Senate debates

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Adjournment

Domestic Violence

7:08 pm

Photo of Larissa WatersLarissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about an issue that all of us here in the chamber are united in our concern about. Despite our concern and good intentions, it is an issue that we are taking a backward step on. We must face the truth about domestic violence and we must be mindful of the impacts that every one of our laws and policies have on this important issue. Every woman who dies through domestic violence is one too many and we, in this chamber, have a responsibility to try to lead the push for cultural change to prevent violence against women and their children.

Sadly, it is my view that this government is not effectively fulfilling that responsibility. The Abbott government's budget cuts threaten to trap women and children in violent homes. Brutally, the Abbott government is seeking to abolish the National Rental Affordability Scheme. Whilst women's refuges provide some immediate accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence, they are already struggling financially to keep up with the alarming demand and they can only offer short-term housing. Once that short-term refuge accommodation is up, many victims will have nowhere to go. With no safe affordable, long-term housing options for accommodation, this means that, sadly, they will simply have to return to their abusive partners and live with the threat of more violence. The National Rental Affordability Scheme helped women to escape this fate, but that has been cut at the hands of the Abbott government. This government's budget also threatens to cut tax support for single parents, which again could see women financially unable to start or maintain a new, free life with their children.

Domestic violence infiltrates all parts of society and while victims have varying levels of financial means, a common feature of abusive relationships is control and often abusive partners control their victims' money. That is why the Abbott government's GP co-payment is so sinister. If a victim of domestic violence cannot see a doctor for free, she may not go at all. Firstly, she may not be able to afford it and, secondly, even if she can afford the fee, she may need to ask her abusive partner for the money. Of course, he is probably the reason that she needs to see a doctor in the first place.

Think about that control of money in the context of the Abbott government's cuts to community legal centres. Many victims of domestic violence cannot afford private legal advice and, again, even if they could, they might not have control over the funds to secure the advice. That is why free legal advice for victims of domestic violence is so incredibly important. Yesterday, I attended the National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services forum here in parliament, hosted by my colleague Senator Nova Peris from the Labor Party, at which the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator Cash, also attended. This organisation provides much needed legal advice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women across the country, with a focus on rural and regional areas. We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are, incredibly, 31 times more likely to be hospitalised from domestic violence.

The convener of the National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services forum asked Minister Cash to explain why the government was inflicting so much funding uncertainty on this organisation, despite their utterly crucial and 100 per cent front-line work. Sadly, the minister's only response was to talk about the budget crisis, which this government has confected so that they can punish and take from the most vulnerable while they give to the big end of town. And, sadly, with cuts to legal services, housing and single parent support, and by making it harder to see a doctor, the Abbott government's budget is completely insensitive to the needs of victims of domestic violence.

While the Abbott government has released the second action plan on domestic violence, which provides, unfortunately, only about $25 million a year for four years, it is ripping far more funding out of the budget from support that victims of domestic violence currently rely on. This shows a complete ignorance of the needs of women which, disappointingly, is hardly surprising given the Abbott government has only one woman in its cabinet.

I am pleased that the Greens have succeeded in setting up a Senate inquiry into domestic violence. It will include looking at the impact of the Abbott government's proposed and past budget cuts on victims. I urge women, women's advocacy groups, women's service providers, non-governmental organisations, police services, legal professionals, housing providers, medical specialists and anyone whose lives have been touched by domestic violence to make a submission to this inquiry before the end of the month. I dearly hope that after hearing from victims, from refuges and from service providers about the harm that these budget cuts will cause, the government will back down and abandon these cruel, insensitive budget cuts.

The inquiry will also scrutinise the adequacy of the second action plan to reduce violence against women and their children and, importantly, whether it is appropriately funded. Also, it will look at what more the federal government can do in this crucial area both in terms of leadership and in terms of coordination with other levels of government and with the non-governmental sector. We have to ensure that federally we are doing as much as we can on this issue because the statistics are truly horrific. One woman a week is killed in Australia by her current or former partner. One in three Australian women over the age of 15 has experienced violence and one in every five has experienced sexual violence. Yet we see over the last few days there are some who appear to derive humour out of sexual violence against women.

I am really pleased that today the Greens, with the support of everybody in this chamber, passed a motion calling for Wicked Campers to remove their sexist and misogynist slogans that incite violence against women. I am really proud that the Senate unanimously supported the motion and sent that strong message that the promotion of sexual violence will not be tolerated in Australian society.

Violence against women is no laughing matter. It is not a joke to be painted on the back of a van for hire. I would like to take this chance to commend, congratulate and thank Paula Orbea, who was the mother in Sydney who launched a petition against one of the most offensive slogans on those vans. Forgive me, but it does bear reading into the Hansard, because any reasonable person would consider it truly affronting. The slogan was, 'In every princess there is a little slut who wants to try it just once.' Ms Orbea's 11-year-old daughter saw that slogan on the back of a van and feared for her safety. She expressed those concerns to her mum. I am really proud that both Ms Orbea and her daughter took up the fight and started a petition. As at earlier today, more than 120,000 people have signed the petition condemning that misogynist, women-hating and violence-promoting slogan on the back of the van. Again, I am really pleased that all senators today condemned that kind of language and called on the company to remove that slogan.

Later this afternoon, we found that the company has now agreed to remove that particular slogan. They have also committed to removing other slogans that they describe as 'insensitive' over the coming months. I welcome that, but I would caution against simply calling these slogans insensitive. They are misogynist, they are sexist and they incite crime. They incite violence against women and children. They trivialise, normalise and entrench violence against women. That is why I am so pleased that, through the efforts of Ms Orbea and the Senate today, we have sent that strong message. I firmly believe that together we can change the culture that both permits and entrenches violence against women. We can challenge it, we can name it, we can condemn it and ultimately we can end it—and we will.