Family violence experts have echoed Australian of the Year Rosie Batty's calls for the government to guarantee long-term funding to specialist women's services.
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Many Victorian community legal services, Aboriginal services and men's support services - which all help women to leave violent relationships - will have to slash programs or face closure because of federal funding cuts.
The new Yarra Ranges Legal Centre in Healesville is set to close after only 10 months because its $200,000 in federal funding was pulled after the change in government.
This comes despite surging family violence in the region: police stats show the number of applications for intervention orders in the Yarra Ranges has increased by almost 230 per cent in the past five years. Family violence cases are the centre's biggest area of work.
Eastern Community Legal Centre head Michael Smith, who manages the centre, says if they are unable to find back-up funding it will close its doors in June.
"We're very proud of Rosie and we would hope with her announcement [as Australian of the Year] the Federal Government will make family violence a real priority and fund it properly," Mr Smith said.
In Victoria, 14 community legal centres will be affected by federal budget cuts from June. A third of all new cases opened by Victorian centres each year relate to family violence, the Federation of Community Legal Centres says.
Antoinette Braybrook, chief executive officer of the Victorian Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service, says the well-regarded service is facing closure.
Ms Braybrook, who has been with the service since it was founded, said control of its funding has been taken over by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and it has been forced to re-apply from scratch for funding in a tender process.
With funding for the Victorian centre to run out at the end of June, Ms Braybrook will not learn if their application is successful until July.
"I've been working in this job for 12 years and I've never felt this much uncertainty before, it is really, really concerning," Ms Braybrook said. "We've got amazing staff that are sticking by us, but the pressure's on for everyone."
When she accepted her award for Australian of the Year on Sunday, Ms Batty made reference to the high incidence of family violence for Indigenous women: "The statistics are unacceptable, indisputable and, if they did happen on our streets, there would be a public outcry."
As well as legal services and housing services, men's services in Victoria have also been affected by federal budget cuts.
About $600,000 a year in specialist family violence services grant funding has been cut, with about half of that money allocated to men's behavioural change programs, said No to Violence spokesman Rodney Vlais.
In a statement, new Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said he would welcome an opportunity to meet Rosie Batty and hear her proposals.
Last year the Federal Government launched the Second Action Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children and allocated it more than $100 million, Mr Morrison said.
