Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the scourge of our society—domestic violence. It is a blight on our country. It is unacceptable that nearly half of the Australian population has experienced violence since the age of 15.

I have been a proud member of Zonta for many years and we are running a determined campaign called 'Zonta Says No' to help combat violence against women on an international scale. Since 1923 Zonta International has been striving to end violence against women by increasing the level of non-discriminatory education, guaranteeing women access to resources and representation on the same basis as men, protection of women with one-stop medical, legal and social help and by ensuring perpetrators of violence are held to account.

As well as supporting women in need, Zonta is also providing training and engagement seminars for men as violence against women is not just a women's problem. In Queensland, between January and June this year, 11 women were actually killed as a result of domestic violence. So far in Australia this year, 58 women have lost their lives. We need to be ever vigilant and alert to the level of all forms of domestic violence in our country and, indeed, countries like our nearest neighbours Papua New Guinea, where the situation is one of the worst in the world. It is indeed time to talk more openly and honestly about domestic violence and to say to the victims, 'I believe you.' Zonta says 'no.'