the workload had “significantly compromised the ability to deliver on other policy commitments”.

The report also ranked the likelihood that government agencies would not be committed to the whole-of-government domestic violence policy work as “medium”. It identified the risk of not monitoring relevant DFSV data as “medium” as well.

Short-term funding to address the problem, which the Fyles Government adopted, was identified as a “high” risk for not properly reforming the system.

The report also found that the NT only had five staff overseeing DFSV reform implementation while Queensland had 80 staff members and Victoria had 150 staff working on it. The ACT had 25 staff members on DFSV implementation.

It also found Queensland had committed $363 million over five years to deliver the response to the first report of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce.

The NT’s multi-agency taskforce was made up of public servants from NT Police, NT Health, Education, and Attorney General and Justice.

Ms Worden’s office did not respond to the NT Independent’s questions about why the government only funded 11 per cent of the recommended expense and why it appeared to ignore other advice. She has previously blamed the Commonwealth for not providing more funding.

“Domestic, family and sexual violence remains too prevalent in the Northern Territory. But we are making progress and this action plan will build on the good work that has already been done,” Ms Worden said in Wednesday’s statement.

Last month, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced $10 million for NT airports to attract new flights, while calling on the Federal Government to urgently fund domestic violence programs across the Territory.

Domestic violence rates in the Northern Territory have consistently risen year over year. In 2021, the NT’s rate of domestic violence-related deaths was seven times the national average.