Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This time last week, I stood with members of my community to remember those who are no longer with us. At the Ipswich Domestic and Family Violence Remembrance Day event, we remembered the victims. One in six women and one in 16 men have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous partner. While we acknowledge that anyone can be a victim—men, women and children—the fact is that women and children are overrepresented as victims. Each week, on average, one woman is killed by her intimate partner. This is unacceptable and disgraceful in our country. Domestic and family violence is a scourge and an epidemic. One of the speakers at the rally last week was Amie Carrington, the CEO of the Domestic Violence Action Centre, DVAC, based in Ipswich and Toowoomba.

We are coming to the end of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022, yet the rate of domestic violence remains undiminished. In fact, domestic homicides of women account for a third of all homicides in Australia. One such homicide occurred in the leafy Brisbane suburb of Brookfield in April 2012. We all know her name: Allison Baden-Clay. She was murdered at the hands of her husband. Alison's family has a special connection with her. Her parents, Geoff and Priscilla, are raising her daughters in Ipswich, supported by her sister, Vanessa Fowler. They attended the vigil last week. Vanessa, who is the chair of the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation, was the guest speaker. She spoke beautifully and brilliantly. She admits that the family didn't recognise the warning signs for Allison. Now they've dedicated themselves to eliminating and taking concrete action to stop domestic and family violence. They report that 46 per cent of women and 70 per cent of men who have experienced violence from a current partner do not seek advice or support after the incident or report it. The Allison Baden-Clay Foundation has now established the MATE Bystander Program, which uses Allison's story to help workplaces identify the signs, including coercive control, and to learn how to be an effective bystander.

Coercive control is an insidious form of controlling behaviour which includes threats, assault, intimidation, humiliation and many other forms of abuse that erode a person's autonomy and their ability to thrive. Before entering parliament, I was an accredited family law specialist for nearly a quarter of a century. I practised in family law and child protection. The issues in my personal life influenced my decision to do so. As a lawyer, I witnessed the damaging impact of coercive control and other forms of domestic violence on people and their children. We all have a responsibility to call out bad behaviour, to step in rather than step aside and to support family and friends. After all, the evil we walk past is the evil we accept.

The budget has handed down some additional funding. One of the hidden impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is on women's health, wellbeing and their experiences of violence. I express my deep appreciation to those at the front line at DVAC and the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation. I recently visited DVAC in Ipswich to inquire about the funding issues they're experiencing. They report a very large upsurge in the cities and regions serviced by DVAC. In support of DVAC, I recently wrote to Anne Ruston, Minister for Women's Safety, highlighting the need for increased funding for DVAC and the funding for other services to be extended. Currently, DVAC is at the risk of losing 10 staff and 195 hours of service weekly if the COVID funding, which they got recently, is not reinstated.

These services need more than a sugar hit or temporary funding. They require increased funding on a long-term basis to address the issues—the scourge and long-term causes of domestic and family violence in our region.

I acknowledge there's some additional funding for frontline services in this budget, but the devil is always in the detail, and if you look across to forward estimates you'll see on page 83 of Budget Paper No. 2, under 'Women's Safety', a steep decline, if not a cliff, for the funding. I urge the Prime Minister to reconsider, to look at additional funding for all services, such as the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation and DVAC, who do such great work in South-East Queensland. To ensure we do more than treat the victims we need to address the causes, and these services need permanent ongoing funding support. We must not wait for another senseless murder and the loss of another Allison Baden-Clay before we address these issues.