The cost of living has dominated discussion on the campaign trail as voters prepare to head to the polls on May 3, with domestic and family violence barely rating a mention.
No to Violence, a national organisation that works with men who use family violence and supports them to change their abusive behaviour, held a National Family Violence Election Forum on Wednesday.
Hundreds of individuals and organisations tuned in to hear substantive plans from across the political spectrum on domestic, family and sexual violence.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth stressed prevention and early intervention were key to the government's plan to address the national crisis.
"We do need to engage with men and boys in the prevention area, particularly as we are seeing some new threats emerge online," she said.
"Misogyny in particular is something that we need to be able to counter and work with in the prevention space."
Ending gender-based violence and addressing the burden of unpaid care women shouldered featured prominently in the women's budget statement released in March.
But the budget itself contained almost no new funding to address a national emergency of family and domestic violence.
Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle lost her sister to domestic violence and said the coalition had committed to a royal commission into sexual abuse in Indigenous communities.
"What my focus would be going forward is we do have to help way earlier," she said.
"We have to identify that children are victim survivors in their own right, and need a focused response for their needs to ensure that their lives aren't so derailed."
Neither Ms Rishworth nor Senator Liddle committed to delivering a sexual violence prevention framework in the next term of parliament.
More government funding was needed for domestic and sexual violence services, Greens senator Larissa Waters said.
"We've got to reform the justice system so that women are not blamed and re-traumatised when they try to seek justice, so we need to train the people that are involved in that system," she said.
"We've committed to fund a pilot program to look at alternative forms of survivor-led justice-seeking and resolution."
Independent MP Zoe Daniel said long-term funding was needed to address the crisis.
"It's a primary responsibility of government to keep people safe, and if three out of five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have experienced physical or sexual violence, then we are absolutely failing those women," she said.
"There is a need to move to guaranteed multi-year funding for domestic, family and sexual violence services and legal services to ensure sustainability in workforce, retention and trauma-informed care."
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