Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well said, Member for Sturt. It's 2026, and there should be no more silence about domestic and family violence. There should be no more domestic and family violence. It is sad that we are devoting time, yet again, to this scourge—and it is a scourge. It's a national scourge. It's a scourge throughout our states, and I'll come to that in a minute. It's a scourge throughout our local communities.

In Riverina, I am in one sense ashamed to admit, between October 2024 and September last year there were more than a thousand cases of domestic violence: Wagga Wagga, 480; Lockhart, just seven—I say 'just'; it's seven too many, but that was the lowest number of all the local government areas that I represent; Cootamundra-Gundagai, 59; Cowra, 101; Junee, 38; Temora, 15; Snowy Valley, 77; Yass Valley, 58; Upper Lachlan, 16; Coolamon, 24; Hilltops, 122; and Weddin, 18. They're not just numbers; they're people—women—who have been set upon, mostly by their intimate partners. It's simply not good enough. It's simply not right, and, as the member for Sturt quite correctly pointed out, it has to stop. It must stop now. Anything the government can do funding-wise, in alerts or whatever the case might be, I certainly would very much welcome, as I'm sure every member of the parliament would.

We heard the member for Bonner earlier talking about how female MPs are subjected to vile filth via their social media accounts. That is so regrettable. Men are too, but not to the sorts of derogatory comments that women receive not just on a daily basis but every time they post. Every time they put something up, they've got people out there, generally men—almost always men—saying rude and crude things.

When it comes to rude and crude, I know it's been a big topic in the local media—the Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson show has ended. I say, 'Thank goodness!' because I think society is better than that. Some of the things that they've done have been just outrageous. I know we live in a society where they call them 'shock jocks' and the more shocking they are the more listeners they get. Unfortunately, with social media, the more people push the envelope, the more followers they attract and the more 'likes' they receive. And it just goes too far. Some of the stunts that those two radio announcers have done over the years have been nothing more than rude and crude, and it's no wonder that Nerida O'Loughlin, ACMA's chair, said at one stage that enough was enough. People don't need that when they're driving their cars to work, particularly if they've got the children in the car and they're driving them to school. At that hour of the morning—or any hour of the day, quite frankly—people don't need to hear those derogatory remarks, which are often sexualised. They make light of it, and it's not right.

The other thing, too, is that men have an obligation to lead and not to tell jokes amongst themselves—that's where leadership comes in—that are derogatory of women. That's where it starts. It starts in the workplace, at home, at the local sports club—wherever men gather, if they are telling jokes that are derogatory of women, it's not right. And it just pervades society. Violence against women remains the leading preventable cause of death, disability and illness for women aged between 15 and 44, and that simply is unacceptable. It is 2026, but it wouldn't matter what year it was. In the past 12 months alone, 35 women have been killed and 55 children have lost their mums.

I went to the funeral for Molly Ticehurst, who was tragically and brutally murdered in Forbes in April 2024. Joining me on that occasion was the Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, who I've got a lot of respect for; I really do. His father had died just before, and yet he went to Forbes to attend Molly's funeral. The police minister, Yasmin Catley, went with him, and I also have the utmost respect for her. The New South Wales police are under instruction that, if it is a call about domestic violence, they are to get there in double-quick time to attempt to address the issue, and they do. They've come in for a bit of unfair and undue criticism lately, but they do a fine job to protect and save lives, and to protect and save women, particularly in domestic violence situations.

Domestic and family violence is the main cause of homelessness for women and children, particularly in some of those rural and remote areas and particularly in Aboriginal communities. Where do the women go to? Sometimes there is just no shelter for those for those ladies and their kids. Anything the government could do would, I'm sure, be agreed to in a bipartisan way. This absolutely must be above politics. It is a national crisis. The figures are confronting and they are unacceptable. One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15—one in three. That's an extraordinary figure. One in six have suffered sexual or physical abuse from a partner—as the member for Sturt said, from somebody who was supposed to love them, from somebody who lives with them and, in many cases, has done so for many, many years. One in two has been sexually harassed. It's simply not good enough.

Look at the state statistics. In Western Australia, there were 40,000 offences with a restraining order breached every 44 minutes. The picture gets just as dire elsewhere. In New South Wales, police are called to a domestic violence incident not every four hours but every four minutes. In Queensland, more than 200,000 call-outs occurred last year. That figure was a marked increase on the previous 12 months. Police officers report that as much as 90 per cent of their workload is now family violence related—all but 10 per cent. That's incredible. It's getting worse, not better. In South Australia, offences are up 13 per cent, murder rates increased 69 per cent year on year. In the Northern Territory, assaults have risen 20 per cent since June 2024, and eight women have been killed. Tasmania has seen a 45 per cent jump in reports. Here in the ACT, where probably people have got a higher income per capita than anywhere else in the country, family violence assaults have increased by 12 per cent. I know we've got a cost-of-living crisis, but these figures are unacceptable. It is a national tragedy, a national scourge.

I was talking to a woman who I know well, a friend of mine in Victoria, and she woke up one morning with a fellow at the end of her bed. I say a fellow, but that's too nice a term. A thug, a mongrel—call him what you will. He was out on bail, and he'd been out dozens and dozens and dozens of times. He'd got bail, he'd got out and he'd offended again. He crawled through the doggy door that the family had for their dog, their pooch. This woman—a single mum with three young kids, all school aged—managed to get out of that very touchy, delicate and dangerous situation, but what would have happened if she hadn't? She would have become the next victim.

Our courts absolutely have to be tougher. I see the nods from those opposite. There is a real responsibility on the judiciary to get this right because our women deserve better than this. They do. I applaud the government for any funding initiative that's going to help women by providing more shelters or more care, whether it's in Wagga Wagga—it doesn't matter where it is—or whether it's through state governments or federal; that matters not. It needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. There should be no more silence against domestic violence. There is help available for those women who find themselves in those situations. Domestic violence simply must stop, and we, as a nation, must do better.

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