Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Griffith for raising this very important motion. Though it is only on occasion that both sides of this House agree, I'm sure we could come together and unanimously agree that victims and survivors of sexual and family violence deserve our support. They have a right to it. I'm sure that everyone would agree that they should be able to gain access to professional counselling support of the highest standard available. For people who have been through as much as these women, children and men, and for people who have suffered through this much, it's the least we can do. That's why I rise here today. I rise to join with the member for Griffith to call upon the Prime Minister to ensure that these victims and survivors continue to have access to the best specialist trauma counselling available—because, following a recent announcement by Medibank Health Solutions, it's clear that the quality of service offered is about to take a really significant hit.

Back in 1974, with support and funding from the Whitlam Labor government, Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia was established. Since that time, it has achieved international recognition and acclaim for the work that it does for victims and survivors of rape and domestic violence. Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, or RDVSA, has been the sole provider for the 1800RESPECT specialist trauma telephone service since it was established—that is, until now. Now the Turnbull government is giving Medibank Health Solutions, the for-profit firm that manages the contract for the service, the green light to change the existing arrangements that, to date, have been largely successful in offering specialist support to victims of trauma.

The new arrangements include changes to contract conditions, as well as a new funding model—a new funding model that will see public funding that has typically been solely allocated to RDVSA reallocated to include three other organisations. This amounts to a 75 per cent cut to the funding RDVSA receives to administer 1800RESPECT—75 per cent of its funding. Even a one per cent reduction could be devastating, let alone a cut of such a significant amount. That's not to say that the new organisations don't do great work; of course they do. Each of the new organisations is well respected. They are not-for-profit domestic violence crisis services. But therein lies the difference: these are crisis services, not trauma services. Whilst both services are important, they do serve very different purposes. Any new support for crisis services should not come through a cut to existing trauma counselling services. Since 1800RESPECT's inception, it has been a specialist trauma counselling service, but the new arrangements will see a fundamental change to this lauded service.

If RDVSA were to accept the proposed reduction in funding, it would result in 50 staff redundancies in their organisation. But RDVSA have turned their backs on the new contract, which will result in an extra 20 redundancies. That means a total of 70 people that assist in providing these vital services to Australian victims and survivors of rape and domestic violence will lose their jobs. Yet we're told that the staff of the RDVSA support this decision. The staff of the RDVSA are so concerned about the new arrangements that they would rather lose their jobs. That's how concerning these new arrangements are. It's not just concerns that relate to the lesser service that would be provided with less funds but also the serious ethical concerns that exist within the new contract conditions. The most alarming would probably be that the new contract conditions include an obligation to hand over every single new and existing client file from the 1800RESPECT service to Medibank Health Solutions, and allow voice recording. Can you believe this? The Turnbull government has yet to say how much of the voice recordings would be excluded from obligations under subpoenas. But I think the aim here is to compel the handover of new and existing client files under 1800RESPECT.

It is not right to let a for-profit service determine how much public funding is allocated to such an important issue. It's not right to dilute a dedicated trauma counselling service by dividing the work among service providers that typically serve another purpose. It is not right what the government is allowing to happen to 1800RESPECT and RDVSA, and I won't stand by quietly and let this happen.

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