Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Amongst the many ways family and domestic violence can impact a victim's survival when fleeing a relationship, or in the years and decades after, the financial impact is significant. Data from researchers at Flinders University released late last year indicated that over 60 per cent of women who are experiencing family and domestic violence were in paid employment of some sort but were more likely to be in lower paid employment due working on a part-time or casual basis. However, we do know that, for employed women or those who are in the home full time who are living with family and domestic violence, the level of control that they have over their own finances is often small or none at all.

When I sat on the committee inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence during 2020 and 2021, understanding how the government could better financially support victims-survivors was a key focus. As part of their submission, Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety—or ANROWS, as they're commonly known—cited research findings that around one in five women returned to violent partners because they had no financial support or nowhere else to go. The organisation noted that financial stress is a significant, but underaddressed, barrier to safety for women experiencing family and domestic violence and that, critically, employment is an important pathway for women leaving violent relationships.

The inquiry also noted that leaving an abusive situation can be expensive, with costs including deposits on new dwellings, rental bonds, travel costs, furnishing costs and the costs of providing for any dependants the victim-survivor might have. It's estimated that, on average, it costs $18,000 for a victim-survivor to leave a violent relationship and establish safety. In response to this report, the then government implemented a range of significant measures to help with the financial cost of leaving a relationship impacted by family and domestic violence. These measures provided $5,000 in government assistance, including $1,500 to assist with some of the immediate needs when fleeing the family home, such as putting down a bond for a rental, paying school fees or the purchase of essential goods and services. I do understand that accessing these payments has not been as easy as intended, due to a range of challenges, but the former government was working to rectify these challenges prior to the election, and it's my hope that the current government will be doing all they can to ensure the path to accessing the payments is much smoother.

The legislation before us today—the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022—is another step towards financially supporting members of our community experiencing family and domestic violence, by providing the following: 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave within a 12-month period for full-time, part-time and casual employees, and leave provided at an employee's full rate of pay for hours they would have worked had they not taken leave. Importantly, the legislation extends the definition of 'family and domestic violence' to include 'conduct of a current or former intimate partner of an employee, or a member of the employee's household'.

For someone experiencing violence at home, going to work can be a place of respite and refuge from the distressing incidents occurring in the home. Depending on the type of employment, a workplace can also provide an opportunity for those impacted by family and domestic violence to quietly and securely set themselves up to leave. A constituent in my own community, whom I met with and assisted two years ago to deal with a telecommunication matter resulting from leaving a violent relationship, told me of the critical role her workplace played at the time she was looking to leave that relationship. It was at work on the phone and on her work computer that she could begin to make the necessary calls and arrangements to leave her long-term relationship as safely as possible.

With a trusted employer, a victim-survivor of family and domestic violence can be supported as they deal with their situation. It's important to note that not all places of employment are safe for victims-survivors, who can still be harassed through repeated phone calls while at work or by people turning up to their place of employment. This is where effective training for workplaces can provide staff with the tools to recognise incidents of family and domestic violence and what they can do to support an employee or colleague.

A 2019 survey conducted by Domestic Violence Service Management—a mainland charity providing support for people escaping or experiencing family and domestic violence and homelessness—found that victims-survivors wanted organisations to improve across three key areas: people in the workplace should be compassionate and non-judgemental; workplaces should provide more, or improved, tangible support; and the workplace should improve its understanding and awareness of family and domestic violence. When these three main improvements are realised, victims are more likely to share their experiences and, therefore, have a better chance of receiving the help that they need.

Unsurprisingly, ensuring confidentiality when seeking to take paid family and domestic violence leave is a significant concern to both victim-survivors and employers. Though challenges exist in larger workplaces, it's in smaller regional communities like mine—where it seems everybody knows each other or of each other—that we must make sure that, when a victim-survivor wants and needs confidentiality, both employers and employees are set up with appropriate measures in place. This concern is reflected in recent comments by Hayley Foster, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Full Stop Australia, a sexual, domestic and family violence counselling and advocacy organisation. She highlighted the importance of maintaining confidentiality when an employee approaches their employer with the need to access family or domestic violence leave, saying:

It's something employers are already obligated to do, but in practice we see confidentiality breaches all the time, and that's why we see a very low uptake: people are genuinely worried about the responses they're going to get.

Ms Foster's comments reflect some of my own concerns with this bill. I want to reiterate that I do support this legislation; however, I want to put on the record some of the concerns I have as to whether further improvements could be made on how the leave is administered. Some victim-survivors do not feel comfortable coming forward to an employer with an incident of family or domestic violence for a number of reasons, including fear, shame and the stigma that unfortunately still surrounds incidents of family and domestic violence. I also agree with Ms Foster's comments that such a universal entitlement would need to be rolled out with resources and education to ensure that it was taken up effectively. I'm concerned about the level of unconscious bias which exists and which may affect how an employee is treated either immediately or going forward, should they come forward seeking family or domestic violence leave. I also believe that there needs to be more funding into workplace programs that support both employers and employees with what responsibilities they may have should they become aware that an employer or colleague is experiencing family or domestic violence, and how they can best support someone going through it.

In my own electorate, Womens Legal Service Tasmania has joined with the Hobart Womens Shelter, Women's Health Tasmania and Engender Equality to run their Mentors in Violence Prevention program, which has been rolling out across workplaces and community organisations since 2020. The workshops give participants the chance to develop and practice concrete options which they can use in a number of situations both in and outside the workplace, ranging from situations that may seem harmless to actual violence. Margie Law from Women's Health told me:

Some participants return to do the workshop more than once, to deepen their skills. Many participants attend with work colleagues so they can take the skills back into their workplace. There are scenarios that relate to workplaces, such as what people can do when they receive a sexually inappropriate email or hear "banter" that is disrespectful.

It is important that training and workshops are held in a safe environment, with support offered as we know that at every workshop there is likely to be someone who has or is experiencing family violence. At the same time, there are participants who have some understanding of family violence but don't know what they can do to help. They are scared, partly because they think they must intervene physically. These workshops provide a range of options for people to use which keep them safe at the same time.

The workshops have been attended mostly by women. There are a few reasons for this, but one is that men might worry that they will be used as a target in the workshop. Workplaces could help support men to get training like this by encouraging them to attend as a group. It would help if male leaders attended workshops and reported back to their teams. The more men that attend, the better as we need all parts of society to learn the signs and be able to provide support and intervene appropriately.

It's worth highlighting that workplaces across the country have been leading the way for paid and domestic violence leave, with reports last year that, of the almost 1.2 million Australian employees with access to paid leave under their enterprise agreements, about 660,000 were granted at least 10 days of paid leave. The private sector makes up 95 per cent of agreements which included family and domestic violence leave. Pleasingly, small businesses currently make up around 40 per cent of that number.

While I support this leave, I am conscious of the concerns that other small businesses may have regarding how the administration of the leave may burden them. It's important to acknowledge that many small businesses want to support their employees but feel there's a lack of detail about how the current model will impact on small and family businesses. There is concern, as raised by the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, that sole traders and microbusiness owners have not been considered. The government have yet to let us know how they'll support sole traders or those managing a small business who are experiencing domestic or family violence themselves. How will they access support, particularly in sensitive situations where an abuser may have control of or access to the business? These are real and legitimate concerns that the government must answer.

I also support the recommendation from the committee report handed down last week requesting a 12-month review following the implementation of the legislation. The review would seek both qualitative and quantitative research on the impact on small businesses and sole traders.

Any increase in the support available for victims-survivors of domestic and family violence is a step in the right direction. However, as I've said time and time again in this place, more must be done to address the challenges of the principal drivers of family, domestic and sexual violence—that is, gender inequality; stereotypical attitudes towards gender roles, characteristics and behaviour; and disrespect of girls and women. All abuse starts with disrespect, and, until we begin to truly address this challenge, we won't see the societal shift that we desperately need.

The steps taken by the former government through the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children were a positive start, and I'm hopeful that we will begin to move the dial on this scourge on our society. I look forward to continuing to advance a bipartisan approach to this issue and look forward to working with Senator Larissa Waters and the Labor member as co-convenors of the Parliamentary Friendship Group on Ending Violence against Women and Children.

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