Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There are thousands of families across Australia whose lives are at threat in their own homes at the hands of family members. There are children who witness violence on a daily basis. There are children who are subjected to violence. Let me say from the outset that I recognise that not all domestic violence is committed by men against women and that men too can be victims. However, it is also true to say that the very large majority of cases are thus and that dangerous, abusive and violent behaviour is a daily occurrence in some families. At least one woman a week is killed by a partner or former partner in Australia.

I am appalled at the prevalence of violence in the home, and that is why, as a White Ribbon Ambassador, I attempt to send a message to men that violence is simply unacceptable. This topic raises many challenging issues for the Australian parliament. Why do so many relationships end in violence? Are the levels of violence, and particularly domestic violence, rising or is it just being reported more often? What on earth is happening to our society that so many families are so dysfunctional? How do seemingly normal people ever arrive at the point where they believe that violence against anyone, and most particularly life partners, is an acceptable outcome?

There are far too many issues and the set of issues is too complex to be properly covered in the limited time available to us here today, but the drivers of the breakdown of family values in this, the first quarter of the 21st century, should be considered by all of us in this place when we contemplate change—whether that be to family support, the availability of unsuitable material on a whole range of media and communication platforms, changes to our social institutions and, of course, as we are considering today, the suitability of our legal system.

Family violence can involve men, women and children as victims. There is elder abuse and even adolescent violence against parents. It imparts a profound and long-term toll on the victims' health and wellbeing, on families and communities and on society as a whole. It is the single largest cause of homelessness for women and it results in police call outs once every two minutes, on average. Thankfully, we have come a long way since the days when it was assumed that a woman must have provoked her partner in some way, almost deserving a beating, or when police would dismissively refer to a call out as 'just a domestic'. While legal sanctions cannot bring an end to family violence, the law is an essential component of any response to domestic and family violence.

The motion of the member for Moreton raises the issues of victims being forced to face perpetrators of violence in court. He makes a good point, but he would also be aware that courts bend over backwards to avoid that circumstance and that if such a circumstance is likely to cause stress a video appearance is provided. We should also not lose sight of the fact that, without due process, we elevate the chance of a severe miscarriage of justice. In short, everyone must be heard fairly in our legal system. The legal process can be an emotional and difficult time for victims of family, domestic and sexual violence. Many cases of domestic violence go unreported through perceived loyalty to the perpetrator, shame and fear. The combined health, administration and social welfare costs of violence against women has been estimated at $21.7 billion a year.

Contrary to one of the points made in this motion, however, the Australian government is not cutting funds dedicated to addressing this important issue. In fact, we are committed to reducing the unacceptable levels of domestic, family and sexual violence in our community. That is why we have allocated an additional $100 million in the 2016-17 budget to implement a third action plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

I turn to those points where the government has been accused of terminating funding. In fact, one of the tranches of funding was the $6.8 million that the shadow Attorney-General, in fact, implemented back in 2013. It was a finite amount of money, and the Attorney-General at that time made that point clearly—that it was a one-off funding arrangement—so the extra $100 million is coming in to build ongoing funding around the $27 million a year that underpins the 12-year national plan. It also supports ongoing services like 1800RESPECT and primary prevention organisations like Our Watch and Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety.

On 1 April, COAG agreed to support in principle the six areas for action and the 28 recommendations of the COAG Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence Against Women and their Children. The advisory panel's report is informing the development of the third action plan. I have run out of time, but I applaud the government's commitment. (Time expired)

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