By Afraa Kori
As the election approaches, a private online community of over 8.5k women across Gippsland, Cardinia, and Casey are calling out political promises, warning that without real action on domestic and family violence, the crisis will only deepen.
Pakenham resident, founder and admin of Gippsland Mama, Sian Broadbent added that “change will not come from empty words at election time”.
“It will come when women’s, children’s and men’s right to live safely and peacefully, is treated as a national responsibility — not left as their burden to carry alone,” she said.
“It will come when this country is willing to see, to understand, and to care enough to act — not look away.
“We see it in Gippsland Mama. In their calls for help, women aren’t just asking for advice — they’re asking for belief, respect, and real support to rebuild safely, on their own terms.”
The group questions why Victoria has not yet criminalised coercive control, like New South Wales and Queensland.
“This is everyone’s issue. It’s not someone else’s problem. It’s happening all around us,” Sian said.
One in six women — and one in 18 men — will experience physical or sexual violence from the age of 15. One in four women — and one in seven men — will experience emotional abuse.
“Will these new laws be a turning point—or just more lip service? Because right now, too many women are trapped in catastrophic situations, and the help they need isn’t coming fast enough,” Sian said.
“If the courts applying the law, or the police responding to it, don’t understand what coercive control actually looks like — fear, isolation, entrapment, often without a single visible bruise — or how perpetrators work to flip the narrative and paint victims as the problem — how much impact will it really have?
“Without proper education, real enforcement, and cultural change across the system and society over time, these changes risk becoming another box ticked while women remain unprotected.”
One member and survivor of two abusive relationships warned that preventing family violence must start early.
“To tackle the issue there needs to be more preventative measures such as better education programs from primary school age. Especially around topics for sexual abuse such as consent and body safety,” she said.
A local business owner urged the community to recognise that no one is immune to domestic violence.
“So many people assume that women going through domestic violence are weak, pathetic women or low socio-economic women – this is not true,” she said.
“I am a local business owner, financially independent, intelligent, ambitious, and it still happened to me. We need to understand how rife this is within the community.”
The business owner also urged men to take more responsibility for challenging violence and harmful behaviour, while further struggles followed in accessing support, with crucial services being delayed or denied.
Labor candidate for La Trobe, Jeff Springfield said “Labor will close loopholes that crack down on abusive partners weaponising debt and will boost funding to monitor high-risk perpetrators”.
“A re-elected Labor Government will take practical steps such as stopping perpetrators from using the tax system to create debts as coercive control and hold them accountable if they do,” he said.
“We will also invest $8.6 million in perpetrator responses, including ankle bracelets for high-risk offenders, behaviour change programs and early interventions for young people.”
Federal MP Jason Wood said “only a Dutton Coalition Government will comprehensively address family and domestic violence to improve women’s and children’s safety”.
“These policies build on the Coalition’s record and previous policy commitments, including having invested $3.5 billion in women’s safety in government, doubling funding to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, and extending our plan allowing Australians to access up to $50,000 of their super so that older women and women fleeing violence can get help to buy a home and restart their lives.”
The Greens have also launched a $15 billion plan to address the national crisis of family, domestic and sexual violence, according to their website.
Family and domestic violence support services:
• 1800 Respect National Helpline: 1800 737 732
• Women’s Crisis Line: 1800 811 811
• Men’s Referral Service: 1300 766 491
• Mensline: 1300 789 978
• Lifeline (24-hour Crisis Line): 131 114
Join the facebook private group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/gippslandmama/
