Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I too would like to start by recognising all the victims-survivors. I would also like to acknowledge all of the other speakers from across all the different parties who have risen to speak on this very important issue: the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The Albanese government and, I know, all members of this House—this entire parliament—are absolutely committed to women's safety. The fact is that women's safety is a national priority. This is a commitment I know we all share. We're all committed to ending violence against women and children in one generation. We know that every 10 days one woman dies at the hands of a current or former partner. We know that each week police across the country deal with 5,000 incidents of domestic violence. This is something that I know as a former frontline police officer, having attended hundreds of domestic violence incidents and seen firsthand the tragedy and horror that it brings. Ending violence against women and children is everybody's responsibility and it is, indeed, everybody's business.

Last Friday was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the commencement of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. These 16 days really are a time for the world to unite and raise awareness, and call for the prevention and elimination of gender based violence. We must all be speaking out. This parliament, our community, family, friends—everyone that we know must be talking about this issue. As the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, I am proud that we, as a government, as a parliament and as a nation are taking action towards ending violence today and every day. In line with this year's theme for the 16 days of activism, 'UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls', I implore everyone to unite and collaborate to make that change. Together, we can all work to achieve that end.

It is very important for anyone listening or reading this later on that, if you or someone you know is impacted by domestic, family or sexual violence, you can call 1800RESPECT, which is 1800737732, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of course, if it's a life-threatening situation, call triple 0. Reach out. Get some support.

As I said, for our government, women's safety is an absolute national priority. Recently, we launched the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. The 10-year plan outlines our shared vision to end gender based violence within one generation. The plan is a strong commitment to 10 years of sustained action, effort and partnership across governments and the sector, working towards eliminating all forms of gender based violence. And, of course, we work very closely with all of the states and territories as well. Everyone is on the same page.

This plan, this 10-year plan, is underpinned by four very important pillars: prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing. What that means in practice is that we need to stop the violence before it starts. We need to work with those people most at risk of experiencing violence and also with those who may be prone to using violence. We must provide support, most importantly, for the victims-survivors in the short term and the long term. The national plan recognises that trauma informed and person centred approaches are needed to address a lot of the barriers to recovery and healing and to minimise the possibility that victims-survivors will be retraumatised and harmed when using services and systems. They need to be getting the correct support when they need it. The national plan also provides clear indicators to track our success to support and help in reducing the prevalence of violence.

To support the implementation of the plan, we have made the vitally important step of appointing the very first Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Micaela Cronin, who has an extensive history in the community sector and is very widely respected. Micaela Cronin has just started in that role, and the commission that she will lead will provide a formal mechanism for consultation with victims-survivors and will work to create a supportive and structured approach to engagement at a national level. It's these voices, the victims-survivors' voices, that will help to inform priority for policy, research and data collection. The fact is victims-survivors have to be at the absolute heart of the solutions. We know that effective solutions can only be achieved and developed with the people that are most impacted by them.

The commissioner will also promote coordination across state and territory jurisdictions and the sector more broadly to highlight service gaps and areas of greatest need and to enable a system that works together to provide that holistic support. This, really importantly, includes the development of consistent definitions for improved reporting, data collection and evaluation frameworks. Through all of this, the commissioner will be able to monitor and measure the progress of the national plan.

Of course, as well, the Albanese government's recent budget committed $1.7 billion in funding for initiatives to support the implementation of the national plan. Really importantly, we're delivering on our election commitment of just over $169 million over four years for 500 new frontline community-sector workers. These workers will provide support to those experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence right across the country. These new workers will particularly meet service gaps, especially in our rural and regional areas. We know how important it is. Often people in regional areas are very isolated, so we want to make sure that support is there for them.

This $1.7 billion package also works to address the structural issues that contribute to violence against women. Some of the things we need to address include housing, women's economic security, access to child care, paid family and domestic violence leave and, of course, respectful relationships and consent education in schools. All of these are vitally important. In addition to our 500-worker commitment, as I said, that we made during the election and are now delivering on, the women's safety budget package gives $100 million for crisis and transitional housing options, because we need to have more options for women and children who are experiencing domestic violence and also for older women who are at risk of homelessness. We need to have that crisis accommodation in place.

We also have additional funding for the escaping violence payment program. As part of that package, some of the key priorities that we are addressing include a commitment to an investment in consent and respectful relationships education. We need to have that in our schools so at a young age people become aware about this issue and about the need for respectful relationships. We have our commitment of over $42 million to address sexual harassment at work by implementing the recommendations of the Respect@Work report and a commitment to support the implementation of our landmark paid family and domestic violence leave, which is so important. This 10 days will ensure that no individual should have to choose between having a job and leaving an abusive relationship. We're very proud to be delivering on that as part of our absolute commitment to women's safety.

As I and many speakers have said, ending violence against women and children is everybody's responsibility and it is indeed everybody's business. In line with the theme of the 16 days of activism, I implore everyone to keep talking about these issues, to keep raising them. For those who we know are victims, encourage them to get support. We have to all work together to this end. We do.

We have this strong commitment to eliminate violence against women and children in one generation. I know that everyone, as I say, from all sides of this parliament shares that commitment to working towards that goal. We have to achieve it when we look at those statistics, when we look at one woman dying every 10 days at the hands of a current or former partner. When we look at police attending the 5,000 incidents per week, we have to have this change. We have all put of these measures in place since we have been elected. This is a national priority for the Albanese Labor government, and I know that our commitment is shared by everyone throughout this House.

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