Leaving Violence Program

Hello everyone, and welcome. Thank you for taking the time to attend our second information session on the Leaving Violence Programme. My name is Eve Cordderero, and I'm the branch manager for the National Programmes Branch in the Ending Gender-based Violence Group in the Department of Social Services. I'm also joined today by Jane French from Telra Health. Jane is the head of the Leaving Violence Programme for Telra Health, and Jane and I are very excited to be here today. So, let's get started.

I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners and custodians of the many lands across which we meet today and their connections to land, water, community, and culture. I also pay my respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people joining us today. I have the wonderful pleasure of living and working on beautiful Nanowal and Nambbury country. Jane, where are you joining us from today?

Beautiful Larrakia country. Thanks, Eve, and I also acknowledge and pay my respect to the traditional owners of this beautiful place.

Thanks, Jane. Again, a very warm welcome to those of you who have joined us, or just joined us, I should say, and thank you for taking the time to attend this session. I think you might be the lucky ones. Jane and I ran an information session on Monday, and in the spirit of openness and honesty, it was a little daunting for us, and it may have come across a little bland. In trying to convey the importance of this programme, we missed a great opportunity to convey our enthusiasm and excitement for the Leaving Violence Programme. So, if you know anyone who attended the session on Monday, hopefully you can let them know that this session was a little bit more engaging.

By way of visual description of myself: I am middle-aged, have brown skin, short cropped black hair, and today I'm wearing a black dress with big red flowers across the front.

Jane.
I too am middle-aged, have white skin, collar-length blonde hair, and today I'm wearing a navy blue top.

Thank you, Jane. I would also like to acknowledge anyone present today with lived experience of family, domestic, or sexual violence and the contribution that you bring to ending gender-based violence.

Our aim for today is to provide you with information on the Leaving Violence Programme that will help you understand its purpose and what it can do for victim-survivors. I would also like to introduce our wonderful Auslan interpreters joining us today. We have Kelly and Grace, with Kelly kicking us off.

Some housekeeping before we commence: this session will be recorded and may be shared with attendees and published on the DSS website. By joining, you are consenting to that recording. There will be time for questions at the end of the session. If you would like to ask a question, please do use the Slido link that was provided in the email and is in the Q&A section of this broadcast. You don't need to wait till the end; you can update questions progressively. Unfortunately, we won't have time to answer all questions that come through Slido today. However, what we will do is take all questions offline, and they will be answered in a document which will be published on the DSS website and circulated to all attendees across the three sessions.

Today, we would like for you to leave this session with an understanding of the Leaving Violence Programme, its eligibility criteria, what it offers victim-survivors, and information on the application process. We will cover a brief history of the programme, provide an overview of the programme delivery model, information about the regional trials, the eligibility criteria, programme service offering, information about the national programme, and, of course, conclude with questions.

So, to start us off, let's look at the journey that we have taken and how we have gotten here. We're not quite yet at our final destination of 1st of July when we commence the Leaving Violence Programme as a permanent programme, but we are just around the corner.

In April 2021, the temporary visa holders experiencing violence pilot commenced, supporting those on temporary visas experiencing family and domestic violence with both financial and legal support. Not long after, in May 2021, the then-government announced a two-year trial of the Escaping Violence Payment. This trial focused on providing financial assistance outside of the income support system to those experiencing intimate partner violence. The trial commenced operation in October 2021, with it anticipated to support up to 12,000 victim-survivors per year.

What we found is that it was evident early in the trial that the need and the demand were well above what was anticipated and that the assumptions underpinning the trial were not quite accurate. This was particularly true for the assumption that 80% of people would apply through a frontline service. What we found in practice was that 80% of people actually self-referred into the trial for support, with many people thinking that their need was not as critical as others, or not having worked with a frontline service before. For some, the first time they disclosed family and domestic violence was through the trial provider, or they may have had a bad experience with a service previously. What this meant was that the service model had to be updated and changed to meet the needs of victim-survivors.

In February 2023, the EVP place-based trial commenced in Cairns, Queensland, to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors. The trial was not always smooth, but what it did provide was a lot of learnings. The EVP trial report was released publicly in September 2023, and shortly after this, the department held briefing sessions on the evaluation report and heard from the sector on how to improve the trial. We expect that the EV EVP trial will support around 100,000 victim-survivors over the four years of the trial when it ceases on 30 June 2025.

Throughout the development of the Leaving Violence Programme, the department heard and worked with stakeholders, victim-survivors, and used evidence and data collected through both the EVP trial and the TVP to guide the development of the Leaving Violence Programme. This included ensuring that we had clear programme principles to underpin and ground the service, to ensure we have a clear identity for the programme through the design and development of the look, including the feel and the branding, the communications products, and key messages, all of which were consulted on through the development of the Leaving Violence Programme.

We also wanted to ensure that we had clear communication with the sector, such as briefings after the announcement of Telstra Health as the national programme provider, through to sessions like this one. The trials have helped shape the Leaving Violence Programme, whether through data capture, feedback received from diverse stakeholders, or from reports and information from research. We will continue to listen as the Leaving Violence Programme embeds and matures.

I wonder if I could just jump in here for a sec?
Yeah, Jane, please.

You and I have talked a couple of times about the enormous value of the trials, and it's really obvious, but I just want to acknowledge here the work of Uniting and Red Cross on those trials because clearly, we wouldn't be where we are today, and we know they did amazing work. And at Telstra Health, we've been really lucky to bring on a range of highly skilled staff from both of those organisations, so just want to acknowledge that and am really grateful.

Yeah, thank you, Jane. That's great. Moving on to the overview of the Leaving Violence Programme. The programme was announced by the Australian government in 2024. The programme is a key initiative under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022 to 2032 and is an important part of the suite of initiatives being supported by the government to reduce gender-based violence in the medium to long term. The programme supports victim-survivors of intimate partner violence to make choices about leaving violent relationships and increasing safety by providing financial and other support. The individualised financial support packages will offer up to $5,000, with up to $1,500 in money, which will be a direct bank transfer, and the remaining $3,500 on goods and services.

The Leaving Violence Programme was designed and implemented with four programme principles. These are: to be trauma-informed, to ensure that individuals receive a trauma-informed, person-centred service; to be culturally responsive, so Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receive a culturally informed service; to be accountable, so that our service providers are responsible and transparent; to be ethical, so that service providers operate with honesty and integrity and are trusted and diligent. As I said earlier, these principles were designed through consultation with stakeholders in the sector in 2024. They underpin the service delivery and the programme management model. The principles have been the guide for the department and all the service providers during the implementation phase of the programme, and will continue to guide the management, quality assurance, and continuous improvement of the programme as it matures.

The delivery model—uh, the delivery model has two service delivery models. The programme, I should say, has two service delivery models: a national programme and four regional trials. The national programme will be delivered by Telra Health, and the four regional trials are located in four regions across Australia and delivered by local Aboriginal community organisations. The two delivery models provide choice for those living in the four trial locations, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors in how they would like to be supported. They can choose to be supported through the national trial provider or through the regional trial providers. The national service provider will ensure national coverage and deliver the programme to applicants in all Australian states and territories, including rural, regional, and remote locations and non-self-governing territories, including Norfolk Island, Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island, and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The regional trials will deliver services in Broome, Cairns, Darwin, and Dubbo and their surrounding regions. The services will be available to anyone in those areas but will focus on delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors.

So, a bit more about the regional trials: the regional trials form part of the government's commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023–25 and the national agreement on Closing the Gap. As mentioned, the regional trial providers will be developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, offering local-led solutions and using local experience and knowledge to provide support. The current EVP place-based trial in Cairns will be part of the regional trials for the Leaving Violence Programme, and this will provide service continuity and support for the local Cairns community. The other three regional trial locations of Dubbo, Darwin, and Broome were considered the most appropriate, as they could act as community service hubs for more remote communities, allowing greater coverage of the programme. During the briefing process on the regional trial sites, the department considered a variety of data sources to determine locations. The data sources were analysed to identify those regional communities that would be the most appropriate setting to host a trial location—a place-based trial, I should say. This included consideration of the availability of relevant established supports and services to effectively support the service delivery model and the identification of sites where there is a significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population at risk of family and domestic violence and disadvantage, including economic and financial hardship. The department consulted with the National Indigenous Australians Agency, Indigenous Business Australia, and the department's delivery network on the locations for the regional trial. The locations were agreed upon by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council on family, domestic, and sexual violence. The regional trials will mainly be face-to-face service delivery and provide the community with ongoing support. It is important to remember both delivery models—so, that being the national programme and the regional trials—have the same eligibility criteria and service offering, but how the services are delivered are different. Our delivery model links to our programme principles of ensuring culturally responsive services. The regional trials will provide eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in trial communities the option to access the Leaving Violence Programme through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation. While the regional trials will focus on meeting the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors, any victim-survivor within the service region can apply and receive support. This includes non-Indigenous people.

So, moving on to the eligibility criteria: the programme is part of a system providing a range of responses for victim-survivors experiencing family, domestic, and sexual violence. It is one of the options available for victim-survivors and is not intended to be the only service that they will receive over their long-term response to and recovery from violence. To be eligible for the programme, individuals will need to meet all of the following criteria as outlined on the slides: they must be a victim-survivor of intimate partner violence; have left or have a plan to leave a violent relationship; have either experienced a change in living arrangements in the past 12 weeks as a result of intimate partner violence or are planning to change their living arrangements and have a plan in place for when the change in living arrangements will occur; they must be 18 years of age or older; be residing in Australia, either as a resident, a citizen, or a temporary visa holder; they must be experiencing financial stress and have not received a payment in the past 12 months through the EVP trial, TVP, the national programme, or the regional trials.

Jane, just thinking about that last point about not receiving a payment in the last 12 months, can I ask you if a victim-survivor calls wanting to access the programme but can't remember if or when they received a payment from the EVP trial, is Telstra Health able to help them find out?

Yeah, good question. So, we've been working with the trial sites, and we've managed to find a way to migrate the Ending Violence Programme data for applications for the last 12 months into our system. So, when someone calls the national programme and our intake worker starts collecting information from that person, the system will do some matching in the background and let our intake worker know if there's already been an application in the last 12 months. The intake worker can then advise the caller of that and work it through with them to determine what the next steps are and how we can support them from there.

Okay, fabulous. Thank you, Jane. I'd like to go through the definitions that are used for the key terms in the eligibility criteria:
So, intimate partner violence is a behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, sexual, spiritual, or psychological harm. This can be physical, verbal, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse, financial abuse, or threatening, coercive, or seeking to control or dominate the other person. An intimate partner refers to a person with whom one shares or shared a close relationship characterised by emotional or physical intimacy and where their lives are or were entwined or dependent, be that physically, financially, or emotionally. This can be a current or former spouse and a de facto partner. Intimate partners can be the same or opposite sex.

Changing living arrangements could include moving home, staying with a friend or family, staying at a refuge, remaining in the home when the partner has left or been made to leave, or being made homeless. Financial stress means that the person is experiencing issues with money or finance, for example, finding it hard to pay bills, being unable to access money, or being unable to afford to leave the violent relationship. There is no monetary value placed on this criteria; it will be assessed as part of the overall circumstances of the victim-survivor that the support worker will work through with the victim-survivor. I will note that some victim-survivors may be asked to provide evidence of their financial position.

So, what does the programme offer victim-survivors? The Leaving Violence Programme offers up to 12 weeks of support where individualised financial support packages are provided.

Can I jump in here again?
Yes, sure, please.

So, I just thought I'd jump in here to clarify the 12-week aspect of the programme. It's coming up quite a bit. So, the word that you used, Eve, was individualised: individualised financial support packages, and I think the key word is individualised. So, support could be provided for up to 12 weeks, but it will absolutely depend on the needs of the victim-survivor. So, it could be 12 weeks; it could be 2 weeks. It might be like the trial uncovered that we might be the only organisation that is supporting the victim-survivor at that time, and that might determine how long we stay involved. But it might be that the victim-survivor is well linked in with a domestic family violence agency that's providing support and case management, and therefore our involvement would be very light and mainly, you know, potentially just focused on the financial aspects. So, it's up to 12 weeks, but it can be anything up to that, and very variable depending on what is needed. I hope that clarifies that.

Absolutely. Thank you, Jane. So, on top of the financial—the package overall includes financial support, risk and needs assessment, safety planning, and referral services. The financial support can be used on items to help the victim-survivors leave the violent relationship, such as household goods and furniture, relocation costs, short-term accommodation or rent, clothing, health needs, school needs, or any other essential items. Victim-survivors have flexibility in how they spend those funds, with the only stipulation being that they will not be able to spend it on anything that would further disadvantage them, for example, putting them into further debt. In addition to the financial support, eligible victim-survivors will be able to access other supports such as setting up a safe bank account or email if they don't already have one, and referrals to other relevant services such as psychological and financial counselling, legal assistance, health services, or housing services.

So, what the programme doesn't offer: the programme is not a crisis service. It will support victim-survivors in a timely manner, but if they are in crisis, they will be warm-referred to the appropriate service, such as triple 0. It is not a 24-hour programme. The programme will not provide ongoing counselling or case management. If this is required, the support worker will work with the victim-survivor to refer them to a service that can provide the appropriate support. The programme cannot provide a victim-survivor housing. If support is needed to access housing, a support worker can provide referrals or information on how to self-refer into housing services. If the victim-survivor chooses, they can use the financial support to pay for housing costs and that type of support.

Jane, are you able to tell us a little bit more about what support the programme will offer victim-survivors found not eligible? Yeah, sure. We'll work very hard to determine eligibility up front. You know, the criteria are pretty straightforward. So, regardless of eligibility, though, everyone who contacts the programme will be offered a risk assessment, a safety plan, and provided with, at a minimum, appropriate referrals to support them. So again, very led by the victim-survivor in terms of what they would like help with, but we will offer risk assessment, safety planning, and referrals to anyone who calls us, regardless of eligibility.

That's still me, so while I have the floor, I might keep moving on and start talking about the national programme and provide details on the delivery model and how the application process will work. Just a reminder to everyone that if you have questions about any of the information talked about so far, please put your questions into the Slido box on your screens.

For those who don't know anything about Telstra Health, I thought I'd just give a little bit of an overview. Telstra Health has experience in implementing and scaling solutions that improve service delivery across Australia. This includes delivering care technology across the health, aged care, and social services sectors through partnerships, largely with governments across Australia. You would all know that since 2020, Telstra Health has delivered the 1800RESPECT service, which is the national front door for anyone dealing with family, domestic, sexual violence, and sexual harassment. So, through 1800RESPECT, Telstra Health has been developing some strong connections with the sector, and now we're extremely proud to be delivering this Leaving Violence Programme. We're in the final stages of developing a bespoke platform and system to support the delivery of the programme, and we're getting closer each day to that 1st of July go-live date.

To give you a sense of how the programme will work, I'll step you through a high-level view of the victim-survivor journey, including how we'll assess eligibility, risk, and undertake the planning that I've talked about. I'll also give you a bit of information about the workforce that we've recruited to support the programme, and there's quite a bit of diversity in that workforce, which we're really proud of.

This slide provides a visual flow of the victim-survivor journey through the programme. The model ensures accessibility via the website through a web form application, and via telephone calls. An online chat will be available later this year. All outbound communication will be determined by the victim-survivors that we support, and this can be via email or SMS, but always aligned with the service user's communication preference. Anyone needing support can begin their journey via the website by completing a simple web application form or by calling us. Calls to the service will result in a human connection with a well-credentialed and trained intake worker.

Jane, sorry, can I just jump in? Can I ask you a question? So, as you are aware, the Australian Communication and Media Authority has just released new guidelines to ensure victim-survivors of domestic and family violence receive better support from their telcos. Could you talk about how you will ensure the safety of victim-survivors when they contact and interact with the Leaving Violence Programme?

Yep, sure. So, the safety of victim-survivors has just underpinned the whole build of the programme and the platform that we'll be using, and we've had domestic and family violence subject matter experts involved at every stage in that process. So, firstly, all communication from us to victim-survivors is arranged in consultation with them, and the tech safety features that you would expect are in place, like a quick exit function on the website. And we've also made arrangements for phone calls to the Leaving Violence Programme not to appear on phone bills, as per the new guidelines or the rules that you just referenced there, Eve, from the Australian Communication and Media Authority. Hopefully that answered that.

So, back to the process.
Thank you.

The intake worker will spend some time with any victim-survivor that calls us to build an understanding of their circumstances, determine eligibility for the programme, assess for immediate risk, and explore support needs. Once eligibility for support is established, the victim-survivor will be allocated to a support worker to assist them in verifying their identity, where that's required, by gathering supporting documents so that we can ensure the safe release of funds. As well as providing the financial support, the support worker will develop and implement a support plan in consultation with the victim-survivor that helps them leave violence or remain safe after leaving violence—and that's that up-to-12-week time frame that the support will be provided. The plan that we develop will be based on a risk and needs assessment that supports safety and establishes goals that a victim-survivor determines. The plan may well include referrals for additional support across the health and social services continuum.

So, we're establishing protocols now with the regional trial partners across the top end that Eve mentioned earlier because we want to ensure that there's not a duplication process across the programmes. Initially, this protocol will see our regional trial partners calling us on a dedicated number to validate whether an application has already been received by us. This gives regional trial partners fast access to confirm eligibility for their clients. A digital solution to manage these checks will be implemented within the first quarter after the service commences, and this will make the process even simpler for our regional trial partners.

Again, just going back to that user journey: anyone can initiate an application through the web application form that will be on the Leaving Violence Programme website, and the form is structured to guide victim-survivors through four key sections in a safe and accessible manner. Section one looks at safety and accessibility. We begin with a quick safety check to ensure it's appropriate to proceed online, and information is also provided at this stage about interpreter services and the National Relay Service just to aid communication. Section two looks at the Leaving Violence Programme eligibility criteria. This will focus on gathering details relevant to the eligibility criteria so that we can make that determination as early as we can. Section three starts to collect some personal demographic information, including name, date of birth, address, language, gender, and cultural status, and whether the victim-survivor is First Nations. Section four starts that safety planning and risk assessment, safety planning process. It offers an opportunity for the victim-survivor to provide information relating to an existing safety plan or any safety considerations that must be factored into leaving violence planning. After completing the form, the victim-survivor can then choose a date and time that it is safe for them to receive a contact, to receive ideally a phone call—that would be our preferred next step—and that will be from a support worker, and that will continue the application process. If it's not safe to receive a call, they can ring the 1-800 number at a time of their choosing, a time that works best for them, and that will help progress their application. Importantly, a support person or service provider can assist the victim-survivor throughout the online application process or with the call.

Slide 20, the risk assessment phase: given the cohort of callers and the role of the programme, risk assessment and safety planning will be offered to everyone—I touched on this earlier—regardless of eligibility status. Callers who are identified early on in the process as not being eligible will still be supported with risk assessment, safety planning, and referral activities if they choose. Our intake worker team started onboarding frontline staff on the 2nd of June, and they are all experiencing lots of training right now, and there's a real focus on risk assessment and safety planning in that. The approach we've chosen to adopt in relation to risk assessment is based heavily on the Victorian Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework, or the MARAM. Identifying support and practical needs, external referrals, and safety planning is based on and driven by that assessment, and then risk assessment and safety planning will continue throughout the two weeks, four weeks, 12 weeks of the journey, however long that is.

In terms of the workforce, we have recruited a strong and diverse team to deliver this programme, and as I said earlier, they've been coming on board since the 2nd of June. We've got a range of roles dedicated to the programme to ensure it's delivered to a high standard and that the client experience is as smooth and trauma-informed as possible. We have team leaders who will each support a frontline team and ensure that that team has the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to provide the service. We have a number of clinical practice leads who will provide practice leadership, coaching, consultation, and skill building for the frontline roles. We have support line specialists who will provide immediate assistance to frontline staff during high-risk interactions to ensure the safety and well-being of both the caller and the staff member. The support line specialists will also undertake case reviews, assist in times when we need to do call trace activities, and any mandatory reporting that we may have to make, just to ensure that we're compliant with legislation and policies and procedures. These roles will also provide immediate debriefing to ensure that staff remain safe and well. I'd mentioned the intake workers earlier, and these roles will be the first point of contact for anyone contacting the service, and again, they will confirm eligibility and complete preliminary risk assessment and safety planning.

We then have two levels of support workers. We have individual support workers who will support people assessed to have low to medium needs for the 12 weeks of the programme, and then we have a team of specialist support workers who will support people with higher needs or greater vulnerability across the programme, the two, four, or 12 weeks of the programme. All roles have been hired to agreed credentialing requirements set by the department, and as I mentioned earlier, that training programme for all staff is now being delivered.

Jane, me again, sorry, can I jump in? That all sounds great. Can I ask, in line with the programme principles, how outline interactions with victim-survivors are to be trauma-informed and user-centric, specifically not having to talk about their situation multiple times? How does or how will a victim-survivor navigate through these different roles, and will they have access to the same support worker when interacting with the service?

Yeah, good question. It does sound like there's a lot of roles there, but they're all kind of creating an ecosystem in which the victim-survivor will be supported. So, I've mentioned the staff training, and there's a big emphasis on trauma-informed practice, so that's happening right now. Particularly trauma-informed practice in the context of intimate partner violence. And the model is that anyone engaging with the service ideally only ever has to deal with two primary staff. The first one is the intake worker who will answer the call, do that eligibility piece, and commence the risk assessment and safety planning. The other is the support worker that I've mentioned, and the support worker will remain consistent throughout that 12-week journey. The process from intake to the support worker can be completed with one phone call, and it could all happen on the first contact, that the intake worker assesses, determines eligibility, and then does a warm transfer to the support worker who remains that contact point for the rest of that victim-survivor's journey with us. So, wherever possible, barring roster and leave arrangements, we'll aim to maintain consistency of support workers once that's been established. Does that answer that, Eve?

It does, thank you, Jane.
Yeah, good, thank you.

I've mentioned staff training at a high level—the staff training, a high level of focus on risk assessment, safety planning, and support and referral pathways—but the team are also getting their head around the many policies and procedures that we've developed, the platform we're using, and fraud and risk and cyber security are an aspect of things that they have to get their head around as well. So, we've been really proud to employ a diverse group of professionals to deliver this programme, and as you can see from the numbers on this slide, the diversity levels are good. We have over 150 people already onboarded, with a good representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and people from regional and remote Australia.

I'll leave those numbers there for you to look at, and just before I hand back to Eve, I just want to mention that my team are really clear about the importance of ongoing engagement with the domestic, family, and sexual violence sector because that just underpins the success or otherwise of this programme. So, we'll continue to establish links through forums like this and build on some of those connections we have through 1800RESPECT, and yeah, just keen to expand the partnerships.

My Leaving Violence Programme team includes a dedicated relationship manager who'll be responsible for working with the sector to ensure that you have all the information you need about the programme to support your clients to engage with us, and interviewing for this role is occurring really soon, so hope to be able to introduce you to that role soon. We'll also be developing up a toolkit of resources for the sector which will support your knowledge of how the programme will work and what's needed in relation to eligibility. So, thank you all. That's my overview. It's great to have such strong engagement at this early stage from the sector, and I truly look forward to partnering with you on this important initiative going forward.

Back to you, Eve, thank you.

Thanks, Jane, and thank you for everyone online for hanging in with us. We've got a couple more slides, and then we'll throw to questions. I would like to acknowledge Jane's earlier comment on how Telstra Health is establishing links between the delivery of 1800RESPECT and now the Leaving Violence Programme. I think it's an important point, and I just wanted to share with you that 1800RESPECT and the Leaving Violence Programme both sit within my branch, and as such, we're really focused on ensuring these two programmes sit within the broader suite of programmes—government programmes—and that's all levels of government, but also has really strong links with the FDSV sector.

So, throughout this presentation, you may have noticed that we have not spoken about separate referral pathways for frontline and community services. This is because the department and Telstra Health would like to engage with frontline and community services to see what the approach would look like. We will be coming out to you with more information on this shortly. This does mean that from 1st of July, there will not be a separate referral pathway available for services, but they can support victim-survivors to apply via the web form or phone.

One last thing before we move to questions: I do want to provide some information on how the department and service providers are ensuring we all work together, and that you hear about the ways that we are working to improve the programme into the future.

The department has established both an expert advisory panel and a community of practice. The panel has members with lived experience, family and domestic violence experts, representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, representatives of refugee and migrant communities, older women, those from the LGBTIQA+ community, and also those with a disability. The community of practice includes Telstra Health, our four regional trial providers, and the department. We are all working closely on how we engage with the sector and community moving forward. This will include releasing data about the programme publicly on a regular basis. We're still working through some of the formal mechanisms for communication, but we will ensure we keep you and the sector up to date regularly.

Questions? We have time for a few questions. At the session on Monday, we did receive a number of questions that did not get answered. Before we actually kick off the question and answer session, I would like to answer the top three questions that we received from the session on Monday, and then we'll move on to some questions from today.

As mentioned at the start of the presentation, we are taking questions through Slido, and whatever doesn't get answered, as well as those that do, will be put together in a Frequently Asked Questions document that will be circulated after we have completed the series of information sessions, and we'll ensure that this is available on the DSS website.

One of the questions from Monday, Jane: this looks like it might be one for you. The question is, are the assessments and referrals only done for self-referral? That's assuming that you know professional referrals may have done this work already.

Yep, good question. So, clients or victim-survivors can submit applications on their own, or they can be supported by other support services, as already mentioned. Every applicant will be offered the support and risk assessment regardless of how they come to the programme. But if a client has already undertaken this work, has been through this with another provider, our support workers will ask if we can use that assessment, and we'll ask to have access to those so we won't assume that assessments have been completed with another organisation. But we will check and find a way to access that so that the victim-survivor can share that in a way that's safe to us. This is something that I'd like to flesh out a bit further with the sector during one of those forums that you just talked about, Eve. More engagement on what that referral process looks like, I think, will be helpful.

Okay, awesome. Thanks, Jane. Another question from Monday's session: For those who have received the Red Cross Family Domestic Violence Payment, will they also be eligible under the Leaving Violence Programme? The answer is yes. The Red Cross delivers the Temporary Visa Holders Experiencing Violence Pilot that I mentioned earlier in the session. Anyone who has previously been supported through that pilot could be supported through the Leaving Violence Programme if they meet the eligibility criteria. To be eligible, a victim-survivor needs to be residing in Australia, regardless of if they are a citizen, a permanent resident, or a temporary visa holder.

And our third question from Monday, again, Jane, one for you: What steps will be taken for victim-survivors who have been misidentified as a perpetrator?

Yep, a good question, and there's been a whole module developed around this exact topic, and I've seen that, and I know that the team are doing that. What I can say is that the team are being trained up in this. We know it's an issue, and they've been—they will undertake a range of checks that confirm a victim-survivor's situation. So, we'll approach that from a trauma-informed way and just collect the information in a sensitive way to help us unpick that. We'll offer the risk and needs assessment for all applicants to understand their individual circumstances and provide appropriate supports based on need. But I do acknowledge the complexity of this one and yeah, just want to say that the staff are being trained in that right now.

Thanks, Jane. All right, so we will throw to some questions from the forum today. Will the Leaving Violence Programme regional trials be accessed through the same web form and phone line? The Leaving Violence Programme website will have all the information for the programme, and that's for both the national programme and the regional trials. This will be live from 1st of July. The web form available on the website is for the national programme. The regional trial providers will have their own application processes. This is part of the two delivery models. The national programme will have a dedicated Leaving Violence Programme phone number. This number is 1800 2 LEAVE, so that's the number two. So, in terms of the actual number, it's 1800 253 283. This will also be available from 1st of July. So, thank you for that question.

Jane, one for you: How are we ensuring a trauma-informed approach, as clients seem to have to speak to different people along their journey?

Yeah, I reckon I covered this one off earlier. That's that issue of us minimising the number of people that a victim-survivor needs to connect with from our programme. So, there's just the intake worker and a support worker, whether they're an individual or a specialist support worker, who will be their dedicated support person throughout the time that they are with our service.

Thanks, Jane. Another question: Will the LVP regional trial providers accept agency applications? So, each regional trial provider will deliver the Leaving Violence Programme differently, depending on their community needs. The decision to accept agency applications will depend on the regional trial provider, and they will work within their community on their delivery model, so based on local needs. Thank you for that question.

Another one for me: Can we share what was the reason DSS decided to go with Telstra Health to provide LVP? Yes, so Telstra Health has been selected to deliver the national programme on behalf of the Australian government. Now, this was following a competitive open procurement process conducted by the Department of Social Services. Telstra Health was selected as the strongest service delivery partner with the national capability to provide a high-quality, responsive, and trauma-informed service to victim-survivors while also achieving best value for money.

Okay, so Jane, this is one for both you and me, I think. What's the workforce number that will be servicing the national programme, and what is the expected number of client applications in a year? Jane, if you don't mind, I might kick off and then hand over to you. I can answer the second part. So, we are anticipating around 36,000 applications per year. I will share that over the life of the EVP trial, we will have supported around 100,000 victim-survivors, so we are expecting a lot of applications. Jane, can you answer the first part of the question about the workforce Telstra Health has, please?

We have recruited 150 people, give or take, to deliver the programme.

Okay, great. But Jane, you will, I'm assuming, scale with need as we go through that?
Yes, we will. It's going to be a bit of a test and learn for a little while, but 150 starters.

Great, thank you. Jane, can I ask, will practitioners be completing comprehensive risk assessments and safety planning under the MARAM?
Yeah, so that's a good question. So again, if someone is identified pretty early on as not eligible for the service, we would work with them to determine what level of assessment that they would like. So, the system is geared up so that we can deliver a comprehensive risk assessment based on the levels of the MARAM. So yes, we can and will do that.

Fabulous. Thank you, Jane. Oh, Jane, another one for you: Is there any service brochures that organisations can order to provide to clients? Yep, good question, and I feel like I want to say that I'm day 12, so I'm learning some things here as well. So, really good question. We will have resources available on the Leaving Violence website, and they will be downloadable. So once that website's up and running, people will be able to go there and organisations can get hold of the brochures and the posters and download them for use in your offices or with your clients.

Oh, excellent, great. Thank you, Jane. All right, question: What will the goods and services look like? Will it still be vouchers, or will clients need to produce proof of need, quotes, etc.? So, goods and services will be determined by the victim-survivors and determined through their needs assessment. [Music]

How are we going for questions, team?

All right, I think that may wrap us up. Oh no, sorry, another one coming through. Do clients have a choice to decline the 12 weeks of support if they already have a specialist family violence case manager? So, every individual can access support based on their own needs and preferences for up to 12 weeks. Every individual can access support based on their own needs and preferences for up to 12 weeks.

I think Jane mentioned this earlier in terms of individualised and really working through that with victim-survivors. So for example, a victim-survivor may opt for a shorter period of support or access the Leaving Violence Programme occasionally over that 12-week period. Thank you. Another great question.

Please bear with us; our system's just loading it up. Oh, I think actually that might be all we have time for, so we will wrap up the questions. Just a reminder that any remaining questions will be answered through the frequently asked questions document that will be published post all three sessions, so we still have another session on Friday. If you have any questions that you haven't been able to capture through Slido, please email those through to theleavingviolenceprogramme@dss.gov.au. So I'll just say that again: leavingviolenceprogramme, all one word, at dss.gov.au.

Thank you so much for giving us your time today and for joining this information session. Again, tell your friends from Monday that this one was a little bit better, hopefully. Again, from Jane and myself, we thank you all for attending, and we hope that you've learned and taken away some more information about the Leaving Violence Programme.

Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Eve. Thanks, everyone.

Hello, everyone and welcome.

Thank you for joining us on the second information session of the Leaving Violence Program.

My name is Eve Cordeiro, and I am the branch manager for the National Programs Branch within the Family Safety Group of the Department of Social Services.

I'm also joined today by Jane French.

Jane, can I ask you to introduce yourself, please? Hi, everyone.

Jane French, I'm the head of the Leaving Violence Program at Telstra Health.

Thanks, Jane.

Today we will be providing an update on the Leaving Violence Program, including, an introduction to the new online referral agency pathway, which was launched on the 3rd of November, 2025.

The referral pathway supports organisations to apply on behalf of your clients with their consent.

Before we get into the session, I would like to start by acknowledging the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the many lands across which we meet on today and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

And I would also like to acknowledge any Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, people that, viewing this presentation today.

I would like to acknowledge that I have the pleasure of living, working and raising my family on beautiful Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, which is where we are meeting you from today.

But Jane, where do you call home? I usually live and work on Larrakia country up north.

Lovely. Thank you. Jane.

By way of a visual description of myself, I'm a middle aged, woman who has brown skin, cropped short, curly hair, and today I'm wearing a black dress.

I always like to say that I'm more middle aged than Eve, and I have straight blonde hair and white skin.

And today I'm wearing a black top with some white embroidery on it.

Thanks, Jane.

Jane and I would also like to acknowledge anyone who is joining us today with lived experience of family, domestic or sexual violence and the contributions that you bring to ending gender based violence.

I would also like to introduce our wonderful Auslan interpreters joining us today.

We have Kim who started off with us, and then Gabriel, who will join us later.

So thank you.

In our session today, we want to provide you with a brief overview of the Program, how we have engaged with sector on the feedback that we have received and how we have responded to that feedback.

Also, show you the the development that we've had underway in terms of the online referral agency pathway, and that's the development of four sector referral options.

And we would like to provide a walk through of option one, which we think will be of most interest.

There will also be some questions at the end, that we will.

There are frequently asked questions that we've had over the three sessions that we've run.

We will also be uploading a Frequently Asked Questions document onto the DSS website.

As we all know, the national program and the four regional trial sites all went live on the 1st of July 2025.

The regional trial sites are located in Broome, Darwin, Cairns and Dubbo.

Since the launch, the Program has experienced higher demand than forecasted and that has had impacts on the service delivery.

I wanted to share some Program insights with you based on the first couple of months of operation.

So the Program is making and receiving around 900 calls a day.

Payments are being issued on average within two days of eligibility being confirmed.

The top three uses of the payment are household appliances, moving fees and security with other uses including bond or travel.

The Program is supporting victim survivors with access to other services also, and the top three referral pathways are for housing, mental health and wellbeing, and financial support.

Further data and insight into the Program will be shared in due course, but I think we're off to a solid start saying that we have also received a lot of feedback from sector on the improvements on the Program.

We've found this feedback very helpful and want to hear from you.

So please continue to engage with the Program.

To get to this point.

Both the Department and Telstra Health have been actively engaging with and listening to feedback from victims-survivors and the sector.

This engagement has led to constant iterations of the model to improve the experience of Program users.

Feedback was clear and it was clear that the sector needed to engage and have access to a range of options to support their clients to access the Program.

This was ranging from making a full application on behalf of their clients to providing supporting information about clients when they have applied on their own.

We are pleased to be able to provide updates about the improvements that have been made to address this feedback to date, and those that we're about to launch that will extend, that will also, talk about the referral options available.

So before we dive into the improvements that we have made, I wanted to touch on the development journey we have been on in terms of the development journey.

We commenced the Program knowing that 80% of clients self preferred, which is why the first wave of implementation focussed on the experience of victim-survivors applying without support.

This was a key finding under the Escaping Violence Payment or the EVP Trial evaluation.

Whilst an important part of the process, this has obviously led to a less than ideal experience for victim-survivors and agencies accessing this service, and we continue to work hard to improve this.

We know that this has made the experience of supporting your clients more difficult as you don't, as you didn't have the ability to complete applications on their behalf To develop the full referral pathways that we are launching today, we engaged with the sector through, our FDSV or family, domestic and sexual violence, peak bodies.

In early October, we provided the peaks with a paper seeking feedback on the referral pathway options.

Most peaks provided feedback from their members and this was overwhelmingly supportive of our approach.

So we proceeded to further develop and test these four options.

In mid-October, we asked ten representatives from sector to undertake user experience testing of these options.

This feedback was positive and the approach and model were well received by those who participated.

Option one is a pathway that gives sector the most autonomy when it comes to making and managing applications on behalf of their clients and I'm pleased to announce, as I said before, that this option not only launched on the 3rd of November 2025, but is actually fully operational.

So is available, through the Leaving Violence Program website today.

So this gives you a sense of the progress made to date.

So I just wanted to go through what we have completed, what we're working on now, and what is next.

So what's been completed? We've made some practical but impactful changes early on, including increasing the size of files that can be uploaded, reducing administration for victim-survivor and agencies.

We were implementing as well, or we have implemented a specific document upload link for the sector to use.

This has been in place since 5th of September.

We extended the timeframe for uploading documents via the link, now allowing five days for FDSV agencies and 72 hours for victim-survivors, balancing the extra time needed to collate information with the risk associated with an an unending or open link.

We also enabled victim-survivors to upload documents as part of their application to help progress requests more quickly.

We enabled victim-survivors to provide consent for when they deal with their caseworkers or support workers on their behalf to reducing, in the hope of reducing repeating risk assessments and repeating their story.

We also introduced a safe time to call option for victim-survivors to use when booking a call back to broaden out the times we can contact them to progress their application.

We have published further frequently asked questions on the website specific for the sector, as well as creating factsheets on key issues including payments and document uploads.

In terms of, what's new or the 'now'.

So today or I should say yesterday for the 3rd of November 2025, we introduced the, the agency referral pathway and the four pathways, and these were designed to help simplify the way you provide support for your clients.

In terms of what's next, we will be bringing a web chat functionality in coming months.

We are also offering a client survey and a specific portal for our regional trial colleagues.

Jane, Over to you.

I'm going to go into a bit more detail about the four options that are available.

So the first option is a full application pathway and allows a caseworker from a domestic family or sexual violence service to submit an application to the Leaving Violence Program on behalf of their client or victim-survivor.

To make an application via option one, your organisation must first be authorised by the Leaving Violence Program.

I'll talk more about the authorisation process in a minute in the next slide.

So under option one, caseworkers from a referring agency will maintain responsibility for case management, including risk assessment and safety planning, while the Leaving Violence Program will only engage directly with the victim-survivor for the purpose of arranging payment.

Options two, three and four provide alternative referral pathways that don't require authorisation.

Under option two, a caseworker from a referring agency can submit an application to the Program on behalf of their client, including uploading all their supporting documentation.

So this option takes the administration burden away from your clients.

The Leaving Violence Program will then pick up the application, process it, and make contact with your client to complete the risk assessment, safety planning if that hasn't already been done, and arrange the appropriate supports, including the financial package, if they're eligible.

Option three is for organisations that want to make sure their client is connected to the Leaving Violence Program, but may have limited capacity or specialisation to do that work, to do the case management and risk assessment.

Under option three, a caseworker from a referring agency can go online and arrange for the Leaving Violence Program to make contact with their client and start an application over the phone.

Option four is the process that's currently in place.

This allows for a caseworker to receive a link to upload documents on behalf of their client, who may have already independently applied to access the Program.

So the types of documents that you may share via that link might include risk assessment, safety plans, support letters, or anything else that might be relevant to help your client determine that they are eligible for the supports.

So the authorisation process - agencies or organisations looking to be authorised under option one need to email the Program on leavingviolenceprogram@health.telstra.com and request authorisation.

You'll then be sent an authorisation application form that gives us information about your organisation and the work that you do with victim-survivors of intimate partner violence.

The application process requires your CEO or their appropriate delegate to agree to a series of terms and conditions, in order to receive access to the portal.

Once your organisation's authorised, we will give you all the information you need to activate your portal.

Your organisation will then be able to nominate a manager or managers, who can add and remove case workers to and from the portal.

If you decide that option one would be a good fit for your organisation, the process is pretty simple.

Step one is to email us and indicate your interest in being authorised.

We'll send you through an application form and you just need to complete that and return it to us.

Step two, at our end we'll review your application.

We may reach out to clarify some information, but largely we will do that based on your application form.

And then once you're approved, we'll provide information to support you logging into the portal.

Step four is when your managers or those that are delegated to do so, can be activated and have the ability to add and remove caseworkers from your organisations onto your organisation's portal.

So caseworkers will receive a system generated email with individual login details and just note that login details must be tied to individual workers and employees of your organisation.

They can't be shared just as part of our strict fraud controls.

So option one, as Eve's already mentioned, provides a most streamlined approach for your organisation.

For organisations who are supporting victims-survivors of intimate partner violence, and we think it's what the sector have been asking for, for some time, so really pleased to be able to give you that access today.

We've put together a basic flow of the process for option one applications.

This is the experience that the caseworkers from referring agencies will have.

Caseworkers will firstly need to obtain written consent to act on behalf of their client in making the application.

You'll need to log in to commence the application, and the first series of questions will ask you to confirm your assessment that your client is eligible for the Program.

You'll then need to provide contact information for yourself and your client, as well as some information about your client's circumstances and some demographic information about them.

You'll then be prompted to start uploading supporting documents.

This may include things like confirming documents that confirm the identity of your client, information about their residency or visa status, perhaps your own clinical documentation and assessments and safety plans, anything else that helps the client to prove that they meet the eligibility criteria for the Program.

The only truly mandatory document that we need you to upload at this point is the client's consent form, which is a template available for download from our website.

However, the more documentation you provide at this stage, the more streamlined the process can be at our end.

We definitely need that consent form provided to demonstrate that you have the appropriate consent, and then we can move ahead and and process that application.

After providing all the information, you'll be asked to identify some appropriate times for us to contact you to discuss any detail of the application.

If possible, choosing a time range rather than a specific time is helpful for us at our end to help us manage workload.

We're always juggling the demands of scheduled appointments with inbound calls. So from there, we will review the application and the information provided.

While you're waiting a decision from us, you'll be able to log in to the portal at any time to check the status of the application.

Once approved our, the team that we've set up to specifically support organisations who are using option one, a member of that team will contact you to set up, make arrangements for us to contact your client so that we can discuss the delivery of the financial package to them.

In this conversation with you, we'll discuss how your client- sorry, in this conversation with the client, will discuss how they'd best like to receive that financial support piece, what works best for them.

So this slide just gives a view of what you'll see on the Leaving Violence Program website.

There are specific pages now dedicated to referring agencies and the four options that we're talking about today are all available and set out, and you just need to click the appropriate pathway for your needs.

Any organisation is able to go in and access options two, three and four right now without requiring authorisation.

So these pathways are now fully available through the website.

I just encourage you to go to the website and explore further the functionality that's there for you.

Thanks, Jane.

So in terms of questions, we do, have a few questions that we wanted to respond to now. So, Jane, I think this one might be for you.

Will using option one mean that the applications are processed quicker? I think without making promises that I can't keep, I think I think it will make things quicker.

So the minute that all of the material and documentation is uploaded to us, it's generally a couple of days for us to, review that and make a determination on eligibility.

So assuming that that documentation is all in order, that there's enough there to confirm your client's status as eligible.

We can turn that around in a couple of days. From that point, after a conversation with your client about how they would like to access that financial package, it's been only a matter of days before we can have money in people's bank accounts and give access to electronic cards.

If people want physical cards, that takes a bit longer.

But I do think the proof will be in the pudding, and we'll need to wait and see, but I do expect that the process will be quicker for organisations accessing the pathway via option one.

Thanks, Jane.

So another question.

Is there a specific risk assessment template or can agencies use their own risk assessment template? Part of this whole piece is so that you can use your own risk assessments.

We do not want to have to duplicate risk assessment.

So if you have completed a risk assessment for your client that can be uploaded on your template.

Great. Thank you.

And a last question, Jane.

How can consent be provided to the Program by agencies acting on behalf of their clients? Yep.

We really do need the specific Leaving Violence Program consent form to be used.

So that is available through the website.

If for some reason you can't get that form completed, you just need to make a phone call and, potentially have your client provide verbal consent to one of our, one of our agents.

So thank you, everyone.

If you're interested in receiving more information on the Program, we would really like for you to, register your interest.

So please use the QR code on screen.

Register to receive updates on the Program.

You will be added on to our mailing list, and this doesn't need to be organisation based, this can be individuals.

So please if you think a colleague would also like to register the QR code's available through this recording at all times and can be used.

Again, this presentation as you're accessing it is on the DSS website, so please feel free to also tell your friends about it.

Finally, thank you so much for joining us today and for, for letting us speak to you about the referral pathway options.

As I mentioned, Jane and I, are very excited about this option and are looking forward to seeing you engage with the online referral pathway.

I would like to thank our wonderful Auslan interpreters, Kim and Gabriel, for joining us, and also Jane for joining us, here in Canberra today.

And thank you all.

see you next time.

Bye. Bye.