Thursday, 2 November 2023

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:10): (530) Yesterday we had Respect Victoria here. In the South-Eastern Region and in the City of Casey we have had some of the highest stats of family violence, which means that many women and people have had to experience difficulties, sometimes in wanting to leave their homes due to financial crisis. I literally just got out of a meeting only half an hour ago with Financial Counselling Victoria, where they were saying that there has been a 47 per cent increase in calls to financial counselling in Victoria, when the average is 23 per cent in Australia, and the wait time can be two months. With some of our ministers here announcing that there are going to be additional counsellors readily available, my question to the Minister for Consumer Affairs is: will the minister agree to providing 10 new counsellors per year for the next three years, with additional funding for interns and training for Financial Counselling Victoria, so that they can actually provide the counsellors required?