Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

ON (—) (): It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022. I am incredibly proud to be supporting this bill in the Australian parliament. This bill will deliver on Labor's election commitment to provide employees with access to 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave per 12-month period under the Fair Work Act 2009. This important measure will start on 1 February 2023, providing critical support to those in need. Importantly, there will be a period of additional time to allow for small businesses to put in place processes. But from August 2023 all employees—regardless of whether they are employed in small, medium or big business and regardless of whether they're employed on a full-time, part-time or casual basis—will be able to access paid family and domestic violence leave. This will mean that more than 11 million Australians will now be eligible for this entitlement. We should all stand proud of this moment in the Australian parliament.

I sincerely hope, of course, that very few people have to actually take up this leave. But the introduction of this new law will make a profound difference for those who need to access family and domestic violence leave. It will help them, whether that is to escape violence, to relocate, to enrol kids in new schools, to make appointments with real estate agents to find new and safe modes of housing, to make police reports or to seek counsel. There are so many issues that need to be attended to as a result of leaving a violent relationship. This is an important entitlement. It will be embedded in our National Employment Standards. While we hope that the take-up rate is low, it is important that Australians can access paid family and domestic violence leave when they need it. Whether it's to escape violence or to deal with the fact that you have a violent partner continuing to live in your household, everybody needs to be able to access this important safety net.

It is disappointing to hear some on the opposite benches raise concerns about the application of these new leave entitlements to casual workers, as if this is somehow a problem. As I said, there is nothing about family and domestic violence that suggests a business-as-usual approach is going to suffice. These are not ordinary circumstances, and shame on us the day that we ever think violence against women and children is an ordinary circumstance that we simply have to continue with contend with. Nobody on this side of the House—in fact, I suspect nobody in this parliament—would agree with such a statement.

Domestic and family violence doesn't discriminate who it affects. Whether you are a casual worker, a part-time worker or a full-time worker, escaping family and domestic violence shouldn't leave you having to choose between paid employment and safety for you and your children. According to the results of the 2016 ABS Personal Safety Survey, women are more likely to take time off after experiencing violence by their current or previous partner. The cumulative impact on those experiencing family and domestic violence meant that they often quickly exhaust their leave entitlements, such as their annual or personal leave. This is especially so for casual employees, who already experience insecure work and, typically, do not have other leave entitlements to draw on.

The community, of course, has been calling for paid family and domestic violence leave for many years. The Business Council of Australia supports this work, as do women's legal services and other family and domestic violence support services. Those working on the frontline know the difference it can make. The Australian Council of Trade Unions have been campaigning for this measure for more than a decade.

Last July, I joined a rally of incredible women's safety advocates on the front lawns of Parliament House to remember those women we have lost, who have been killed by acts of violence, and those who are still trapped in violent homes. We joined together not just to commemorate and pay tribute to those women but also to mark the introduction of this historic piece of legislation. As Michele O'Neil, the president of the ACTU, said at that rally: 'It isn't something that began yesterday; this is a decade of struggle, a decade of campaigning, workplace by workplace.'

As we walked back to this House from that rally with my dear friend and colleague the Member for Sydney, we reminisced about those first meetings that we took with union delegates and officials, survivors and researchers, all of whom knew the impact this policy would have. While we met with constant opposition from the former coalition government on these laws, I am so very heartened that it was during the very first parliamentary sitting week of the Albanese Labor government that this bill was introduced.

Report after report revealed the devastating and endemic nature of domestic violence in our nation. Just last month, a report from the Paul Ramsay Foundation, authored by Anne Summers, revealed that 60 per cent of single mothers have experienced domestic violence. The same report also set out the immense financial challenges that women face when leaving violent homes. This reflected what I hear in my electorate of Newcastle from our women's groups and from the women who have survived violent relationships, those who were brave and courageous to take the step to leave and have gone on to lead safe lives for themselves and their children now. A few years ago I a met with a single mom who really highlighted this fact to me as her local federal member. She shared with me her experience as a mother of young kids escaping a horrific and violent relationship. She wanted a new and safe life for her and her children. She shared her story to demonstrate to me just how incredibly difficult it is to navigate all of the processes that are required to be followed if you want to secure a safe life for your children. What became most apparent was that, throughout that process, she needed to maintain economic security in her life. She needed to know that she had a steady income coming in to support herself and her children when making this brave move, and I say 'brave' because we know that, when you make that choice to leave a violent relationship, it is your most dangerous time. That is when you are most at risk.

This woman took that courageous step and shared with me her story of the challenges of navigating through multiple agencies and bureaucracies to establish a new life and the fact that she needed to maintain a steady job whilst doing so. She had used all of her personal and annual leave and found it almost impossible to get to all of the appointments that, as I said, are necessary to try and find new housing, to get your kids into a new school, to make appointments with the police to do those reports and to get access to good legal counsel—all of which she needed to do without risking her job and her economic security. She is not alone, and that is why it is crucial that Labor introduce this bill to cover all workers. Women escaping violence with their children should not be even further disadvantaged simply because they are a casual worker. That would be an appalling situation to leave our nation in, and we know that women are far more likely to be in casual work than men. This bill gives all workers the time, support and job security they will need to escape and rebuild their lives after leaving an abusive relationship.

The mood at the family and domestic violence rally last July that I referred to differed vastly from when I was on those same lawns in front of Parliament House last March alongside thousands of Australian women calling for an end to violence against women and children, demanding safety, and demanding justice and equality from the previous government. Unfortunately, that message fell on deaf ears, and we all know how demoralised those women felt when the Prime Minister refused to meet with them. But, as I said, the mood on those front lawns was vastly different. To begin with, our new Prime Minister actually attended the rally in person. He addressed the vigil. He paid tribute to the women and the union movement who helped shape this policy and ensured that these laws became a lived reality in Australia. It's a fight that is more than a decade old in this nation now.

There was a very powerful sense of hope at that rally and an understanding that, finally, after what has been a very long decade, we have a government that genuinely cares about women's economic security when they are trying to escape family and domestic violence. We will make use of all the levers that are available to government to curb domestic violence. We are a government for whom this is a first priority issue. We know that making provisions to ensure 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave is just the first step towards an Australia that is safer for women in their homes, in their workplaces and in their lives.

Leaving a violent relationship will, of course, still be very hard, and I pay tribute to every woman who has been able to make that decision. This bill will ensure that making that decision to leave a violent relationship is less likely to leave you jobless or without economic security, and this bill shows that family and domestic violence is not just a criminal and social justice issue; it is also a workplace and economic issue. It is important for the productivity of this nation for these matters to be addressed. Ten days paid family and domestic violence leave will save women's lives. That is a big statement but one that should embolden us all to ensure the carriage of this legislation.

This win, of course, would not have happened without the decade-long struggle of many unions, many union members and devoted campaigners. I pay tribute to Natalie Lang of the Australian Services Union, who has long led the charge. For the last decade she has brought delegates and her members with lived experience here to talk to politicians on all sides of the fence about these issues. I recall those stories. Those stories have always sat very closely with me and remained in my heart, with the hope that one day I would be able to stand in this parliament and deliver some good news: that we as a nation are finally mature enough to ensure that we will never, ever put women and kids in a situation where they have to choose between staying with a violent perpetrator in their home or having a job and economic security.

This bill will not in itself solve the problem of family and domestic violence, but it does mean that no-one will ever again be forced to make that decision between earning a wage and protecting the safety of themselves and their children. This is a proud moment for the Australian parliament, and I ask all members to support this bill.

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