More than half the calls to one of Queensland’s domestic violence helplines went unanswered in one month last year, a “damning” report has revealed.
The report found that DVConnect’s response rate declined after March 2023 until about December 2024, though at best its phones were only answered 87% of the time.
DVConnect runs several helplines including Mensline and Womensline services.
In October 2024, the busiest month of the year, just 41.9% of Womensline calls were answered, the report found.
For victims of domestic violence it offers crisis counselling, safety planning, emergency transport, accommodation and pet support.
An audit of DVConnect, commissioned by the LNP government, was conducted by the firm BDO and tabled in parliament last night.
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The minister for the prevention of domestic and family violence, Amanda Camm, described the report as “damning”, but said the human consequences were impossible to quantify.
“We would never know who has picked up the phone and their phone call has gone unanswered – and if that has resulted in any form of injury, death or any other serious event, that would be tragedy,” Camm said.
She said the service had since adopted a new triage system, which had dramatically reduced the rate of calls being abandoned, with a 73% response rate.
The report also found that the actual hours staff worked “consistently fell below” the number of hours rostered. At its worst, in December 2023, they worked just 57% of the expected hours.
The report did not identify why staff failed to work hours rostered or phone calls went unanswered.
Camm blamed the problem on a hiring freeze and poor rostering practices.
“There was no issue with the funding. It’s not a funding shortfall. They have an adequate workforce. It was around the way in which they were utilising that workforce. It was around clarity of their role,” Camm said.
DVConnect is partly funded by the state government and previously also operated a contract for Telstra’s 1800RESPECT service – but the longstanding relationship between the two organisations became “fraught” and the contract was terminated, according to the BDO report. The hiring freeze was put in place in order to shift staff from the Telstra service, according to the report.
The report found that the risk of the Telstra contract being terminated “could have been disclosed by DVConnect to the department as part of its funding
negotiations at the relevant time”.
The state government “effectively covered the lost millions of dollars” lost through the Telstra contract, parliament heard.
“The negotiations led by the former CEO of DVConnect have caused significant damage to the relationship and trust between the service and our government,” Camm told parliament on Thursday night.
The report said DVConnect contended it was bound by confidentiality requirements and could not inform the department of the contract, “but during this review acknowledged in hindsight that doing so may have been warranted”. There was no specific requirement for it to do so, the report added.
The report recommends the government provide better clarity about its expectations for the service, that there be a clear agreement about adequate resourcing, and that there be a formal process for engagement between the department and DVConnect.
The state government has budgeted to spend $31.3m over the next four years to double both Womensline and Mensline capacity, and on a new 24/7 crisis line and hub in North Queensland.
