Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Too many women and children in Australia are victims of domestic and family violence, with, on average, one woman every nine days tragically killed, and one in four women having experienced physical and/or sexual violence from a current or previous intimate partner since the age of 15. These numbers are far too high, and they demand action.

The southern suburbs of Adelaide, where I live, are not immune, and too many of our women and children, sadly, experience domestic violence. We know that early intervention and prevention are key when it comes to stopping this from happening. Unfortunately, there is no current preventative domestic violence service hub in the southern suburbs. Access to education, therapy, counselling and referrals to support can help women and their children before it reaches crisis point. But, without a dedicated prevention hub, this won't occur. This has been the demand of women in the southern suburbs, through the Southern Women Matter group, along with shadow state minister, Katrine Hildyard. They're calling on both the state and federal governments to fund a support hub in the southern suburbs. I join their call, asking the government to take action and make funding available for a preventative domestic violence service hub in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. (Time expired)