Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about one of the most urgent responsibilities before this parliament: preventing violence against women and children, supporting victims-survivors, and building an Australia where women and children are safe. Violence against women and children is predictable and preventable, and it is not inevitable. I know this issue personally. I grew up seeing violence in my own family. Later, as a police officer in Western Australia, I sat with women and children in some of the darkest moments of their lives. I heard their stories. I saw their courage. I saw where the system worked, and I saw where it failed. Those experiences shaped my work here as a senator, as a mother and also as a Noongar Yamatji woman. I'm proud to stand here as part of the Albanese Labor government, because this is a government who has treated women's safety as a national priority. We've not just spoken; we've acted.

Women and children deserve more than a crisis response after harm. That has already happened. They deserve prevention, early intervention, recovery, healing and safety, whether it be at home, at work, at school, online or in their communities. That's what the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 is delivering. Since the national plan was launched, the Albanese Labor government has invested $4.4 billion to support its delivery, whether that be frontline services, housing, legal assistance, health responses, perpetrator interventions, prevention programs or practical help for women leaving violence. All of these are about national leadership. It's not just about one announcement, about one program, but a whole-of-government response.

Violence does not start when someone finally calls the police or arrives at a hospital. It starts in inequality, it starts in disrespect and it starts in control. And it continues when systems allow perpetrators to punish women long after the relationship has ended. That is why the Albanese Labor government's child support reforms matter so much. This budget invests $182.6 million to make child support systems safer and much more effective. These are the most significant reforms to the system in almost 20 years.

Child support should be about children. It should never be used as a weapon to punish, harass or control an ex-partner, and too many women have told us that this is exactly what has happened. Unpaid child support is used as control—income being underreported, tax returns not lodged, women dragged back into conflict and children inevitably missing out. Around one million children rely on the child support system, and there is around $2 billion in unpaid child support debt in the government collection system alone. When child support is withheld, women and children pay the price.

We are making it easier to move from private collection to agency collection, where there are stronger protections. We are expanding employer withholding so that payments can be more reliable. We are improving data sharing so that assessments are more accurate. We are strengthening compliance, and we are giving Services Australia more powers to stop harassment and to protect the information of parents at risk. This is safety by design. Commonwealth systems must not be used as tools of abuse.

We have also made the Leaving Violence Program permanent, backed by $925.2 million over five years. Leaving violence takes money, transport, a phone, documents, food for your children, a bond payment, safety planning, legal advice, and support that understands the dangers and does not judge. No woman should feel forced to choose between violence and poverty. No child should remain in danger because practical help is not there. In its first five months, the Leaving Violence Program supported more than 10,000 victims-survivors, and that is real help, because it's practical. It is real help in the moment that it's needed. We are backing frontline services, legal services, 1800RESPECT, community legal centres and the National Access to Justice Partnership, because timely support can be the difference between being trapped and being able to move forward. We're investing in housing because safety requires a roof over your head, and that's why investments in crisis and transitional accommodation, Safe Places, the Housing Australia Future Fund and social and affordable housing matter.

I also want to speak directly about children and sexual abuse. The National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 is the first of its kind in Australia, and it's addressing abuse in organisations, in families and online. The second action plan is now being developed, and this is another important step. Child abuse does not stay in childhood. It causes lifelong harm to mental health, physical health, relationships, economic participation and a person's sense of safety in the world. More than one in three girls and almost one in five boys are impacted by child sexual abuse here in Australia—and that does not fully capture the online abuse. New technologies are creating new risks. Online grooming, child abuse material, deepfakes, AI generated harm and cross-border offending mean our responses must absolutely keep pace. This is why the second action plan will focus on prevention, child-safe cultures, supporting victims-survivors, responding to harmful sexual behaviours, preventing offending before it occurs and strengthening the evidence base.

This matters for women's safety too. Violence against women and violence against children are connected. Trauma compounds. These systems overlap, and families need synchronised responses, not silos. Our government is consulting with victims-survivors, advocates, experts, frontline workers, children, young people and communities so that the next phase reflects lived experience and those emerging risks. We are doing that carefully because words matter, safety matters and trauma informed engagement matters.

I also want to speak directly about First Nations women and children. One size does not fit all when it comes to policy. It does not work for our communities. It never has. Safety for our women and children must be grounded in self-determination, culture, truth-telling, healing and community led solutions. That's why 'Our Ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices' is so significant. This is the first standalone national plan to end family and domestic and sexual violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, and it is backed by a $218.3 million investment to support Aboriginal community controlled organisations to deliver specialist and culturally safe services. Our communities hold that knowledge. Our services hold the trust. Our women must be at the centre of those solutions, and our government understands that. It is listening and investing in First Nations led safety. We are acting on prevention. We are investing in Our Watch, respectful relationships education, consent education, the Consent Can't Wait campaign and programs that work with men and boys before harmful attitudes become harmful behaviour.

Men must be part of that solution—not as bystanders and not as commentators but as active participants in challenging disrespect, calling out controlling behaviour, checking in on your mates and modelling respect to boys and young men. We are also investing in perpetrator responses, because responsibility sits where it belongs. It belongs with a person who chooses to use violence. We are acting online too. Women and girls deserve safety online as well as offline, and we've acted in workplaces. We've implemented Respect@Work. We've introduced a positive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment and sexual discrimination. We funded working women's centres in every state and territory, and we've introduced 10 full paid days of family and domestic violence leave. No-one should have to choose between their job and their safety, and this is what a serious national response looks like—child support reform, housing, legal support, paid leave, workplace safety, child safety, First Nations led action, prevention, perpetrator accountability and gender equality at the centre of government.

But there's still more to do. Too many women are still feeling unsafe, too many children are still being harmed and too many lives are still being taken. But the Albanese Labor government is listening. We are investing and we are reforming systems. We are backing communities. We are making practical changes that save lives. Ending violence against women is a national responsibility, and I'm proud to be part of a government that's taking that responsibility seriously. We are building a safer, fairer and a more respectful Australia, and we will absolutely keep going.