Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

We certainly understand that reaching out for help can be quite difficult for people, so to make sure that free and confidential advice is at the end of the phone at all times we have funded 1800RESPECT and we'll continue to make sure that this service is available to every single Australian who may wish to access advice, counselling or support or merely find out what they should do next in a situation of domestic violence.

As said, during the coronavirus lockdown there was a shift in how people decided that they wanted to respond, and we saw a significant increase in the number of people that were seeking to use online and telephone services as a way of accessing support. The national manager of 1800RESPECT, Melonie Sheehan, said:

More people are calling the service in the very late hours, closer to midnight and we have also seen an increase in people contacting us via webchat as this may be when and how people feel more comfortable or safer to seek support.