Gunnedah safe house for domestic violence in works

Gunnedah Community Action Team (GCAT) has teamed up with Jobs Australia to drum up $150,000 to renovate and outfit a safe house.

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The project is being headed up by Jobs Australia's Tracey Reid, who said there was certainly a local need.

"[Jobs Australia] realise [domestic violence] is a huge problem Australia-wide, and decided to start in Gunnedah as a pilot and want to eventually expand the program," she said.

"The big picture is that the whole community knows about it - and when women are in need, they know there will be somewhere to go that's safe, somewhere quiet for children [so they're] not waking up in the night scared, hearing fighting."

Ms Reid has applied for funding from the Department of Social Housing but said the crisis accommodation would go ahead regardless of the outcome.

She said she felt "privileged to help" and "the amount of support I received from the community has just been amazing".

Ms Reid started working on the idea in March and wound up with 25 letters of support and 500 signatures.

GCAT's Kate McGrath is one of the supporters and said having "local options would make a world of difference".

In her six years in town, she said she'd met at least 60 women in need of aid, some with babies in prams and nowhere to go.

Mrs McGrath said it was important to start the conversation about domestic violence and for residents to invest in the much-needed crisis housing.

"Often people don't realise [it's a problem] until it affects someone close to them," she said.

The women said it could be hard to escape violence in smaller towns, because everyone knew everyone; they even knew of some women sleeping in cars.

"If you're in Gunnedah, you're known," Ms Reid said.

"It's harder for women to leave."