Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

While it has certainly been an issue, family violence has brought the whole subject from the shadows into the bright lights of public awareness. The number of victims is escalating at an alarming rate. Many in the community, including myself, have been shocked by the many outrageous violent acts perpetrated by spouses against those who they have sworn to care, love and protect—their partners. Read the daily papers; it is in just about every paper you would like to pick up. The majority of victims are women, but, as mentioned before in the debate, some of them are, sadly, men. More than one woman per week is murdered in Australia. That is a shocking statistic.

While the nation is going through a discussion about how to deal with the destruction of families by violence, regions like Central Queensland are grappling with some of the nation's highest rates of family violence. While our society generally wishes to protect the victims, we still see too many reactions to family violence doing little more than protecting the perpetrator of these acts—yes, the perpetrator first, the victim second. Sadly, children are used as a lever in these bitter battles within the Family Court system or outside the Family Court. We get many cases through our doors, as federal politicians, on a weekly basis and some victims come to us for help who must be referred on.

Even our media outlets are very keen to cover criminal activities which do not often involve domestic violence or brutality. They prefer to leave that alone. They do not want to bring it to the front, to protect the victim. However, are they protecting future victims from such violence? It only validates that victims should feel ashamed and keep the issue swept under the rug. I think we should be bringing these cases out into the open more often to make people aware of this alarming rate. It is escalating at a very quick rate and it has changed over the last 10 years. The stats are horrifying. The first step to get the nation to discuss the topic openly will take a long time because of the culture of denial that surrounds this domestic issue and abuse of women.

One of the great achievements of this coalition government for the victims of family violence is the permanent appointment of a Federal Circuit Court judge in Rockhampton. Since March this year, Judge Anne Demack, herself a Central Queenslander, has presided over the Family Court disputes in the region. Based in Rockhampton, she travels to Gladstone, Emerald and Mackay on a regular basis. Having a judge permanently in Central Queensland means that those utilising the service are not left behind. The victims do not have to travel to far away places like Brisbane to have a judge look at their case, which costs travel time, money and accommodation. Quite often the victims have not had the funds to actually have their case heard, or they might have travelled that distance to be turned down by the court, saying that the judge is sick and cannot hear the court case that day. What does she do? What does he do in that case? That is why the federal government has committed a further $100 million to help the cause of the victims. We, as a society, have a long way to go to see these dreadful crimes minimalised—a great service for victims. I hope we can see a turnaround in these dreadful statistics.

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