Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Askew for her question. We heard, in the remarks of leaders in the chamber prior to question time, that this is a very difficult matter to speak of, given the events of last week. We all learned of the tragedy at Camp Hill with horror and great sadness. I know that colleagues across the government and across the parliament are also grappling with this appalling event and trying to understand how something like this can happen. And it is important that we do continue to reflect on it and to talk about it and that we do act on it. Our government believes that one death of a woman or a child at the hands of a partner or a father is one too many. Our unequivocal goal is to reduce family violence and to eliminate it. It is, as colleagues have said, unacceptable that a woman is killed every week in Australia by a partner.

Language is important. We can't tolerate public language that trivialises or distorts the reality of domestic violence. Each murder, each act of domestic violence, is an individual atrocity. There is no betrayal so detestable as an act of violence against the people we are supposed to love and care for. Hannah Clarke and her three children, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey, had a right to be safe in their home, within their neighbourhood. All women and children in Australia have that right. As a community, as a parliament, we must redouble our efforts to keep women and children safe.