There was a very revealing moment near the start of the prime minister’s media conference on Wednesday after a national cabinet meeting to discuss the domestic violence crisis that is killing, injuring and terrorising so many Australian women.

After preliminary remarks, Anthony Albanese handed the microphone to national family and domestic violence commissioner Micaela Cronin.

By way of background, Cronin said she had been in her role for 18 months – and yet this was the first time she and other domestic violence advocates had been the primary focus of national cabinet.

Without meaning to, Cronin revealed an uncomfortable truth for all levels of government: While both federal and NSW politicians clearly want to stop violence against women, and have already gone some way to putting in place plans to stop it, this has not been a priority until now. Clearly, given the shocking daily toll of women being killed or beaten up, what has been done to date is not enough.

The awful death of Molly Ticehurst in Forbes on April 21, with her former partner now charged with her murder, has captured the attention of all Australians and given new impetus to efforts to stop the violence.

Following the meeting, Albanese announced the federal government would invest $925 million over five years to permanently establish the leaving violence program, which gives women $5000 in financial support. A two-year trial of the program started by the Morrison government was due to end in January next year.

However, as chief political correspondent David Crowe reports, the $925 million does not start until the middle of next year. It offers $5000 in emergency assistance to women who are fleeing male violence, but the full scheme does not start for at least 14 months.

This program replaces and rebrands a trial policy set up under former prime minister Scott Morrison in October 2021 and called the Escaping Violence Payment. As with the trial, the new scheme offers $1500 in cash and $3500 in goods and services.