Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Last week was Harmony Week, a celebration of Australia's cultural diversity and the courage, resilience and determination of those who choose to call this country home. Before that, there was International Women's Day. Modern Australia has been shaped by our migrant story.

I want to share with this chamber the story of Lucy Lee Wood, a story of absolute courage and how far we've come as a country but also how far we have to go. Lucy Lee Wood arrived in Perth 125 years ago, the year Australia federated. She came from Guangzhou. She was a suspected victim of human trafficking. On arrival in Fremantle, her name was Hop Lin Jong. Within days, she was married to James Lee Wood. He was a butcher in Northbridge and a leader in the very small Chinese community in Perth. The discriminatory White Australia policy had just been introduced. Lucy and James were among just 18 Chinese people across all of Western Australia. In the world in which they lived, discrimination was everywhere, but it wasn't forever. Lucy lived to see her son serve Australia in World War II. She saw citizenship open up to her and her family. She saw her granddaughter graduate from the University of Western Australia. She saw so much progress. She saw Australia become the vibrant, multicultural country that we are. She saw doors open up, but she also saw something that endures with us to this day. Lucy's daughter Ruby was killed, not by a stranger and not by accident. Sadly, it's a story far too common. Ruby's husband killed her. It's the worst form of intimate partner violence and something that continues to this day. Some 1.7 million Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence.

Now, the White Australia policy only exists in the history books. The challenge of this generation is to make violence against women part of history, too. The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children has been agreed by every state and territory and the Commonwealth. It aims to end gender based violence within a generation, and the change necessary to make that a reality is happening. I'm proud to be part of a government that has invested some $4 billion to address violence against women. We have legislated 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. We have more than a billion dollars going into crisis and transitional accommodation, including at the Angela Wright Bennett Centre in my electorate of Perth. We have some $9.3 billion going into our National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness. We've got the gender pay gap at a record low. We've got women's workforce participation at a record high. We've got significant investments in gendered parts of our care economy, including aged care and early childhood education. We've also expanded Paid Parental Leave. There's more to do, but I'm really proud of the progress we're making.

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