Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to inform this chamber that, despite decades of hard work and research, family violence remains one of the most persistent forms of violence against women and children. As Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, I can assure you that safety for women and their children is one of my highest priorities. Providing a safe community for our children is a society's duty and, on 13 March 2014, I had the pleasure to launch the most recent program of the Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights to strengthen the protection of children in their community. The Working with Muslim Women on the Effects of Family Violence and Child Sexual Abuse on Children training manual developed by the Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights is a practical tool to help workers—and, in particular, non-Muslim workers—in the community welfare, government and legal sectors who are working with Muslim women and their families.

This training manual is truly remarkable. I congratulate all the women responsible—some of whom I met in Melbourne at the launch—and, in particular, Joumanah El Matrah, Executive Director, Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights, on developing such a comprehensive and user-friendly guide for the community. It details the history of Islam, patterns of migration, the cultural and familial context of Muslim women and children, and strategies for working with Muslim and migrant communities in relation to family violence against children and child sexual abuse. The training manual makes clear that culture and the experience of migration can impact on the specific ways in which violence is inflicted upon and experienced by Muslim women and children. It also highlights that migrant women in Australia may not report family violence because of fear, misinformation and difficulty accessing support.

This information is critical and will ensure that practitioners and community leaders are not only educated themselves but can also educate the community through information sessions with Muslim women about the impact of family violence and sexual assault on children. The use of case studies and practical exercises in the module will be particularly useful in this endeavour. This is a practical way of reaching into Muslim communities, but it could also be broadly used in other CALD and non-CALD communities to work with them, educate them and support them. It is only through these measures that we can achieve real cultural change. We know that strong community leadership leads to strong communities. Indeed, effective community organisations enhance our social fabric and help us—as a government and as a nation—to ensure that no person is left behind.

The training manual these women have developed is a step towards making sure that no child is left behind and no child is forced to suffer in silence. I was particularly impressed with the focus on diversity in the manual. It can be too easy for workers in this field to assume they know Muslim culture when in reality there is a tremendous diversity among Muslims in Australia. As the training manual makes clear, the issues of violence against children and violence against women are intimately entwined. Women are the principal carers of children. When violence is in the home, women and children witness violence against each other, and it is not uncommon for women and children to experience violence from the same perpetrator.

I can assure you that the Australian government is committed to ensuring the safety of women and children. Achieving a significant and sustained reduction in violence against women and their children is a long-term endeavour. We must all endeavour to ensure that women are respected, not violated, and that family and sexual violence in Australia is eliminated. Community groups are the vital link in setting the standard that will be accepted. The Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights is showing valuable leadership on the matter of violence against women and children in their community, and I commend them on their work to actively protect our most vulnerable citizens. I would like to conclude by quoting a sentence from the training manual that resonated with me:

An investment in women is an investment in the entire community.

I could not agree more.