Women's legal centres are having to choose which victim-survivors they represent as concerns grow about where Commonwealth funding for the sector is actually ending up.
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In one case, a service claimed the excessive carving up of government funds was a factor in "trapping women in poverty".
In the 2021-22 budget, the federal government dedicated $129 million over four years for legal assistance funding to help women access justice.
The budget statement reads "this funding will be directed to women's legal centres, to enable these providers to respond to increasing demand for domestic violence assistance".
The money was distributed to state and territory attorneys general to be handed out to local services, but not all has gone to specialty women's legal services.
Tasmania: 'We have to decide who's most deserving of assistance'
In Tasmania, $5.3 million is shared between seven services - but not all are on the frontline.
Recipients include Tasmania Legal Aid, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service, Hobart Community Legal Service, Launceston Community Legal Centre, North-West Community Legal Centre, and Tenants' Union of Tasmania.
The state's Women's Legal Service will receive $1.3 million over four years.
Chief executive Yvette Cehtel said the money had not gone where it was promised.
"I'm not saying that none of those services need money, but they should not have received the money that was promised in the women's budget statement to women's legal centres," she said.
Ms Cehtel said her service was the only one instituting property proceedings, and distributing the money elsewhere was "trapping women in poverty".
"We have to decide who's most deserving of assistance," she said.
"There is no choice if no other service does that work, and perpetrators of family violence are not going to voluntarily give up what they see as their stuff, their property."
Ms Cehtel said there needed to be provisions in Commonwealth contracts preventing funding commitments being frustrated by state governments, which distribute the funds.
"That's introduced a new political layer ... of decision-making, and imposes a barrier to the distribution of money in accordance with the Commonwealth budget," she said.
A Tasmanian Department of Justice spokesperson said under Commonwealth advice, the funding was for any legal assistance provider dedicated to servicing vulnerable women, not exclusively women's legal services.
The spokesperson said the roll out allowed for flexibility and choice in service delivery, and ensured greater access.
"This appropriately recognises that many legal assistance providers provide services specifically for women, in addition to other services for the most vulnerable in our community," they said.
Northern Territory - 'Nothing will change here in the NT'
The Northern Territory has the highest rate of domestic violence in the country, and women's legal services say their funding is not keeping up with demand.
There are an average of 61 domestic and family violence incidents every day, and four related homicides per 100,000 people each year.
The situation resulted in Women's Legal Services Australia calling for almost a quarter of the $129 million national funding to go to the NT services. Instead, the NT received less than 6 per cent.
Central Australia Women's Legal Service chief executive Janet Taylor said the NT had to divide its funds so that three services received about $262,000 per year, with another quarter going to Legal Aid.
The Central Australian Women's Legal Service supports women across four regions - Darwin, Barkly, Alice Springs and Katherine.
"These women are just the most vulnerable, disenfranchised women you could ever, ever encounter," Ms Taylor said.
She said the service supported many Indigenous women, who were 37 times more likely to be hospitalised for non-fatal family violence related assaults than non-Indigenous women.
Ms Taylor said the small sum of money helped nobody, and only "continued the mess".
"It's like a tsunami of women coming through ... we're trying to [service them], but how can you do that on such minimal money?"
Ms Taylor said there was not enough funding for the service to travel to Bush Courts and represent women, with many turning to resistive violence.
"They don't have a voice because the money keeps going to those mainstream organisations that generally are for perpetrators here," she said.
"I can honestly say in my lifetime ... nothing will change here in the NT, nothing, nada, because we're not addressing the core issues."
The territory Attorney-General Chansey Paech did not respond to questions about how much money the NT received, how it was distributed and why.
A Northern Territory government spokesman said federal funding should be considered on a needs-based platform rather than by population to ensure domestic and sexual violence funding was delivered where it was needed most.
Queensland - a 'huge difference'
In Queensland, women's legal centres have received a greater share of the state's $27.1 million allotment.
The state allocated $25.7 million between specialist women's legal services, and $600,000 each to the Aboriginal and Family Legal Service Southern Queensland, and the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service.
It allocated $115,685 to My Community Legal for women in the Gold Coast, and $122,315 to the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service for migrant women facing domestic and family violence.
Women's Legal Service Queensland practice director for law reform and education Julie Sarkozi said the state was in a fortunate position, with the Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman having a legal background and an interest in gender-based violence.
"Women's Legal Services over many years now have developed a level of expertise when it comes to responding to domestic violence and supporting victim-survivors of domestic violence, who are predominantly women," she said.
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Ms Sarkozi said specialist women's legal centres were in the best position to service victim-survivors, with bureaucratic legal aids not sharing the same gendered understanding and expertise of sexual and family violence.
"Because of the women's only space and the women's only work environment, we're able to offer a domestic violence, trauma-informed response for the legal needs that flow from domestic violence, and possible separation as a consequence of domestic violence," she said.
Women's Legal Service Queensland chief executive Nadia Bromley said the funding had made a "huge difference", with some services now operating off double the funding they previously had.
"There are a lot of people ... that fall through cracks, that can't meet property tests because they might have property in their name, but they don't have access to it as a result of an abusive relationship. They don't have English as a first language and can't access interpreters, they have complex mental health issues, " she said.
"Services like ours, that are attuned to those needs and ... where we can actually engage women and meet them where they are, means that we're better adapted to making sure that they do get a service that they need."
Cash - State and territory governments 'best placed'
Former Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said state and territory Governments were best placed to distribute funds to individual service providers.
Ms Cash said the Commonwealth encouraged states and territories to allocate funding to providers delivering dedicated legal assistance services to women, as well as some community legal centres specialising in family violence.
"This was necessary because some communities, particularly remote and regional communities, do not have dedicated women's legal centres," she said.
"These women are supported by generalist community legal centres, and a failure to fund these centres would have meant women in remote and regional communities would have been cut off from much needed support.
"Our objective was to ensure that this funding goes to the services directly working with the women who most need this support."
Dreyfus - 'I want to fix this'
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said women's legal services were under enormous pressure and badly needed the funding.
"Unfortunately, the former government did not ensure this happened," he said.
"I want to fix this, and do what I can to get this support to the women in crisis who need it most."
Mr Dreyfus said he has asked his department to investigate how much of the $129 million had flowed to frontline women's legal services.
"I want any future such agreements ensure funding dedicated to women's legal services reaches those who it is intended for, and need it most, in particular, women who are experiencing, or at risk of, family violence."
