Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Women, Senator Gallagher. Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a reminder that ending gender based violence has been and continues to be a national priority for the Albanese Labor government. Can the minister outline how the government is driving change, including through the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children? And what progress has been made so far?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for the question and for the work that she has done in the last term and this term to support Australian women and make sure they get a better deal. Violence against women and children is never acceptable, and today the Minister for Social Services and the assistant minister, Minister Kearney, and I have announced that we are providing an additional $41.8 million for 1800RESPECT, to make sure that everyone who seeks help can get it. We know, and many senators in this place know, that 1800RESPECT is a critical service supporting families experiencing domestic and family violence to have the trauma-informed and more easily accessible support that they need. This will include on-demand video, counselling and SMS capability, so that victims-survivors can access support by the medium that best suits their needs.

In addition to this, of course, this government has proudly made important and significant investments into ensuring that we are doing everything we can to end violence against women and children, including making the Leaving Violence Program permanent and introducing legislation to make sure our social security system can't be weaponised by perpetrators of abuse. We've invested into emergency and transitional housing, to ensure that women can reach safety when they need it. We are investing in legal services, including women's legal services; legislating 10 days paid domestic violence leave; and launching an inquiry into domestic, family and sexual violence related suicide. We've established the National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence in universities, implemented all of the 55 Respect@Work recommendations and legislated a positive duty for employers to protect staff and customers from sexual harassment and abuse. And we know that there is more work to do.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Smith, first supplementary?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. This work is absolutely crucial and must continue. What steps is the government continuing to take to prevent violence and to hold perpetrators accountable as part of the national plan?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for that supplementary and for highlighting the need to continue to look at the best ways for action to be taken under the national plan, and there is a very significant conversation around holding perpetrators to account and also ensuring that we are investing in prevention. We are investing in programs to support children and young people to heal, recover and break the cycle of violence; delivering prevention and consent campaigns that people may have seen on TV or through social media; holding perpetrators to account through funding programs that intervene earlier with men who want to change their behaviour; taking action to deal with high-risk perpetrators, including investing to detect, monitor and intervene with repeat offenders; and introducing legislation to make sure our social security system can't be weaponised by perpetrators of abuse. There is more work to do on that, and I will work with Minister Plibersek on it.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Smith, second supplementary?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today also marks the beginning of the United Nations UNITE campaign and 16 days of activism, which this year is focused on digital abuse. How is the government addressing technology facilitated abuse, including harmful apps and social media practices that enable image based violence?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for that question around technology facilitated abuse. When you have a national plan that goes for a period of time, you have to continue to adjust your responses based on what you're seeing, and this is one of those areas. I'd like to shout out the work of the eSafety Commissioner and those who work at the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, who have done an extraordinary amount of work in this space. They often are the receivers or victims of abuse through the use of technology because of the work they are doing. It is very important work.

More than half of Australian adults say they've been targeted by technology facilitated abuse. Women and children, as we often see in so many areas, are often targeted through this kind of behaviour. We have been taking action to reduce access to nudify apps and undetectable stalking apps. We will work across government with our regulators and industries to make sure our efforts are measured, targeted and effective. Of course the social media ban, introducing a minimum age of 16, is an important part— (Time expired)