Kyle Sandilands has issued a personal plea with the Australian government regarding their new domestic violence plan.
The radio host, 52, raised a number of questions about the new scheme during the Kyle & Jackie O show on Thursday morning and suggested the government loosen payment rules.
Female victims of domestic violence will be given up to $5000 and help accessing services, as the government reacts to a spate of killings at the hands of men, mostly partners.
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the government committed to the Leaving Violence Payment to assist those who are otherwise financially trapped into staying with an abusive partner.
‘Those eligible will be able to access up to $5000 in financial support along with referral services, risk assessments, and safety planning,’ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Kyle Sandilands (pictured) has issued a personal plea with the Australian government regarding the new domestic violence plan
However, Kyle said that ‘a lot has to be done’ in order for women to receive the support they need.
‘I’m gonna ring the Prime Minister today, once we finish the show, and say, “Look, what happens if the wife has got a joint bank account and that’s all she’s got?” You don’t wanna put the $5000 into a joint bank account that the bloke’s got access to,’ he said.
‘At the end of the day, the money must get to the victim. Not stuck in some bank account.’
KIIS FM newsreader Brooklyn Ross agreed and stated that while the details of the payment scheme have been announced, the plan ‘won’t start until the middle of next year’.
The radio host, 52, raised a number of questions about the new scheme during the Kyle & Jackie O show on Thusday morning and suggested the goverment loosen the payment rules
There has also been a trial in place for some time, however several victims have been ineligible to receive the payment.
‘But apparently, like half of the people that have applied for this money in the trial have been knocked back because they couldn’t prove that we’re eligible,’ Brooklyn said.
‘Within the last 12 weeks, you’ve got to have changed your living arrangements and, I guess, have some sort of proof of that.’
Kyle replied: ‘How? How does a woman with no income and two kids in an abusive relationship – She doesn’t even know if she’s allowed to speak each day, in her own home, let alone have her s**t together to get out of that situation.’
Kyle (pictured as a child) opened up about his own heartbreaking story of domestic violence from his childhood. The radio shock jock recalled looking after his younger brother Chris (centre) when his father Peter would be violent with his mother Pam (right)
‘I’m gonna get involved. I’m sorry. I have to stick my beak in here,’ he continued.
‘All of the bureaucratic things, that will just be enough for women to just stay in the situation. Because it’s not a possibility to get out with all these hoops to jump through.
‘When you’re being violated and attacked and controlled, if it’s not easy to get out of, you’re just gonna stay there till you’re dead. You don’t know what it’s like until you’ve lived in that situation. And it’s terrifying.’
Kyle then opened up about his own heartbreaking story of domestic violence he witnessed throughout his childhood.
The radio shock jock recalled looking after his younger brother Chris when his father Peter would be violent with his mother Pam.
‘I was a young child living in a domestic violence situation with my little brother, my mother, my father,’ he began. ‘Dad would kick off. It was horrific.’
‘I was only really little and my brother, we’d go into my room. And I’d create, like a land of fantasy in my room with the Matchbox cars, and they’d be screaming and things would be smashed.
‘My little brother – he’s four years younger – he’d hear some vase smash, and he’d get scared. And I’d be like, “Oh, that’s thunder” and just try and make a part of the game that we played. I didn’t even know what was going on. I just knew s**t was kicking off.
‘We always used to shut up like you’d hear dad come in, and you’d think, what’s it gonna be like today? … Everyone lived in fear. Was he going to be in a good mood today or in the bad mood?’
Kyle also recalled a harrowing violent ordeal his mother experienced while she was in the bath in their family home.
‘The worst thing I ever witnessed was I was in my bedroom with my little brother and my mum was in the bath,’ he recounted.
‘He grabbed my mother by the back of her hair with one hand and ripped her out of the bath backwards and dragged her kicking and screaming down the hallway in front of two little kids.’
The Sydney-based media personality said it was an incident he will never forget.
‘I can still see that as if it just happened to half an hour ago. These things they don’t leave little minds. They are in your head forever,’ he added.
When Kyle’s parents finally separated, he remembered having ‘nowhere to go’ as family and friends had ‘isolated’ themselves from his mother.
While the pair had a volatile relationship when he was younger, the radio personality repaired the rift as he got older and the duo were close.
Peter passed away in 2016 after a long battle with liver and bowel cancers.
After his parents split when Kyle was ten years old, Pam went on to re-marry but his step-father’s ‘old school discipline’ made a difficult childhood.
‘He’d pull the belt out but I didn’t mind because I didn’t mind taking the heat because I’d seen my mum take the heat for many years,’ he previously said while appearing on Ahn Do’s Brush With Fame – months after his father’s death.
While the pair had a volatile relationship when he was younger, the radio personality repaired the rift as he got older and the duo were close. Pictured: Kyle Sandilands with his father Peter
When Kyle’s parents finally separated, he remembered having ‘nowhere to go’ as family and friends had ‘isolated’ themselves from his mother
‘So as long as she was happy and she was safe, then I thought this was normal family life.’
The government’s announcement comes following the deaths of 27 women across Australia this year, which has sparked protests and demands for government action.
Australia will also introduce legislation banning the creation and distribution of ‘deep fake’ pornography and the sharing of sexually explicit material using technology such as artificial intelligence.
A woman is killed by a current or former partner every four days in Australia, while one in three women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin said she was pleased to have a unified conversation about the ‘appalling’ spate of deaths of women killed by their current or ex-partners.
Female vicims of domestic violence will be given up to $5,000 and help accessing services, as the government reacts to a spate of killings at the hands of men, mostly partners (stock image)
‘Like many of you, I wake up every day and pick up my phone worried about what news I’m going to see and the impact that that will have on communities, but we also know that that’s just the tip of the iceberg,’ she said.
Opening the one-hour virtual discussion, Mr Albanese told state and territory leaders too many women across the country were dying from acts of violence and said the statistic of one woman killed every four days was ‘completely unacceptable’.
‘Too many children are growing up with trauma and too many children are growing up without their mums, and too many stories are ending in the same heartbreaking way. If we want to change this, then all of us have to take responsibility,’ he said.
Mr Albanese said for many the issue of domestic violence was ‘deeply personal’ and vowed to take immediate steps to address long-term cultural change.
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the government committed to the Leaving Violence Payment to assist those who are otherwise financially trapped into staying with an abusive partner. Pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
‘We are committed to dealing with these issues, and today we want to reach some important outcomes building on the work that governments have done to date but doing more because we know that not enough has been done,’ he said.
According to data released in a response to a question raised in senate estimates earlier this year, more than half of the over 50,000 Australians who applied for the escaping violence payment had their applications rejected between July and September 2023.
The one-off payment, which can be accessed through social service provider Uniting, is issued in the form of up to $1,500 in cash with the rest on a pre-paid card for goods and services.
To be eligible, an individual must be aged 18 years and have left or have a plan to leave an intimate partner violent relationship. Applicants must be an Australian citizen or temporary visa holder and be able to prove they are experiencing or at risk of financial stress.
They must also have experienced a change in living arrangement in the past 12 weeks.
If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECTon 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au
