Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Chandler for that question. This government, the Morrison-Joyce government, is absolutely focused on making sure that we have an Australia that is free of violence. That's why in the budget this year, the 2021-22 budget, we committed the largest amount of money—a $1.1 billion package—to ensure women's safety.

This is an historic package. It is a down payment to make sure that we move towards zero violence in this country. But we know every Australian has a role to play in ending violence, and that's why we have committed a $260 million package to work with the states and territories to make sure that they are able to provide frontline services, making sure that they are providing opportunities for their frontline workers and also developing and increasing capacity in the family and domestic violence sector.

In providing this commitment as a partnership to the states and territories, this $260 million partnership over two years—that's a lot more than $153 million over four years—ensures money goes to where it needs to be on the ground. This commitment builds on the $130 million that we provided states and territories to get them through the COVID pandemic this year and enabled them to deal with the unfortunate increase in demand that we saw during the COVID pandemic. This has supported 450 frontline operations and employed hundreds of new people into this sector, to make sure that women and children across the country are receiving the services they need.

We know that the next National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children must be more than words, which is why I was disappointed this morning to hear Senator McAllister claim that the government had shown little energy or interest in this issue. That is blatantly untrue. I give you my commitment that this government will work and continue to work in a non-partisan way to make sure that we end all forms of violence against women and their children in this country. I urge you to do the same.