Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) one in four women and one in 14 men have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15 as of 2024;

(b) 37 women were killed by a current or former intimate partner in 2024 according to the Status for Women Report Card;

(c) the Report of the Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches, Unlocking the Prevention Potential: accelerating action to end family, domestic and sexual violence provided the Government with 21 recommendations which have not yet all been responded to; and

(d) the Government has made some meaningful commitments including a $4.7 billion investment into a range of preventative measures and support services; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) urgently respond to all recommendations put forward by the Rapid Review; and

(b) expand the eligibility requirements of the Family Violence Crisis Payment to allow for victim-survivors to receive the support they need.

We are living in a national crisis. One in four women and one in 14 men have experienced violence by an intimate partner. According to the Status of Women Report Card, 37 women were killed by a current or former partner in 2024 alone. These statistics no longer shock us. They are there now in the community. But it doesn't make them any less devastating. They have become expected and, for far too many people, a reality. Police commanders in my local area, where sometimes people think, 'Oh, this violence doesn't happen,' tell me that up to 50 per cent of their time is spent on domestic violence. I have heard countless heartbreaking accounts of women fleeing domestic violence, including that of Claire Austin, a local who tragically lost her life earlier this year to suspected domestic violence.

In April, I tabled a petition from one of my constituents, Mel Arnost, signed by more than 25,000 Australians. It called for urgent national reforms to better protect women, including action on education, mental health, substance abuse and our court systems. I was proud to bring that petition to parliament, and I remain committed to standing up in this parliament and standing against violence against women. Women in my community have sent me here to keep the faith on this, to keep the pressure up on the government. There have been positive steps forward, and I respect and commend those, but we need to keep the faith in this parliament to make sure that action is sustained, that action is evidence based and that we truly make a difference to the scourge of intimate partner and domestic violence and sexual violence in our community.

I welcome the government's decision to commission a rapid review into prevention strategies, and I acknowledge the work of the expert panel who delivered 21 evidence based recommendations. I do believe the government is committed to change, but we are still waiting on some of the decisions in relation to those reviews, and we need to keep that pressure up—and also at the state level to make sure that those actions that are dependent on the states are also being actioned. There are a number of areas where I feel the government does need to move faster, and I will call them out: gambling reform and alcohol reform. The federal government has a role, as do the states, in these areas; making sure that we are supporting young people who have experienced domestic violence but also young people who have experienced sexual violence; and, finally, making sure that we're really evaluating everything we do to see what really works.

I would like to talk about one specific and really quite simple change which I believe could make a difference to thousands of women, and this is around crisis payment reform. The family violence crisis payment is a one-off, non-taxable payment for people in severe financial hardship and in extreme circumstances such as escaping a violent home. But right now the system is failing. According to the 2025 Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee report, only half the eligible people actually receive the payment, with many rejected on technical grounds. This should be a lifeline payment to those in our community who need our help most, but it is wrapped up in red tape. So I'm asking the government, urging the government, to take action on this legislation and improve it for the benefit of those people who need it the most.

There are three problems with the payment at the moment. The first is the seven-day claim period; for many people in the trauma of escaping violence, seven days goes by in a flash. This should be extended to 14 days at least. We do know that at least seven per cent of rejections were because they missed that seven-day deadline. The second issue is the definition of 'home'. The payment only applies to people who have left or who have stayed in their home. Under the current legislation, home doesn't include hostels, refuges, temporary accommodation or even tents. People are struggling right now; that sense of home and permanency is not available to some of the most vulnerable people in our community, and it should be mitigated in this legislation. Finally, there is a requirement in the legislation that applicants must prove that they are intending to establish a new home. But with the housing crisis and limited resources, that can be really hard for this particular group of vulnerable people to establish and to prove, and 14 per cent of people were rejected on the basis of this. This payment was designed to help people in a crisis, but it's not doing its job, and there is an opportunity to reform it to make a difference for thousands of people while we tackle the raft of other actions we need to tackle under the rapid review of prevention.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder?

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Wentworth for moving this motion acknowledging the actions taken by the government in this important space of addressing family violence. I rise today because urgent action is required to stop violence against women and children. Every nine days, a man in Australia kills his female partner. One in four women in Australia have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. Each week, a woman is killed by a man's use of violence—almost always a man she knows. They are young women whose lives were only beginning and older women with so much to look forward to, and so many more women live with lasting injuries and trauma, particularly because of men who are making a choice to use violence.

But it doesn't need to be this way. We can prevent this violence. The Albanese Labor government is acting with the urgency that is required to tackle this pervasive issue. We all have a role to play when it comes to preventing violence against women, but is it us as men who need to step up and speak up, because the evidence tells us that the key driver of family violence is gender inequality. Since coming to government, we have invested over $4 billion in preventing and responding to family, sexual and domestic violence; strengthening services for women; providing tailored support to help children and young people heal and recover; and driving change to men's violence-enabling behaviour. This is in addition to $3.9 billion for legal assistance frontline services announced at the 6 September national cabinet on gender based violence as well as billions in funding for housing for victims of family and domestic violence who are looking for emergency accommodation. This investment reflects the priorities of a government that understands the scale and the depth of this crisis.

Properly addressing family violence means understanding the number of ways in which it affects victim-survivors. The consequences of abuse can be felt far beyond immediate physical risks, impacting women and children financially, legally and psychologically. That is why our government has been focused on ensuring that women have the support and resources to be safe. The actions we have taken include introducing 10 days of paid family violence leave, permanent leaving-violence payments and delivering on our election commitment to ensure the social security system cannot be weaponised against women experiencing family violence. Just this week, the Minister for Social Services week announced that there can be compassionate waivers for women who have had debts accrued against them due to financial and systems abuse. We have also strengthened access to legal support through our National Access to Justice Partnership 2025-30, which invests in community legal services, like the Eastern Community Legal Centre, in my electorate of Menzies. We've invested in dedicated social and affordable housing for victim-survivors so that women and children know they have a safe place to go. We've worked with state and territory governments around the country through our national plan to end violence against women and children to ensure we invest in evidence based, high-quality and specialised services that meet local needs.

Within the community I'm lucky enough to represent, there are several services that are dedicated to prevention, early intervention and response to family and domestic violence who help thousands of locals get the support they need. In particular, I want to acknowledge the work of our community health centres Doncare Community Services and Eastern Community Legal Centre, as well as the workforce at the Orange Door in Box Hill, who facilitate the critical links between victim-survivors and the people who help them. Having volunteered in a community legal centre, I know what a vital role they play in preventing family violence. Most of the cases that came through the door of Fitzroy Legal Service, where I volunteered, related to family violence, and the urgency of the issue and how endemic family violence is throughout our communities was clear. Having worked at the County Court of Victoria, I also note that the courts themselves are sometimes used to enact systems abuse on victim-survivors through the use of applications against family violence intervention orders and personal safety intervention orders.

I know that, given the scale of this problem, the community groups who offer family violence support in my community alone are too numerous to name. I thank them for the sensitivity and care they show to so many vulnerable people in Menzies. This is an important motion that speaks to the government and what we are doing to invest in research and best-practice development in the prevention space.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seconded the motion of the member for Wentworth, and I thank her for her advocacy, but really I wish we did not need to put such a motion forward, because better progress—more progress—from the government is desperately needed on this issue.

In Warringah, more than 450 domestic and family violence assaults were reported in the last year. When we talk to our local police, they will say that domestic and family violence is the No. 1 issue for which they are called out. Nationally, the picture is simply devastating. Whilst we have the Status of women report card identifying 37 women killed in 2024, unfortunately other metrics will often say that the number is even greater. Australian Femicide Watch puts the number as high as 103 women and 16 children killed. Even the fact that we have such a disparity of numbers is frightening, and it highlights the level of crisis this is.

We know that in 2025 there have been, on some counts, 48 women killed already. On average, one woman every nine days is killed by a current or former partner. If that is not a national crisis, I don't know what qualifies as one. It is an absolute tragedy, and more needs to be done. It's not good enough to just say, 'We are the government that has put a record amount of money out there, and we have a national plan over this decade to eradicate domestic and family violence.' Unfortunately, it is not working. It's not moving the dial yet.

In May last year, I brought a motion to this House calling for stronger action. Since then, sure, the government has announced $4.7 billion over five years for frontline services in partnership with the states. These are welcome commitments, but the reality is that they are not shifting the dial. Ninety-four per cent of New South Wales services report increased demand. There is a two-month average wait for critical support for women and children needing to access those critical services, and, for a woman in danger, a two-month wait is far too long.

In Warringah—and this problem is a scourge everywhere—we're fortunate to have incredible local services: Northern Beaches Women's Shelter, Mary's House, Women & Children First and the Women's Resilience Centre. All are manned by so many incredible volunteers doing amazing work. They provide crisis accommodation and wraparound support. But they are chronically underfunded and overstretched. Long waitlists mean women and children are left at risk at the most dangerous moment: when they are trying to leave.

We are one year on from the rapid review. Cast your mind back to May last year. Obviously, the numbers of women killed were reaching crisis point. There was a lot of pressure. The government announced a rapid review to try and move the dial. They brought together experts. They called it a national emergency, and there were key recommendations that came out of that rapid review report. Unfortunately, some key recommendations remain unaddressed. The government is still sitting on its hands because it doesn't want to tackle these hard decisions.

It means tighter restrictions on alcohol sales, delivery times and advertising. It does mean banning gambling advertising. We have been trying to push the government to move on this, and it is linked so many issues, but it is also linked to domestic and family violence. We know the combination of alcohol and gambling fuels domestic violence incidents. The evidence is clear. There's no point in saying you're doing the right thing if you don't tackle these two massive areas. We know alcohol was involved in 20 per cent of domestic homicides. During major sporting events like State of Origin, family violence reports spike by up to 40 per cent. In New South Wales, the extension of takeaway alcohol sales by one hour led to 1,100 additional domestic violence assaults in the following 38 months. The data is there. The government just needs to act.

The member for Wentworth has raised the question of eligibility for the family violence crisis payment. It is far too narrow. The complications of being able to apply for it are difficult, and this needs to be changed. We also have system weaponisation, where too often the system makes it even harder for women trying to get support. We see this through child support payments, where we have that link between the income test and recovery attempts. There are so many areas in which systems abuse is facilitated for perpetrators, so we really have to rethink that model urgently. We are now some time on. I urge the government to implement all the recommendations of the review.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:10