In brief:

• Funding in the 2026–27 ACT Budget boosts support for domestic, family and sexual violence services.
• The investment will expand frontline services, including crisis response and youth programs.
• It provides ongoing funding and greater certainty for those working in the sector.
• This article gives an overview of how the funding will be allocated.

The 2026–27 ACT Budget is investing in sustainable, tailored support for people impacted by domestic, family and sexual violence.

This funding will help provide certainty to those working the sector. At the same time, it will strengthen existing supports and ensure they meet the ACT community’s need.

Strengthening frontline services

Budget funding over four years will bolster Canberra’s frontline services.

This responds to the needs of those working in sector and will support a range of tailored, responsive services. These include:

• crisis response
• sexual violence support
• programs for children and young people
• programs to engage people who use violence.

This new funding will help ensure frontline services are there when the community needs them most and allows them to grow alongside the ACT population.

Key investments

The Budget will:

• provide stable, ongoing funding for core domestic, family and sexual violence response services. These include the Domestic Violence Crisis Service (DVCS), Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, and YWCA Canberra.
• boost baseline funding for critical services to help meet growing demand.
• bolster behaviour-change programs, including EveryMan and Room4Change.
• continue programs that support children and young people as victims in their own right
• support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of sexual violence. This will occur via direct funding to Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations.
• provide tailored supports for multicultural communities, LGBTIQA+ Canberrans and people experiencing financial abuse.

The cost of these initiatives will be partly offset by an increase to the Safer Families Levy from 2027–28 of $5 a year for three years.

This investment includes a contribution from the Australian Government. This is part of the Federation Funding Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses 2021–30.

For more information on how 2026-27 ACT Budget funding is being used to address domestic, family and sexual violence, read the factsheet.

10‑year strategy released

The ACT Government has released the ACT Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Strategy 2026–2036, alongside its First Action Plan.

The strategy outlines the Government’s long-term roadmap to:

• prevent violence
• improve responses
• strengthen accountability in the ACT.

To support the strategy’s first phase of work, the 2026–27 ACT Budget provides funding to progress foundational system infrastructure. This includes:

• resourcing over three years to establish a domestic, family and sexual violence sector network. This network will provide advocacy, coordination and workforce development for domestic, family and sexual violence services, including Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations
• funding to establish a dedicated Information Sharing Coordinator role to oversee the Information Sharing Scheme
• 2 years of funding to operationalise the updated Risk Assessment and Management Framework through targeted training
• supporting Women’s Health Matters to develop a model for primary prevention infrastructure in the ACT.

This strategy brings together the ACT Government’s existing commitments and future ambition into a single, coordinated government and community approach.

The approach includes:

• contemporary understandings of domestic and family violence and best practice responses
• the importance of distinct, trauma‑informed responses to sexual violence
• the need to recognise children as victims in their own right
• real accountability for people who use violence
• recognition of the role that harmful gender stereotypes play as key drivers of violence.

To read the strategy in full visit https://www.act.gov.au/open/the-act-domestic-family-and-sexual-violence-strategy

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