'Stretched': Safe Woman, Safe Family calls on government for support

The Safe Woman, Safe Family (SWSF) team has been working passionately in the community for two years but are yet to have any substantial funding from the government.

Co-founder Tanya Langford said their services had become stretched as demand rose last year.

"Our phone has been ringing hot since about October and since then many more woman are coming in needing help," she said.

"It's great we got grants to run our programs but we are still struggling to run the centre as we get busier and have more demand.

"It's hard attracting good volunteers who want to come in here and do this work and not get paid.

"We really need to get some sustainable funding."

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An independent evaluation of SWSF shows all women who had taken part in the 15-week program had remained out of the cycle of domestic violence.

A new pilot program, funded through a WA Police Community Crime Prevention grant, has also been launched to teach personal protection education and strategies to minimise susceptibility to gender-based violence, bullying and aggression.

The program has had positive results internationally with a study concluding students gave more assertive responses to challenging situations after participating in similar programs.

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Ms Langford said these types of programs could be expanded to help more women in the Peel region if substantial funding was received.

"It's really difficult to keep doing this incredible work without having more funding," she said.

"SWSF is having such good results but we seem to be getting ignored by any sustainable funding from the government."

Mandurah MP David Templeman said the Labor government was committed to stopping family and domestic violence but made no mention of Safe Woman, Safe Family in his plans.

He promised $18,526 for WA Mums Cottage if re-elected.

"State government funding also continues to fund a range of existing services and programs in and around the Peel region, including women's refuges, men's behaviour change programs and the Family and Domestic Violence response team made up of police, child protection and specialist services to assist victims after a police callout," he said in a statement.

Opposition leader and Dawesville MP Zak Kirkup said he had been advocating for the Liberals plan to invest $45.5 million in front-line workers, education, training and research.

"We want to the address the root causes of family and domestic violence to stop it before it happens - we also need to establish of a Domestic Violence Forensic Unit," Mr Kirkup said.

"I've been arguing for proper funding for the 'Freedom from Fear' campaign, which would promote an understanding that the perpetrator is responsible for the violence, not the victim.

"I'll work constructively with the government to make sure we do everything we can to address this issue in Mandurah and the Peel region."