Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission's 2025 report to parliament.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

Forty-six women were killed by violence in 2024. That's up from 34 in the previous year. Over the weekend, the numbers for 2025 so far rose to 39, with the murder of Rhukaya Lake by her partner. More than 40,000 sexual assaults were reported to police last year, the highest on record for 30 years. Given that many women still fear coming forward, we know that these numbers underestimate the scale of the problem. Women living with disability are still three times more likely to experience domestic, family and sexual violence. First Nations women are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised by assault. These numbers are absolutely shocking, or they should be shocking. But they've become so normalised that I fear that we're not shocked enough. The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission's yearly report once again catalogues the ongoing scourge of gender based violence. I thank the commissioner, Micaela Cronin; her team; and the Lived Experience Advisory Council for their work in this traumatic space.

Since the first National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children began 15 years ago, there have been countless inquiries, reports, reviews and taskforces. There have been over 1,000 recommendations made, mostly saying the same things: we need early intervention; we need culturally appropriate responses; we need to prevent economic abuse, systems abuse and technology facilitated abuse; we need to target sexual violence; we need to support children impacted by family violence; and we need effective programs for men and boys about healthy masculinity.

There's no shortage of solutions, but there remains a shortage of action and a shortage of funding to let the services do the work that's needed. If the government really wants to turn these statistics around, it needs to stump up the money needed on the ground right now. The sector has repeatedly called for $1 billion per year to meet demand so that women aren't turned away from shelters or legal support services. I welcome the top-ups that this government has made, but it still falls short of what is needed so that everyone who seeks help can get it. Nationally, women's legal services are turning away 52,000 people a year because they don't have the funding they need to keep up with demand. And we must have more data on unmet need to guide funding decisions. I have been asking for more than eight years now how unmet need is measured. The pace has been absolutely glacial, and I acknowledge that the current pilot data collection framework exists and that the commission's planned work on a national funding map exists, but it is unbelievable that, after 15 years of national plans, we don't already have a clear picture of the funding gaps and then for how those gaps are to be fixed.

The commissioner's report is scathing about the fragmentation in funding and service delivery. Solutions are not delivered at scale or with the urgency needed to tackle the problem. We also need an investment in workforce development across specialist services. The national plan cannot succeed unless we support the sector for those folk on the front line of the work. We need to make sure that they can attract, support and fairly pay expert staff; provide culturally appropriate environments; and engage safely with perpetrators. We need to involve young people, people with lived experience of violence, people with disabilities and LGBTQIA+ people to ensure that services meet their varying needs. We need a standalone First Nations national plan. This is overdue. It needs to be implemented urgently with secure funding to Aboriginal organisations to deliver outcomes. We need to engage with men and boys in all communities about violence prevention strategies, healthy masculinity, consent and respect, and to build skills for better communication and healthy relationships.

But I cannot stress enough that involving more voices only helps if you actually listen. The government cannot keep asking the same questions while not acting on the answers. Some progress is being made, and we are fortunate to have a sector that is deeply committed to working across prevention, response and recovery to end gender based violence—and I really, deeply thank everyone who does this vital work, but thanks isn't enough. They need funding. To avoid next year's report being yet another catalogue of unmet need, the government must take the commission's recommendations seriously, listen to the sector and the survivors that they support, and take action.

Given it's Melbourne Cup today, I highlight the strong recommendations made by the government's rapid review task force last year to restrict alcohol sales and home deliveries, to ban gambling ads and to tackle online gambling, all of which are contributors to domestic, family and sexual violence. The government just keeps on stalling on these reforms, and women are suffering as a result. How many more inquiries and reports are we going to need before we listen to those people supporting women and their children fleeing violence that say they don't have enough money to help people that need their help? When you can waste billions of dollars on nuclear submarines but you cannot fund a women's shelter, something is going seriously wrong. You need to fix it.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the minister's statement on the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission's 2024-25 yearly report, tabled in the House of Representatives on 30 October. I begin by acknowledging the victims and survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence and the families and communities who continue to live with the consequences. Their experiences remind us that it is not a private tragedy but a national failure that requires our collective responsibility. I also thank the frontline workers who confront the reality of domestic violence every single day. Their work saves lives and provides the humanity and compassion that too many government systems have failed to deliver.

The evidence in the commission's report is deeply troubling. The Australian Institute of Criminology recorded a 35 per cent increase in women killed by intimate partners in 2023-24 after a 31 per cent increase the year before. In the same year, police charged more than 90,000 Australians with family violence offences. One in six women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner since the age of 15. These are not marginal statistics; they describe a national emergency that persists despite decades of inquiry, countless announcements and record investment. The problem is no longer a lack of inquiry, report or recommendation; it is clearly in the delivery.

This government has invested billions in efforts to end domestic violence and sexual violence, but unfortunately the outcomes have not improved. This is not a question of compassion or intent; it is about systems that seem to fail to guarantee action. Funding is announced but often delayed. Programs are launched but not always evaluated. Agencies work in silos, each responsible for part of the system, while no-one really bears responsibility for all of the outcomes. The lack of accountability has real human consequences. Community legal centres turn away around 1,000 people a day. Crisis payments for women fleeing violence take three times longer to process than those for prisoners leaving jail. These failures reflect a system failing to meet its purpose and failing to protect our women and children. Coordinated, accountable and agile delivery must be the baseline for a nation that claims to take this issue seriously.

Nowhere is the failure of delivery clearer than in housing. When women and children flee violence, the first question is not about programs or policies; it is about where they will sleep that night. Without safe and secure housing, survivors are forced to choose between homelessness and returning to danger. A national plan to end family and domestic violence must therefore include a credible plan to build homes. Safety cannot exist without shelter, and progress cannot occur while the government's housing ambitions are unrealised.

Another lesson is clear: we cannot fix what we cannot see. Data on domestic and family sexual violence remains fragmented and incomplete. Information is drawn from disconnected sources that can't be compared or linked across jurisdictions. Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander women, people with disabilities, LGBTIQA+ Australians and those in regional and remote areas remain underrepresented in the data picture. That must change. If governments can't see the whole system, then they can't manage it. A coherent national data framework is not a technical exercise; it is an act of accountability. Real-time visibility of outcomes is essential to understanding what is working, what is failing and where change is most urgently needed.

The failure of data, delivery and housing converge most tragically in their impact on children. The report highlights that prevention must begin in childhood. Children spend significant time in early education, health and sporting and faith based settings—places where adults hold positions of authority and trust. These environments must have strong child-safe standards, informed workforces and clear referral pathways to identify and prevent grooming and abuse. That finding is echoed in the concerns that have emerged in recent months about safety within early childhood and education care. The revelations of child sexual abuse in childcare settings have shown what can happen when oversight is weakened and systems fail to share critical information. As chair of the Senate inquiry into quality and safety of early childhood education, I've called an urgent hearing with law enforcement and child protection authorities to examine these issues. This is not simply an education matter; it is a question of child safety.

The coalition believes that ending family, domestic and sexual violence must be grounded in essential principles that guide consistent and coordinated action. Our approach is clear: national consistency in data and law enforcement across states and territories; modern laws that address technology facilitated abuse, coercive control and emerging harms; prevention and early intervention through education, schools and community engagement; safety and recovery supported by more crisis housing and targeted financial assistance; and accountability through stronger bail, sentencing and monitoring regimes, underpinned by transparent measurement of outcomes.

Prevention must be central to any government strategy to end this crisis. This means policies that engage men and boys as part of the solution to challenge attitudes before they become embedded behaviours. As the Leader of the Opposition has said, men's health policy is women's safety policy. Strong prevention starts with how men look after themselves and those around them; how they manage anger, stress and relationships; and how they model respect in their homes, workplaces and communities. Fathers in particular play a powerful role in shaping how their children learn to treat others and understand respect, equality and care throughout their lives. When men demonstrate that strength and respect go hand in hand, they can build a culture where violence has no place and where responsibility is shared. That is the work of prevention—sustained, deliberate and led by example, supported by policies that make this everybody's business, not just women's business.

Across parliament there is a bipartisan commitment to addressing family, domestic and sexual violence. Ending it requires ambition equal to the scale of this problem. It demands systems that work; data that tells us the truth, housing that provides refuge; and leadership that is accountable for outcomes, not announcements. The coalition will continue to hold the government to that standard and advocate practical reform built on evidence, coordination and urgency. We have that knowledge and we have the evidence. What is needed now is the courage to move beyond talk, beyond review and beyond complacency and into immediate action.

Question agreed to.