Closed petition Fund Council Refuges for victims of domestic violence due to CoViD-19 lockdown.

Closed on 21 November 2020

Provide funding to Councils to expand, open or re-open Refuges for victims of domestic violence, where closed due to cuts in Council funding since 2010. The CoViD-19 lockdown is increasing domestic violence which includes coercive control and murder of women, abuse of children and homelessness.

Many Council-funded refuges for victims of domestic violence have been forced to close since 2010 due to cuts in central government funding, restricting Councils to statutory provision of social services.

Goverment's lockdown policy to curb the CoViD-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the incidence of domestic violence -- in addition to an unaddressed background level of violence.

Victims urgently need the safety of Refuges: with lives more threatened by their partners than by the pandemic.