Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brown for that question. It has been an ongoing piece of work how we address violence against women and children in this country. That has been a priority for this government since we were elected. I would like to start by acknowledging that again, yesterday, we heard the very heartbreaking news of another woman who has been allegedly killed by an ex-partner. I know that the thoughts of everyone in this chamber are with her family, friends and community as they deal with this unimaginable loss.

Yesterday I joined the Prime Minister, the Minister for Social Services and the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence at a roundtable to hear from experts, service deliverers and those who had lived with the experience of violence in their homes. This is part of the work that has been led by the Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek on the Second Action Plan consultations under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-32. Across government, we've already held more than 160 roundtables with more than 1,100 people, and we've heard from almost 2,000 people online who are providing direct submissions. The messages that have been provided through these consultations are that Australians want men's violence against women to stop. They want better responses when violence occurs. They want to acknowledge that sexual violence against women is increasing and that the changing nature of tech-facilitated abuse and the new ways it can be used to harm, control and abuse women and children is making the task harder.

I think there are agreements on the emerging themes coming out of these consultations—to prevent violence using evidence based approaches, to intervene as early as possible, to keep people safe, and to reduce the risk of reoccurrence and escalation.