Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's welcome news that, in the first week of sittings, the Albanese Labor government is introducing legislation to provide universal paid leave for workers who experience family and domestic violence. It's just one of the many things we can do as a government to provide the leadership and the investment to help end family, domestic and sexual violence. This change will give workers—overwhelmingly, women—the means to escape violent situations without risking their jobs or their financial security.

I bring to the attention of the Senate the deep sense of sadness across Central Australia, following yet another act of family and domestic violence. People are in sorry business and dealing with the terrible tragedy that a mother and her baby are no longer here. It's a tragic story that we see repeated far too often in this country. Violence has no place in any community, and tackling this scourge is everyone's business. As is the case in many communities, the responsibility to tackle domestic violence often falls on the shoulders of the women themselves—the victims—and the communities who are at the centre of it.

I just want to take this opportunity to reach out to those families not only in Central Australia but, obviously, as well, across the Top End, where there have also been recent deaths, and across Australia, really, and say that we do hear and see what's going on and we know that this is one area that we need to tackle not just as a government but as a parliament. We were able to do it in terms of safety in the workplace right here in Parliament House and we know we must do it responsibly right across Australia so that no person, wherever they live, should feel unsafe or be the victim of such tragic events.