Victoria’s domestic violence hotline is at breaking point

Victoria’s domestic violence hotline is reaching breaking point, with thousands of calls going unanswered.

?Operators at Victoria’s child abuse call centre are struggling to keep up with demand.

More than 20,000 calls rang out over an 18-month period, while some callers waited on the line for more than two-hours before they received an answer.

Documents obtained by The Herald Sun show the number of calls that went unanswered quadrupled between 2011 and 2015.

Since then, the helpline has been bolstered by more staff, which has seen the number of lost calls fall to one-in-six.

But with almost two-thirds of abuse reports proven, there are fears many more victims are being left at risk.