11 May 2026

As Australians struggle with rising costs and growing pressure on households, No to Violence has challenged the Albanese Government to treat family violence as a national safety priority ahead of the Federal Budget. 

No to Violence, Australia’s peak body for organisations and individuals committed to ending men’s use of family violence, said the Budget would reveal what the Government is prepared to prioritise when it comes to keeping Australians safe. 

Family violence remains one of Australia’s most widespread and costly crises. More than one in four Australian women have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15, while violence against women and children costs the economy more than $28 billion each year. Yet despite the scale of the issue, investment in implementing the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children has accounted for less than 0.2 per cent of government spending in recent budgets. At the same time, Defence spending is set to increase by $53 billion over the next decade, despite already accounting for around 7 per cent of government expenditure, while Australia still lacks a coordinated national strategy focused on ending men’s use of family violence. 

No to Violence CEO Phillip Ripper said governments continued to frame safety through defence while preventing violence inside Australian homes has remained dangerously inadequate.  

“The Government says increasing defence spending by tens of billions of dollars is necessary to keep Australians safe,” Mr Ripper said. 

“But women and children are still being terrorised, controlled and killed in their own homes every day. This must be treated with the same level of seriousness. Safety must start at home.” 

No to Violence said cost-of-living pressures were also increasing risk and making it harder for victim-survivors to leave unsafe situations. 

“Financial pressure does not cause men’s violence, but it can escalate risk, increase instability and trap families in dangerous circumstances,” Mr Ripper said. 

“You cannot meaningfully reduce pressure on Australian families without addressing violence in the home.” 

No to Violence said the Budget must deliver stronger national investment in early intervention, workforce capacity and coordinated responses to men’s use of violence as part of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. 

“Every budget is a statement of priorities,” Mr Ripper said. “If family violence continues to receive piecemeal responses while the crisis escalates, Australians will draw their own conclusions about where the safety of families really sits on the national agenda.” 

No to Violence is calling on the Federal Government to: 
• Significantly increase investment in interventions for men using, and at risk of using, domestic and family violence 
• Develop a dedicated whole-of-government strategy to address men’s use of domestic and family violence 

• Establish a National Violence Intervention Learning Collaborative  
• Invest in First Nations community-controlled, self-determined solutions 

• Invest $1.01 billion over 4 years to lift the domestic, family and sexual violence frontline out of a state of crisis  

• Fund victim-survivors and domestic, family and sexual violence peak bodies to shape the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 

View the No to Violence Federal Budget Submission here.

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Media Contact: Jo Nilsson
Media & Advocacy Advisor, No to Violence
communications@ntv.org.au | 0455666492

About No to Violence   

No to Violence is the Australian peak body for organisations and individuals committed to ending men’s use of family violence.  We support specialist men’s family violence services and operate the national Men’s Referral Service, a 24/7 telephone and online counselling and referral service to link men to the support they need to get on a pathway of change and end their use of family violence.  We undertake research, training and advocacy and work with governments, employers and business to stop family violence at the source. 

Please list the Men’s Referral Service with all Domestic, Sexual and Family Violence stories: The Men’s Referral Service provides counselling and referrals for men who are concerned about their behaviour: 1300 766 491 

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