Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to start by thanking the member for Boothby for her contribution in this place and also for the work that you've done outside of this place before coming here.

I was born lucky; I was born into a stable, loving family. But I recognise that many are not, and that's why I support the principle and the intention of the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family And Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022. Family and domestic violence are an unacceptable scourge on our society, and I spoke about it during my maiden speech. I did so because of my background as a police officer and a police prosecutor for some 12 years, where I personally witnessed the impact of family and domestic violence on many, many people, particularly in our regional and rural communities. And I've seen the devastating and long-lasting impacts that domestic violence carries, not just on the victims but also on the wider families and communities.

Only recently, in my role as shadow assistant minister for the prevention of family violence, I spoke with a police officer in one of my local towns. I won't mention the town. He said the No. 1 crime issue—and it's a reasonably large town—is domestic violence. It's not graffiti. It's not theft. It's domestic violence. That in 2022 we're still facing those statistics is disappointing and a reflection of the failures of not just one government but successive governments over many, many years. To that point, this very bill and this very issue should be above politics. We should all be working together to rid our communities of this. And that's exactly why I do support this bill. I support the 10 days of leave. I will talk about the impact on business communities, but in no way—and I want to be very, very clear—do I wish to exclude any workers, including casuals. I do suggest that further work needs to be done, perhaps by a committee, referred through the Senate. But, again, I want to be clear that I support this legislation completely.

Every person in Australia deserves to feel safe within their home. Every man, woman and child deserves to feel protected and supported, should an incident of violence unfortunately be thrust upon them. With that support comes the continued ability for those victimised to put food on the table and to keep a roof over their head. I don't believe that anyone in this room or anyone in this parliament would not share in that very fundamental belief.

We should consider not just the impact on those families but also the impact on the communities, the cost to the communities, the pressure on our health system, the pressure on our hospital systems and the impact on our economy. So, if not just to get rid of this scourge and get it out of our community because it is the right thing to do for our victims, we should also consider the impact on productivity in our economy. So the provision of 10 days leave to those experiencing violence at home isn't a lot to ask to protect our vulnerable, particularly women and children—and with that I absolutely agree.

The potential side effect of incidents of family violence being reported in higher numbers as a result of this initiative, of the work that has been done over the past years, is important and a huge step in the right direction, because we need to know the true figures. We need to know the true figures to be able to effectively address them. Fortunately, inroads have been made over recent years, where we are talking about domestic violence and bringing it to the forefront. I heard a speaker earlier refer to a comment by somebody that these conversations should be held behind closed doors. Absolutely not. They should be held out in the public, open, for three reasons: one, to raise awareness; two, to recognise and shame those perpetrators into accepting their conduct; and, three, to break that cycle. Whether it starts with education in schools, education in sporting clubs or education at university, we have to break that cycle. But, until we do, legislation such as this is paramount because we have to protect people.

We have heard all of the comments from the members who have contributed about giving security to workers during that stressful time. I can't imagine it. As I said, I was born lucky. I owned a business for 16 years and employed many people and found some of my employees in this very position. I think all small-business owners, treat their employees like family and, in circumstances where you see someone suffering from domestic violence, you want to help. It is ingrained in most people that they want to help. Under the circumstances that I faced, it was a no-brainer: 'Don't worry about putting leave in; take some time and get the help you need.' But at times employers, including myself, feel helpless because they can't do enough. Through this legislation, we can give the person the time to be able to go and seek that help. Employers are not experts in support services, but providing that financial support through this is a step in the right direction.

I have raised the concerns of some small businesses. I'm not talking about big business. Big business can afford to pay for this. Some small businesses have raised with me the cost and the impact to them. I note that the Fair Work Commission made certain recommendations. This bill has taken it further—in particular, to casual employees. As I have said, I'm not saying, 'Don't give this leave to casual employees.' I have no answers. I'm not pretending that I have the answer for this. But I think further consideration should be given to casual employees. That's the first issue.

The second issue is the rate of pay. The original set of Fair Work Commission recommendations took these concerns into account. The Fair Work Commission originally recommended the base rate of pay, in order to remain consistent with the NES paid leave entitlements as they currently stand, in order to remove a layer of complexities for the employer. Essentially the recommendation was that the leave be paid at the same rate as personal or carers leave is currently paid at. I haven't had one small-business owner or employer say, 'I'm not happy to pay this out.' They're all there to support it. This is coming at a time when the cost of living and the pressures of business are at a peak, for many reasons. Employers are just concerned about their financial circumstances, as they are about those of the person facing a very serious domestic violence situation. Again, I fully support this. I want to see it passed. What I don't want to see is small businesses—mums, dads, young people trying to get ahead in business—fail because of a cost implication because of the legislation.

I go back to my maiden speech, where I talked about the ugliness of domestic violence. This is a step in the right direction. I will work with my colleagues—and I say 'colleagues'—Labor and the crossbench and anyone else who is willing to work towards eradicating this from our society. It starts with leadership, both at a government level and in the community. I think, once the community see the leadership, see that government are making that real, concerted effort, then they will join us. They will not say: 'It's just lip-service from government. We haven't seen anything over the years.' I think, once they see that, once they see the honesty behind it, and the bipartisanship, then we will be on the road to recovery.

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