Abused Qld women waiting for refuge

Queensland women fleeing family violence are holed up in hotels, waiting for beds at over-stretched refuges.

Women's refuges across the state have penned an open letter to the Palaszczuk government, saying more beds are desperately needed to help women and children in crisis.

They warn the bed shortage is putting lives at risk and the situation is so bad that an average 35 women a night are staying in hotel rooms while they wait for places at refuges across Queensland.

A spokeswoman from Women's House, Brisbane's oldest refuge, says there's a chronic shortage of beds in Queensland's southeast.

She says the region's 19 refuges have 190 places but there's a need for at least double or triple that number.

Queensland's last new domestic violence shelter was funded 24 years ago.

"And not only has there not been a new refuge funded since 1991, we've lost funding for another refuge. We actually have fewer refuges than we did in 1991," she told ABC radio.

Women were most likely to be murdered within three months of leaving a relationship and refuges could protect them at that very dangerous time, she said.

Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman responded by confirming two new 72-hour crisis shelters - in Brisbane and Townsville - would be operating by the end of the year.

The blight of family violence was brought into sharp focus in September, when a series of attacks saw two women and a six-year-old girl killed, with others attacked and injured.

Since then, a parliamentary committee has said almost half of all homicides in Queensland in the past eight years have been linked to domestic violence.

Liz MacDonald from the Combined Women's Refuge Group says the government is advising refuges to wait for an audit of services, due out next month.

The audit was a key recommendation of former governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce's Not Now, Not Ever domestic violence report, released earlier this year.

She said she was desperately hoping it would recommend a major funding boost for refuges, and for DV Connect - the only state-wide phone service offering help for victims of domestic and family violence.

The service is reporting it can now only respond to 50 to 70 per cent of calls, when the number used to be closer to 90 per cent.

"They are reporting they have an average of 35 women in motels every night, waiting for a refuge place in Queensland," she said, adding there would be countless others sleeping rough in cars and on neighbours' couches.

Ms Fentiman admitted the sector was under pressure but it was important victims were supported appropriately.

"We are investing $21.3 million this year for 56 accommodation services across Queensland," she said.