Five New Orange Door Hubs to Open Across Victoria

New safety hubs will be established in Melbourne’s south and inner-east, Ovens Murray, Wimmera South-West and Outer Gippsland.

Establishing accessible support and safety hubs in each of Victoria’s 17 DHHS regions was a key recommendation that came out of Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Branded as the ‘Orange Door’, these hubs are intended to bring specialist family violence and perpetrator services, family services and Aboriginal services together under one roof, and aim to make it easier for people affected by family violence to access the holistic support they need.

Five hubs have been set up so far, but an Auditor-General’s report tabled in May found they are ‘not yet reaching their full potential.’ The report also raised concerns that future Orange Doors will not be ‘fully prepared to support clients’ or be able to demonstrate better outcomes for families.

In light of the new Orange Door sites being announced, Domestic Violence Victoria (DV Vic) has called on government to work collaboratively with DV Vic and other peak bodies to address these shortcomings and increase the positive impact current and new Orange Door hubs will have.

“Our member specialist family violence services are keen to work with Family Safety Victoria in this next phase of Support and Safety Hub implementation. We call on Government to involve and collaborate with DV Vic and other key peak bodies to resolve critical issues with the Hub model prior to these next five sites being established,” said DV Vic CEO Tania Farha.

“Addressing the concerns of peak bodies and service providers will strengthen the impact of these new Hubs as well as the existing ones. As a result, victim survivors will be safer and perpetrators will be kept in view,” Ms Farha added.

To date, almost 100,000 Victorians have been referred or directly sought help for family violence at an Orange Door hub.

Check out the Victorian Government press release here and Domestic Violence Victoria’s response here. 

See the Auditor-General’s report on Managing Support and Safety Hubs here. 

Visit orangedoor.vic.gov.au/ for more information about the Orange Door network.