Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. How is the Albanese Labor government working to reduce family, domestic and sexual violence and supporting workers on the front line?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for her very important question. I know that she is absolutely committed, as all of us are, to making sure we end family, domestic and sexual violence in this country. Frontline workers are literally saving lives every single day across this country. They're helping with safety planning. They're counselling children who've been impacted by family and domestic violence. They're helping women plan to leave safely. They're helping them access finances and some of the thousands of new homes that the Minister for Housing was talking about earlier. They're helping perpetrators of violence change their behaviour. They are doing literally life-saving work every single day. I'm so proud of our policy to deliver 500 extra frontline workers right across Australia.

Today I was delighted to visit the YWCA here in Canberra and meet with YWCA staff and Canberra Rape Crisis Centre staff. Both of those organisations have benefited from these extra frontline workers that we are funding. I was delighted to announce today an extra $291.7 million to expand this program by 70 per cent. We'll continue funding to 2030 and make more of these workers available right around Australia every day. This means that, since coming to government, we have invested almost half a billion dollars in this one program alone. This is one program that's part of our over $4 billion investment in family, domestic and sexual violence since coming to government. It's about frontline services. It's about prevention. It's about perpetrator behaviour change. It's about programs for children. It's about making the leaving violence payment permanent, as just one example, so victims have the financial support to leave safely.

We've passed legislation to make sure our social security system can't be weaponised against victims of violence. We've launched 'Our Ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices', the nation's first standalone First Nations plan to end family, domestic and sexual violence, with $218 million more funding. We've funded programs that intervene earlier with men who want to change their behaviour and stop using violence. We've invested more than $1.2 billion, as the housing minister said, in emergency and transitional housing. We've invested $3.9 billion in legal services, including $800 million specifically for family violence services. We've implemented 10 days paid domestic violence leave, we've reformed the family law system to make it safer, we've worked with states and territories to improve justice responses to sexual violence and we've provided a 40 per cent funding boost for 1800RESPECT. That's just a fraction of what we're doing, because no Australian should live in fear and no Australian should live with violence. We are committed to making sure that happens.