Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In 1991 a group of men from Toronto, Canada, initiated the male-led movement White Ribbon in response to the massacre of 14 female students at the University of Montreal. This movement has grown to encompass over 60 countries around the world and stands as a shining example of men standing up for women. It is an important movement, as the fight to end domestic violence cannot be fought by women alone.

I am proud to support this motion both as a woman in the Liberal Party and as a member of the Turnbull coalition government, which has taken many steps to address this most serious of issues. The coalition has a strong record of men leading the charge against domestic violence, as prime ministers Howard, Abbott and Turnbull all developed and launched programs to combat domestic violence. Since being elected to government by the Australian people in 2013 and re-elected this year, the coalition government has made respect for women—and for every other Australian—a priority. There is never any excuse for domestic violence and I applaud the government for taking strong action to eliminate all disrespect and violence against women. The sad fact is that too many women are victims of domestic violence each and every week. According to a 2012 Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey, one in three women has been a victim of physical or sexual violence from the age of 15 by someone known to them. This same survey found that one in four women have been emotionally abused by a partner. But the most distressing figure comes from the 2015 Australian Institute of Criminology report, which found that one woman dies almost every week at the hands of a current or former partner.

Addressing the awful problem of domestic violence has been at the forefront of the Turnbull government's agenda. The first act of the Turnbull government was to announce a $100 million Women's Safety Package on 24 September 2015. At the time of the announcement, a staggering 63 women had been killed by a current or former partner for the year. The Women's Safety Package is part of the Turnbull government's approach to take real, practical and immediate action to keep women and children safe. The $100 million package focuses on improved training for frontline workers, enhancing service delivery and providing the best educational resources to change attitudes in our community. The states and territories, in partnership with the coalition government, have also launched a $30 million national campaign to change young people's attitudes to women and to violence. The campaign website has received almost 400,000 views and there have been more than 32 million online views of the TV commercials.

Domestic violence has been at the forefront of the coalition's agenda since we came to office in 2013 and we have built momentum around the issue. The 2016-17 budget committed $100 million for initiatives under the Third Action Plan. We announced during the campaign that this would include $20 million for preventative strategies and cultural change, $15 million for frontline services like housing and financial support, $10 million to support victims of revenge porn, $25 million to address family violence in Indigenous communities and $30 million for frontline family violence legal services. We also committed almost $10 million to develop a comprehensive national Domestic Violence Order information-sharing system.

Crucially, under the $25 million program a number of specific actions are targeted at assisting Indigenous women, who are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of family violence. The government announced up to $15 million to enable police in Queensland to better respond to domestic violence in remote communities and for measures that reduce reoffending by Indigenous perpetrators. We announced $1.4 million to extend the community engagement police officers in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, up to $1.1 million to help remote Indigenous communities prevent and better respond to the incidence of domestic violence through targeted support and $3.6 million for the cross-border domestic violence intelligence desk to share information on victims and perpetrators who move around the cross-border region of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Finally, I would like to commend one of my local schools, Scotch College, who are strong supporters of White Ribbon Day. These young people are leading by example and I commend their dedication to raising awareness and addressing this most serious of issues.

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