Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 with respect to the Attorney-General portfolio. I note that the 2021-22 budget will provide more than $819 million to enhance legal and workplace services to support Australians. These investments are being made to ensure that our legal and justice system is accessible and efficient and our workplaces are fair, safe, productive and flexible. There are a number of initiatives in this budget and under this portfolio, but those which I seek the minister's further elaboration on are those which are directed primarily at women's safety in their homes, their communities and their workplaces. Women are more likely than men to be victims of family, domestic and sexual violence. As we have seen this year, physical and sexual abuse against women is not something that happens somewhere else. It is not limited by demographics, by suburbs, by professions. It can and does happen anywhere, and any time or anywhere it happens, it is wrong. According to official statistics and surveys undertaken by the ABS and other bodies over the last five years, on average one woman is killed every nine days in Australia, one in four women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from current or previous intimate partners since the age of 15 and approximately one in two women aged 18 and over have experienced sexual harassment during their lifetime. The COVID-19 pandemic, sadly, coincided with an onset or escalation of violence and abuse against women, with two-thirds of women who had experienced it during the pandemic saying that it had either started or escalated during this time. These statistics are dreadful. They are not acceptable. It is beyond time that we as a society—all of us, regardless of our gender—stand up to this and stop it.

In relation to violence and abuse in the home, this government is providing additional funding of $310 million through the National Legal Assistance Partnership, including $129 million in additional legal assistance funding to allow women's legal centres to help vulnerable women access justice; $60 million to provide dedicated legal assistance services for people with mental health issues; $83 million to enhance and expand the number and geographic coverage of family advocacy support services; $17 million for enhancements of domestic violence units and health justice partnerships, providing additional mental health specific funding for services to respond to growing needs of women in rural and remote areas; and $14 million to pilot legal assistance in family law in South Australia. The government is also making significant investments in the Family Court, $60 million worth, to reform family law case management in the federal family courts to deliver safe, child centred, supportive, accessible, timely and efficient decision-making.

With respect to the safety of women in the workplace, I note that the government announced its response to the Respect@Work report of Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins on 8 April 2021 in releasing A roadmap for respect: preventing and addressing sexual harassment in Australia's workplaces. This response sets out the government's commitment to preventing and addressing sexual harassment and building a culture of respect in Australian workplaces by agreeing to in full, part or principle, or noting, all 55 recommendations. In the 2020-21 budget, $2.1 million was provided to fund the implementation of a number of initiatives, including the establishment of the Respect@Work Council. This budget builds on that, providing more than $15.3 million, including $7.3 million to support the council to implement a range of practical measures to address workplace sexual harassment and implement amendments to strengthen legislative and regulatory frameworks; $200,000 in intervention funding to continue targeted delivery of support for women on work related matters; $1.7 million for Comcare to deliver training in national forums on sexual harassment for Commonwealth, state and territory work health and safety inspectors; and $6 million to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and the Australian Public Service Commission to strengthen public sector reporting on harassment, prevalence, prevention and response. As I said at the outset, this is not before time. I ask the minister to outline how these and other initiatives in the 2021-22 budget are addressing violence against women in the home, in the community and in workplaces.

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