Today the State Government handed down the 2026-27 State Budget.
We are thrilled that today’s budget includes a $3.7million investment in specialist sexual assault services. This record investment represents a 75 per cent uplift after years of advocacy from the sector and lived experience advocates. Today’s budget recognises both the power of that advocacy and the urgent need to ensure victim-survivors have access to specialised support when and where they need it. This is particularly crucial in regional and remote Western Australia, where victim-survivors have historically faced limited or non-existent access to specialist support.
The package invests $3million over two years in regional Sexual Assault Support Services and $696k in the Sexual Assault Resource Centre. This budget investment is a welcome and long overdue recognition of the life-changing and life-saving work of these specialist services.
Women’s Community Health Centres provide critical support for tens of thousands of Western Australian women every year, and demand for their services continues to grow. Sustained focus and long-term investment in community-based women’s health services are essential to ensuring women, particularly those facing significant barriers to mainstream healthcare, can access the tailored care they need throughout their lives.
CWSW will continue to advocate for a comprehensive women’s health strategy and an enduring investment agenda that reflects the scale, complexity, and importance of women’s health across Western Australia.
We warmly welcome an investment of $106 million for family and domestic violence, which recognises the demand on specialist services and the critical importance of their work.
This funding provides a critical two‑year extension of the Preventing Violence Together program, invests in vital services such as refuges, including an increase in refuge capacity across the state, and continued implementation of the Family and Domestic Violence System Reform Plan. At the same time, family and domestic violence remains a complex and deeply entrenched issue, requiring substantial, long-term investment and whole-of-system reform.
The Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing looks forward to continuing to work with the State Government to implement critical System Reform priorities, such as embedding the Common Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework (CRARMF) and building a safe, robust and connected information sharing system. These vital reforms will require long term funding that reflects the scale of the family and domestic violence crisis in WA.
This budget is a step in the right direction and represents an encouraging commitment to implementing reforms that are vital to women and children’s safety, health and wellbeing. We look forward to further and sustained investment to match the scale of the need in our diverse communities across the state.
Ends.
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