Senate debates

Wednesday, 17 October 2018

Motions

Domestic and Family Violence

3:34 pm

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

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) since the last Senate sitting period, there have been 8 women killed by violence in Australia, bringing the total of women killed by violence to 55 in 2018, as reported by Counting Dead Women Australia from Destroy The Joint,

  (ii) on average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner,

  (iii) 1 in 3 Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15,

  (iv) 1 in 5 Australian women has experienced sexual violence,

  (v) 1 in 6 Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner,

  (vi) 1 in 4 Australian women has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner,

  (vii) Australian women are nearly three times more likely than men to experience violence from an intimate partner,

  (viii) there is growing evidence that women with disabilities are more likely to experience violence,

  (ix) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women report experiencing violence in the previous 12 months at 3 times the rate of non-Indigenous women, and

  (x) in 2014-15, Indigenous women were 32 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family violence as non-Indigenous women; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

  (i) recognise domestic violence against women as a national security crisis,

  (ii) adequately fund frontline domestic violence and crisis housing services to ensure that all women seeking safety can access these services when and where they need them,

  (iii) legislate for 10 days paid domestic violence leave, so that women do not have to choose between paying the bills and seeking safety, and

  (iv) implement all 25 recommendations of the report of the Finance and Public Administration References Committee into domestic violence in Australia, tabled in the Senate on 20 August 2015.

Photo of Anne RustonAnne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Photo of Scott RyanScott Ryan (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Photo of Anne RustonAnne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | | Hansard source

All jurisdictions are responsible for keeping women and children safe. The government has spent well in excess of $300 million on women's safety since 2015. We are focused on practical measures that reduce the incidence of violence and, when it occurs, support victims and their children. I note that the government currently has legislation in the parliament to enshrine the Fair Work Commission decision of a minimum standard of five days of unpaid domestic violence leave.

Question agreed to.