Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. We as a parliament must agree to do more to tackle the ugly scourge of domestic violence in this country. Today marks the first of 16 days of action against gender based violence. I stand here today, a proud member of this parliament from a proud state, Victoria, that had a royal commission into violence against women and their children. It has taken significant action and will this year again take action to ensure the safety of women. It has done a lot to improve safe places and build more safe places for women and their children to stay. It has done much. It has run advertising campaigns and awareness campaigns, but in this place we seem silent. There is lots of talk but not a lot of action.

Our Watch tells us that, in 2019, 50 women have been murdered. We know that one woman a week is killed by somebody who once claimed to have loved her. One action that could be taken in this place would be to make paid domestic violence leave a reality. I call on the government to do that, because I know that we measure what we care about, and making domestic violence leave a reality means we'll measure the economic impact of domestic violence. Maybe if it costs us we'll spend something on it.

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