Canberra's response to the scourge of domestic and family violence is set to be bolstered by a $21.4 million spend over four years on sweeping reforms and boosted services to help victims and perpetrators.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the ACT government's "unprecedented" investment in its Safer Families initiative, revealed for the first time on Tuesday, was the most comprehensive package to address family violence in the territory's history.
The bulk of the reforms, to be kick-started by more than $5.6 million in 2016-17, will be funded by an annual $30 levy on all households from July.
Mr Barr said that levy would provide a "locked in, legislated, sustainable revenue source" that would bind future governments to fund the program in the long-run.
Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the funding package was a significant commitment and long-term response to an "endemic" problem of violence and harm in the community.
"We do need to secure a long-term funding stream to deliver a sustained effort to drive down the level of death and injury that accrues all too often, for women and children in our community in particular, as a result of domestic and family violence."
A cluster of family violence-related deaths in the ACT in 2015, repeated calls from crisis support workers for better resources and funding, and three major reports into domestic and family violence have highlighted a need for an urgent overhaul of Canberra's fragmented and flawed strategies.
Funds will deliver on reforms the violence prevention sector has long-agitated for, including centralised coordination within government, a streamlined risk assessment framework, integrated case management for victims and boosted training for frontline support workers.
The whole-of-government, community-backed response was aimed to help meet increased demand triggered by greater awareness around family violence, with a focus on early intervention to ease the burden on crisis services and the criminal justice system.
More than $3 million will fund a full-time family safety coordinator-general and dedicated safe families team to create a centralised "hub" to foster better collaboration, information-sharing, and awareness-raising between services.
About $2.6 million will go towards an integrated case management system and coordination of services for family violence victims, with another $2.4 million to improve child protection services.
Frontline staff working in community and emergency services, health and education are set to benefit from $770,000 for training to help them identify family violence and support early intervention for victims.
Extra funds will be funnelled into overstretched crisis services, with the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT and Canberra Rape Crisis Centre to share more than $1.2 million over four years.
The Tara Costigan Foundation will receive $40,000 for its caseworker service.
About $2 million will boost capacity for specialist drug treatment services to address family violence, while a $315,000 brokerage and bond fund will provide help for immediate expenses for families fleeing abuse.
There will also be more than $1.2 million to meet a pressing need for translation and interpretation services in ACT courts and tribunals and family violence specialist services to benefit culturally and linguistically diverse victims.
Perpetrators will be helped by $964,000 funding for a residential behaviour change program for men at risk of using violence.
The ACT's Director of Public Prosecutions will receive $1.36 million to strengthen its response to alleged offenders, ACT Policing will get $1 million to help victims apply for domestic violence orders and more than $1.2 million has been allocated to Legal Aid to boost legal services for family violence victims.
The government will also fund the first stage of the joint report from the Australian Law Reform Commission and NSW Law Reform Commission into a national legal response to family violence.
Mr Corbell said the funding would complement strengthened family and domestic violence law reforms introduced to the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
The package represents a significant increase in funds compared to last year, when three key family violence crisis services shared in $250,000 and $615,000 went to respectful relationships training in schools.
