Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion. I also want to thank the member for Kingston for bringing this motion before the House and I also acknowledge the other members who have spoken in relation to this motion. As we know, there is no one quick fix to solve the problem of domestic violence. It is an ongoing issue. It is about education, it is about awareness and it is about support.

When we talk about domestic violence we are not talking only about physical violence but sexual, emotional and psychological abuse. The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, which is an initiative of the Council of Australian Governments, identifies some of the areas that are defined within domestic violence. It also points out that violence against women can be described in many different ways, and laws in each state and territory have their own definitions. Maybe we can all work towards having a common definition so that when we are talking about laws, about support and about workplaces, we are all talking about the same thing on the same basis.

Importantly, the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse fact sheet titled 'Domestic violence: a workplace issue' states:

VicHealth found that domestic violence is the leading contributor to death, disability and illness in women aged 15-44 years, being a greater contributor than factors like high blood pressure, smoking or obesity.

It goes on to explain the impacts of domestic violence when it comes to women in the workplace:

The impacts of domestic violence may stop women working or adversely affect their work performance due to sleep deprivation, injuries, clothes being hidden, promises of child minding being withdrawn, or women being physically prevented from leaving the home.

Those are just some of the effects. We also know that by acting to reduce the impacts of domestic violence in the workplace, employers can save the costs associated with lost productivity, misuse of resources, absenteeism and staff turnover. We know that being in employment is a key pathway to leaving a violent relationship. The financial security of employment allows women to escape becoming trapped in isolated, violent and abusive relationships and to maintain, as far as possible, their home and standard of living. That is why I want to acknowledge the work that the Queensland government, and particularly the previous Bligh government, did in introducing the program of action called For our Sons and Daughters to reduce domestic and family violence and, more recently, in changing the terms of the Public Service conditions of employment under 'special leave' to include 'other exceptional circumstances' including 'an employee who is dealing with matters arising from or as a result of family or domestic violence.' This is a really positive step forward. The member for Kingston mentions in her motion that not just Queensland but also New South Wales have introduced domestic violence clauses into legislation for their public sector employees. We encourage more governments to do this for the private sector as well as for the public sector.

As I said, there is a lot of work to be done on domestic violence, and a lot of it is done by our local community organisations. I acknowledge the Regional Community Association Moreton Bay and its family relationships service. Each year it holds a candlelight vigil. I have attended these over many years, and I went to the one held this year on 2 May. It is always a moving ceremony. This year it was held down at Humpybong Park, and we threw rose petals into the water. We also listened to some very personal stories, one from a woman who was the subject of domestic violence herself and another from a person whose niece lost her life to domestic violence. To stand there and hear these stories was very emotional and very raw, but we need to hear these stories. These women need to speak up, because, if they do not speak up and tell their stories, things are not going to change.

I know that we cannot make domestic violence go away, but we need to support these women more. We need to address housing so that they have somewhere to go, we need to ensure that they have support services in place and—as the member for Kingston's motion says—we need to support them in the workplace.

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