Following an emergency national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders, Anthony Albanese unveiled a $925 million package on Wednesday that will provide $5000 to women escaping violent situations.

The Leaving Violence Program will be a permanent extension of a trial and come into effect from 2025.

However, it has drawn criticism due to the wait time for it to become permanent and funding not being allocated directly to frontline services.

But Mr Albanese said the nearly $1 billion program would not be the only initiative addressing violence against women.

“It’s not job done, this isn’t something you solve with a meeting in one day, this is something that governments are determined to take action on,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday.

“We understand Australians want action and so did every premier and chief minister as well as the national government when we met yesterday.”

Women eligible for the program will receive $1500 in cash and $3500 in goods and services, as well as referrals to support programs.

The prime minister defended the wait time between the announcement of the permanent program and its start date.

“When you’re talking about any of our taxpayers’ money, you always have to make sure there are some processes in place to ensure it goes to the people who are eligible,” he said.

“I don’t like the idea that anyone who should be getting this payment hasn’t got this payment.”

National cabinet will meet in the next quarter on violence against women, with the prime minister signalling data sharing on gendered violence will be discussed.

“Just as we worked on a national firearms register, what we want to make sure is that if there are perpetrators who are crossing state boundaries, that data and appropriate information is available,” he said.

“We’re not kicking the can down the road and one of the issues that will be examined is data collection.”

But Greens senator Larissa Waters said the commitment agreed to at national cabinet for financial payments for those escaping violence did not go far enough.

She said she was underwhelmed by the package, taking aim at the lack of funding for support services.

“I was genuinely shocked and really disappointed that all we saw … was the extension of a program set up under Scott Morrison, that’s been plagued with maladministration and delays,” she told ABC TV.

It comes as hundreds of violent men are spending up to five months on behavioural change waiting lists, compromising the safety of women, children and other victim-survivors.

Men’s behavioural change programs are identified as a key service perpetrators should access as part of the 10-year national plan to end violence against women and children.

But service providers working with violent men say they cannot keep up with current demand.

No to Violence, which runs the national Men’s Referral Service, estimates about 480 men are currently on waitlists in NSW alone.

Wait times average three to five months.

“Fifty per cent of these men are still in relationships,” chief executive Phillip Ripper told AAP.

“That’s leaving women and children at high risk while these men are waiting to get the help they need.”

The programs are predominantly group-based and focus on enabling men to recognise their violent behaviour and develop strategies to stop them using violence.

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