What Were You Wearing?: Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp commits $20,000 to sexual violence prevention if Labor wins state election

The funding commitment to What Were You Wearing? (WWYW), a Newcastle not-for-profit that works to prevent sexual violence and support survivors, would help the organisation prevent drink-spiking and provide safe spaces at music festivals.

Founder Sarah Williams said the funding is a step in the right direction.

"It means survivors are being recognised for once, because survivors and organisations like ours are very rarely recognised," she said.

"Without donations, without funding - WWYW is not going to survive.

"This is the first ever financial commitment and I think it goes to show that sexual and domestic violence around the whole of Australia is never seen as a major issue - it angers me because sexual and domestic violence is the only crime in Australia that continuously increases statistic-wise."

Ms Williams used two of her own university scholarships to fund the organisation and relies on the support of more than 55 volunteers.

Without it she said the organisation wouldn't have lasted beyond the first two months.

WWYW provides reusable covers that can be put over the top of a drink and kits that pub and club-goers can use to test beverages.

At music festivals WWYW offers safe spaces for patrons if they are feeling vulnerable or an incident occurs.

Patrons can talk to trauma-informed staff and WWYW volunteers can help make reports to police and festival staff and ensure people get home safely.

Ms Williams said she would like to see a Liberal government match or increase the commitment.

"Without funding we can't go to festivals, we can't do workshops, we can't do spiking tests or anything that we do," she said.

"I think it goes to show that survivors, our whole organisation is being trusted, seen and heard and trusted that we can make a change in Newcastle, we already have and we can continue to do so."

Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp said the work WWYW does in both prevention and aftercare is important.

"WWYW have really become a big organisation here in Newcastle in terms of their reach and being known throughout our city and the Hunter region as well," he said.

"It [drink-spiking and sexual violence] is prevalent, it does occur, there is a lot of evidence to back that up and it's something that really does need to be addressed not just in Newcastle but across NSW and Australia."

He said pubs, clubs and licensed venues need to do more, and should train staff in drink-spiking and sexual violence prevention.

WWYW will hold a march to end domestic and sexual violence from Newcastle Museum to Nobby's Foreshore at 11am on Sunday.

The march begins at 11:30am.

IN THE NEWS:

To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.