Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One in three Australian women experience abuse in their lifetime. It's not just a statistic; it's people's lives. When this violence intersects with our broken income support system, we see victims-survivors of domestic violence be further victimised. Successive governments have designed, implemented and defended a punitive system that not only traps people in poverty but in some cases traps them in cycles of abuse as well.

Domestic violence exists in many forms and, like other forms of abuse, is predominantly about control. It is about social, verbal, emotional and financial manipulation, and it is so much harder escape this violence and find safety and support when you're financially insecure. The Greens welcome the government's introduction of 10 days of paid leave for people affected by domestic violence. This has been Greens policy for many years. But domestic violence leave is not enough. It doesn't address the urgent needs of people who are living on income support or who, by escaping domestic violence, will be reliant on income support. The vast majority of people on income support are living below the poverty line. This means making difficult decisions every single day about what you can afford to buy or how many meals you're going to miss that day. Victims-survivors are relentlessly retraumatised by a system that has been shown time and time again to fail them and to keep the cycle of poverty going.

In addition to the 10 days paid leave for domestic violence victims-survivors, the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children was developed specifically to address family and domestic violence on all levels. But, sadly, actions to enhance access to income support have been largely missing from the national plan and its associated action plans. We know that First Nations women, women from culturally diverse backgrounds, women in regional areas, older women, LGBTIQA+ women and women with disabilities are even more likely to experience violence. We need a plan that protects all Australians, not just the ones who are fortunate enough to be employed. So, despite Labor's commitment to supporting domestic abuse survivors through this plan, there has been next to no consideration for survivors on income support. We've heard from the government that JobSeeker payments are going to stay at $46 a day. This is while Labor has supported the stage 3 tax cuts, which will see the highest-paid workers in Australia receive, effectively, a pay increase.

I find the plight of the one million single-parent families in Australia particularly distressing. Analysis undertaken by Anti-Poverty Week found that there are 300,000 single-parent families in Australia headed by women, caring for around 600,000 children who are living near or below the poverty line. What are the options here if they are facing domestic or family violence? We've also heard harrowing reports that the income support system has been exploited by perpetrators. The Guardian reported last week about a domestic violence victim-survivor and mother of three who was left without vital Centrelink payments for six weeks after the perpetrator exploited social security rules and the fraud tip-off line. She was denied family payments for six weeks after a false tip-off. In a cost-of-living crisis, no-one should be forced to navigate through such uncaring bureaucracy and left to struggle to survive.

Neither of the major parties seem to have a plan to tackle domestic violence or the poverty crisis in this country. The Greens have committed to a $12 billion, 12-year national plan to end violence against women and children that will comprehensively address issues relating to prevention and early intervention in gendered violence, and appropriate response and support and recovery services for victims-survivors. We're fighting for all government income support payments to be raised above the poverty line, for mutual obligations to be abolished and for unfair restrictions on who can access the payment to be removed to ensure that everyone has the means to cover their basic essential needs.

Our social safety net is broken. It is failing not only to support people escaping family violence but also to protect them from facing further harm. The government must fix our social security system immediately and raise the rate of all income support to above the poverty line. Poverty is a political choice; enough is enough. We have all clearly and consistently received feedback from victims-survivors who have been forced to navigate a brutal system, with many being retraumatised in the process. Now is the time to listen to what they have to say. (Time expired)