GREENS MP Mehreen Faruqi visited Bega this week to talk to domestic and family violence support services and meet local party members.

Speaking from Thornleigh on Newtown on Wednesday, July 29 Dr Faruqi said there needed to be greater focus on the causes of domestic violence.

“It’s not about just having good refuges, support services or justice system, it’s about tackling the whole cycle of domestic violence,” The Greens’ spokesperson for the Status of Women, Transport, Environment and Multiculturalism Dr Faruqi said.

“It is prevention we want to get out there.

“[But] it’s a complex issue and we can’t address it with something simple.”

Dr Faruqi said research showed intervention at young ages was successful, such as teaching children about relationships at and before preschool levels, and she wanted to see greater, deliberate collaboration between agencies involved in the area of domestic violence.

However, she said frontline support is still critical.

Dr Faruqi said the state government’s Going Home Staying Home reforms have seen increased waiting lists for women seeking to flee domestic violence, and this year there had been a woman “brutally killed” each week from such violence.

“It is just unacceptable,” she said.

Under the reforms, many women’s refuges have been consolidated with generalist homeless services.

Last year, Mission Australia won the tender for the women’s refuge in Bega over the independent managers South East Women and Children’s Services.

Dr Faruqi said from what she had seen in NSW, the change from independent to larger providers was not successfully addressing domestic violence.

“It is not a criticism of Mission Australia or other agencies,” she said.

“It is a criticism of the government taking specialist services run by women for women and turning them into generalist services.

“Domestic violence is not just homelessness; it requires specific support from trained workers.”

Other factors of domestic violence Dr Faruqi said require action included lack of funding in regional areas and the gender pay gap.

“We know regional areas have a much more disproportionate level of domestic violence [than metro areas], so we need increased funding to support the issue there,” Dr Faruqi said.

She said men’s economic power was a large part of domestic violence, and drew attention to the fact that on average men earn more than women.

“This makes it harder and harder for women to leave,” she said.

“If you don’t have the economic capacity, where do you go, where do you live?”