12 May 2026

No to Violence has warned the Federal Government’s Budget delivers piecemeal cost-of-living relief while failing to address one of the biggest drivers of instability, trauma and financial insecurity in Australian homes: family violence.

As the Government tinkers around the edges of household pressure through changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax settings, family trust arrangements and modest tax relief measures, No to Violence said the Budget fails to confront the growing financial strain facing families and the role economic stress plays in escalating risk and trapping victim-survivors in violent homes.

No to Violence, Australia’s peak body for organisations and individuals committed to ending men’s use of family violence, said the Budget also relied heavily on repackaging previous domestic, family and sexual violence funding announcements rather than delivering the scale of new investment required to respond to a national crisis.

The organisation acknowledged positive investments, including:

• $182.6 million to reform the Child Support Scheme and address systems abuse, financial abuse and coercive control through Commonwealth systems
• $218.3 million over five years to support initial actions under the Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026–2036

No to Violence CEO Phillip Ripper said those measures were important, particularly efforts to prevent systems abuse and improve safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, but warned they did not amount to the national-scale response required.

“In 2024, the Prime Minister called family violence a national crisis. Two years later, it appears to have fallen off the political agenda, with Australia still lacking a coordinated national strategy to stop men’s violence before it escalates despite overwhelming evidence that earlier intervention saves lives.”

“Every budget is an expression of what a government values,” Mr Ripper said.

“For women and children trapped in violent homes, tonight’s budget offers them no relief. This Government has chosen tinkering at the edges over the serious investment needed to stop violence before it escalates.”

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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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