Today Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA), which has been providing trauma counselling to 1800RESPECT clients since its inception, has decided to withdraw from the 1800RESPECT Trauma Counselling Service.

We are advised that RDVSA made the decision to withdraw after considerable negotiations with Medibank Health Solutions.

RDVSA has said that this decision was not made lightly, especially given that many experienced and highly qualified trauma counsellors will now be made redundant.

The Turnbull Government must explain why it has not stepped in to resolve these issues with the 1800RESPECT Trauma Counselling Service.

“The Turnbull Government's hands-off approach has led to the situation that survivors of violence are now facing: the loss of access to these recognised experts in trauma counselling, who have been providing the service since its inception,” Ms Butler said.

“Today we also think of the 70 staff members, many of whom are experts in their field, who will be made redundant due to the Turnbull Government’s lack of action on this issue,” Jenny Aitchison said.

“This could have been fixed with an injection of a relatively small amount of funding, but with the Turnbull Government's ideological commitment to competitive tendering, this is where we have landed - a world class service providing trauma counselling, walking away from a contract,” Ms Aitchison said.