Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Kingston for raising this issue. Too often domestic violence is considered a personal, domestic or familial issue when in fact it is at times in the workplace, where it is most often referred to as an HR issue, a health care issue or an administrative concern. I would suggest that is an economic, a productivity and a performance matter as well.

I commend Australia's CEO Challenge and those involved. I noticed recently that a bit of correspondence I received as a White Ribbon Ambassador was actually a letter from CEO Challenge. I noticed that my good friend and former family law colleague Stephen Page is the deputy chair of that particular organisation. They do a lot to raise awareness, in Queensland particularly, in relation to this issue.

I also note that in Queensland, my home state, there is a conference on from 7 to 9 August titled 'Violence Against Women: an Inconvenient Reality'. FaHCSIA has $20,000 worth of assistance, as I understand, in relation to that. The website is www.violenceagainstwomenqld.com.au, and I recommend people look at that.

This government has the first ever National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children. Sadly, as other speakers have noted, one in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 and almost one in five have experienced sexual violence. It really is time to change all that. I mention that conference because a friend of mine and someone I know quite well, Gabrielle Borggaard, the manager of the Ipswich Women's Centre Against Domestic Violence, mentioned that to me and asked me to raise it in parliament. I also thank that organisation for their wonderful work they do in the Ipswich and West Moreton region. I congratulate them for the $370,000 they recently received to help up to 3,000 local teenagers. They are doing a lot of good work at the Love Bites program, particularly in high schools, trying to get to this issue at its core when the children are young men and women, at Bremer State High School, Ipswich State High School and Toogoolawah State High School. I congratulate them for the work they do. It is marvellous. It is really worthy. I know how committed these women are to reducing the scourge of domestic violence.

The funding they have received is part of the $86 million that we have committed in the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children 2010-2022. Sadly, in 2006 a national survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that 15 per cent of Australian women had experienced violence by a previous partner and 2.1 per cent by a current partner. One of the statistics that really came out to me when I and the member for Murray were involved in the Doing time: time for doing report was that Indigenous women are 35 times more likely to be hospitalised by partner abuse than non-Indigenous women. This is a national tragedy, a national disgrace and a national shame, and we must do more about that. The impacts of domestic violence stop women going to work. It makes them more likely to be absent from work. It makes them more likely to have conflict with other people. It makes them more likely to be unproductive and to shift from job to job as they have to shift from residence to residence. They have to take time off for court appearances and the like. They have to look after their children because they are the only person at home.

Domestic violence takes many courses, and I am pleased this government has made the definition of domestic violence in the Family Law Act more contemporary. Sadly, after practising for 20 years in the jurisdiction of family law, the Family Law Act with its emphasis on physical and sexual acts in relation to the issue of domestic violence was not as contemporary as the state legislation. For example, the state legislation in Queensland talked about harassment or the likelihood of causing harassment but domestic violence takes many forms: physical abuse; threats and damage to property; forcing someone out of a car; abusing people; familial isolation; humiliation; stalking; depriving someone of contact with their children; abusing someone in front of children; and many other forms. We must do everything we can to stamp out domestic violence, because the impact on our economy is great—in 2003, the cost was $8.1 billion. This is an economic issue we need to tackle as well.

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