Sexual assault survivors will have access to more services under a NSW budget commitment to boost frontline crisis support.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A funding package of $53 million over four years will more than double the number of sexual assault nurse examiners and permanently employ extra medical and forensic specialists to fill gaps in the healthcare system.
The funding will be used to recruit an extra 36 sexual assault nurse examiners, five sexual assault and domestic violence-trained medical officers or staff specialists and seven paediatric child protection leads.
The 48 full-time positions will make sure every health district in NSW has 24/7 crisis coverage for adult and child sexual assault victims who will have access to specialist medical and forensic response within two hours of a request.
Sexual assault presentations to NSW Health are rising yearly, with 65,599 presentations in 2019/20 compared with 53,065 presentations in 2016/17.
But a shortage of trained health care professionals has left critical gaps in services for victims across the state.
Health Minister Ryan Park said survivors needed a safe, timely, holistic public health response.
"These services also enable the collection of forensic evidence in a trauma-informed way with patient consent to support criminal investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of sexual assault, reducing any delays and loss of evidence," he said.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey will hand down Labor's first budget in 13 years on Tuesday, promising to rebuild essential services he says were neglected by multiple former coalition governments.
Nearly $769 million will be allocated to deliver 100 new public pre-schools, including building a pre-school on the grounds of every new public primary school built in NSW.
The first 10 public preschools are set to be built alongside primary schools at Nirimba Fields, Gables and Melonba in northwest Sydney, Carter Street Precinct near Sydney Olympic Park, Melrose Park Public School near Ryde and Gulyangarri Public School and Wilton Junction in southwest Sydney.
Nowra on the south coast, Lennox Head Public School on the north coast and Albury Thurgoona in southern NSW will also have new builds.
The remaining 90 sites are yet to be selected based on educational need, child development outcomes and expected future demand for preschool access.
Tuesday's budget will also allocate Parramatta Light Rail Stage 2 an additional $200 million to expedite the project's planning processes and ensure construction starts in this term of government.
The light rail will connect Parramatta CBD to Sydney Olympic Park with the 10-kilometre extension to include 14 extra light rail stops expected to service a population of more than 277,000 people by 2041.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Australian Associated Press
