Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, 25 November each year marks the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This day aims to raise public awareness about the many forms of violence that women around the world still experience and calls on the international community to present a united front against such violence. The date, 25 November, was specifically chosen by the United Nations to coincide with the beginning of the 16 days of activism against gender violence, an annual campaign that sees organisations across the world actively coordinate their efforts in calling for an end to violence against women. Each year 16 days of activism end on 10 December, which is United Nations Human Rights Day. The focus of this year’s 16 days of action campaign is to promote awareness of gender violence as first and foremost a human rights issue and to articulate a response to such violence from within a human rights framework.

One such example in which gender violence is best tackled from a human rights perspective is the trafficking of women into Australia for the sex trade. Recently I had the privilege of meeting with a delegation of nuns from the Catholic Religious Orders Against Trafficking, many of whom work directly with victims of sex slavery in Australia. The purpose of their visit was to raise awareness of human trafficking and sex slavery in Australia and to lobby for the introduction of a new visa framework for victims of human trafficking, grounded in human rights rather than in Australia’s criminal justice system. At present a victim of human trafficking only becomes eligible for entry into Australia’s trafficking visa framework if she is able to assist authorities with the criminal investigation and possible prosecution of those responsible for bringing her to Australia. Entry into the trafficking visa framework is through a bridging visa F, which is granted for a maximum of 30 days. If at the end of this period law enforcement officers decide to continue investigating a possible crime then the victim is issued with a criminal justice visa. In both instances victims are entitled to social support.

As the nuns I spoke to from the Catholic Religious Orders Against Trafficking explained, this visa regime leaves many victims of trafficking out in the cold, with absolutely no support or protection to speak of. Based on the findings of the United Nations CDAW report released earlier this year, the nuns were calling for the extension of temporary protection visas and support services to all victims of trafficking, regardless of whether they are able to assist in criminal investigations or not, and for the development of a complementary protection style visa for victims of trafficking based on claims to protection on humanitarian grounds.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

The arguments for visa reform put forward by the nuns I met were often compelling and the examples they gave of women who had slipped through the cracks of Australia’s existing trafficking visa framework were often heart-wrenching and horrific. This is an issue that deserves greater attention and more detailed debate in this place. I want to thank all the nuns who came to Canberra to raise awareness of this issue and to encourage all of us to take the action necessary to address a matter which goes to the core of human rights abuse against women. (Time expired).