Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2018. Sadly, one Australian women per week, on average, is killed by her current or former partners, and one in three Australian women have experienced physical violence at some stage after they turned 15. In October this year alone, 11 women died violently at the hands of men in Australia. This is a national crisis. Domestic violence is the leading cause of death, disability and illness amongst women between 15 and 44 years of age.

We know that there is no single answer to overcoming this scourge of domestic and family violence. We know that family and domestic violence is preventable. We know the policy response needs to be multifaceted. It must come, firstly, from strong leadership from government, business, unions and the community.

We are seeing some leadership from business, the unions and even from some governments, but sadly not as much as we need from the Morrison government. This bill is evidence of that. Sadly, it is a missed opportunity from the Morrison government. While this bill does amend the National Employment Standards to provide domestic and family violence leave to award-reliant employees, it provides only five days of leave, and the leave is unpaid. I note it is a very small step in the right direction and thank those opposite for occasionally getting something right. I could make a comment about a stopped clock being right twice a day, but I won't. If the Prime Minister listened to women he might have a better understanding of why it is necessary for women to have access to paid domestic and family violence leave and why only five days leave is inadequate. Anyone who works with victims and survivors of domestic and family violence will tell you that the most dangerous time for a woman is when she is leaving a violent relationship. It often takes a very long time to get to the point where a woman is able to leave.

Domestic violence is all about control. Perpetrators go to extreme lengths to ensure their victim does not have the physical and financial freedom to leave the violent relationship. It is important that employees who are suffering from domestic and family violence know they can take leave to attend to issues like obtaining a protection order against the perpetrator, arranging new, safe accommodation, obtaining legal advice, seeking medical attention or any combination of these four. It is equally important that a woman who is planning to leave a violent relationship is not adversely impacted from loss of income through unpaid leave right at the time when she needs to be as financially independent as possible.

Labor announced almost a year ago that, if elected, a Shorten Labor government would introduce 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave into the National Employment Standards. Labor is leading on this issue. We know it is an important matter for all Australians. Many other organisations have also been calling for paid domestic and family violence leave, including the Law Council, the Catholic Women's League of Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission, Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia, the ACTU and other individual unions. Some businesses have taken action themselves and provide domestic and family violence leave to their own employees. I commend these employers, such as Medicare, CUB, Telstra, the NAB, Virgin Australia, Aldi Australia, IKEA and Qantas, to name a few. Other governments have shown leadership and taken action to provide paid leave, such as New Zealand, where they have legislated a guaranteed 10 days paid domestic violence leave. We can't let the Kiwis beat us in this as well—it's bad enough that they win the rugby all the time. Queensland and Western Australia provide 10 days paid domestic violence leave to public sector employees. South Australia actually provides 15 paid days of leave, while Victoria and the ACT offer 20. Even the New South Wales Liberal government announced last week that they would provide 10 days paid leave for public servants.

Surely Australia wants to be seen as a leader, not a trailing, plodding follower, but this deficient and belated policy is showing us to be just that. But it is hardly surprising, when we remember this government's appalling record of opposing domestic and family violence leave. Senator Cormann outright rejected the notion of domestic violence leave, saying:

We just believe it's another cost on our economy that will have an impact on our international competitiveness.

Senator Cash, speaking as the then Minister for Women, outrageously suggested that family and domestic violence leave would make women less attractive to employers, saying it would act as 'a perverse disincentive'. If you google 'out-of-touch inherited privilege', you'll come up with a photo of Senator Cash, surely. How could someone say such a thing? What an astonishing thing to say, especially when you are the person responsible for representing the interests of women in our federal parliament. How bizarre that you would ever think an employer might consider not employing a person because there is a possibility that they might be abused by their partner and require leave to keep themselves safe.

This chaotic cluster of Liberals—I'm not going to use the term 'party'—just don't get it. In 2016 the Abbott-Turnbull government actually prevented 30 Public Service departments from providing for paid family violence leave in their enterprise agreements. The CPSU argued the Commonwealth should lead the way in providing paid family and domestic violence leave for its employees, but the coalition showed their true colours—that they are not truly committed to helping victims of family and domestic violence, even those employed by their own departments.

For victims of family and domestic violence, their workplace can be a source of much-needed support, but it can also be a place where the perpetrator of the violence can readily target them. The University of New South Wales has reported that 19 per cent of Australian employees experiencing domestic violence actually reported harassment at their place of work. Just imagine the awful dilemma of a woman who has finally taken the very serious and dangerous step of leaving a violent relationship, knowing that the next working day the perpetrator of that violence will know where they are—and not only that, but they will know when they will be leaving that place of work. That is putting a vulnerable victim into an even more vulnerable and dangerous position.

If victims of domestic violence don't have access to paid family and domestic violence leave, they won't have the option of not going to work to avoid their perpetrator and they won't have the ability to take immediate action to have a protection order put in place to stop the perpetrator from coming to their place of work to harass or threaten or even worse. What a difference it would make to the victim's ability to safely leave that relationship if they knew that the next day they would not be in a place where their perpetrator would be able to find them, and that they would be able to take immediate action to put in place a protection order so that the perpetrator would not be able to go to their place of work or to the place where they reside. These are important but simple things to put in place, but, to a woman leaving a violent relationship, this can be the difference between life and death. It is that serious. Without the ability to access paid family and domestic violence leave, victims will need to choose between their own and their children's safety or their continuing financial security. This is not fair. It is not fair and it is appalling that this government, which says it actually cares about family and domestic violence, is choosing to put victims in the invidious position of choosing between their family's safety and continuing to be able to put food on the table.

The workplace is just one element, but an important one, in the family violence policy area. The Productivity Commission has reported that, sadly, victims of family and domestic violence have a more disrupted work history and are consequently on lower personal income, have had to change jobs more often, and are employed at higher levels in the casual and part-time workforce. Family and domestic violence has far-reaching adverse implications for victims, including disrupting their working life and lowering their ability to earn a permanent and well-remunerated wage. It is for that reason that it is important to legislate for an appropriate amount of paid domestic and family violence leave to be available to all employees and not just hope that it will be negotiated into workplace agreements. The women who need this leave the most will not be in a position to bargain effectively.

There is a wider economic cost to family and domestic violence. The cost to production in the business sector was estimated by KPMG in 2016 as being around $1.9 billion for the 2015-16 year. The National Retailers Association estimates that almost 45,000 women working in that sector experience some form of family or domestic violence, with costs to the industry of approximately $62.5 million per annum in lost productivity, absenteeism and staff turnover. The National Retailers Association estimate the direct cost to employers for each instance of violence is about $1,404. Not having paid domestic and family violence leave in place is costing businesses now.

We know victims of domestic and family violence already have a tough working experience. Labor have listened. We've listened to the experts and the people on the front line, the ones who every day are helping victims and their families escape from the horrors of family and domestic violence. The Women's Legal Service Queensland is in Annerley, which is in my electorate. For over 30 years they have been helping women and their children, all over Queensland ,who are suffering from family and domestic violence. Women's Legal Service and similar organisations like them know that action is needed now and governments need to lead the fight against family and domestic violence.

Labor are committed to helping women leave violent and abusive relationships as quickly and as safely as possible. We have made this an immediate and urgent priority. Labor, if elected, will invest $18 million in funding for the Keeping Women Safe In Their Home program. We'll invest in advocacy and will make sure the victims of family and domestic violence are listened to. Labor will back laws prohibiting direct cross-examination by alleged perpetrators by boosting legal aid funding to meet the increased demand on legal aid. Labor is committed to legislating for 10 days paid domestic violence leave in the National Employment Standards. Family and domestic violence is not a fringe issue. It's not a women's issue. It's an issue for the whole of Australia; it's everybody's business. If we are ever going to truly combat family and domestic violence, we need everyone—governments, businesses, communities and families—to take it seriously and to see it as the crisis that it is, and we need to all work together. We can do it, but it will take strong leadership—leadership that, sadly, we're not seeing from this chaotic cluster called the Morrison government.

Labor is prepared to lead on this issue. In a recent speech to the Our Watch reception in Canberra, the Leader of the Opposition set out the commitments of a Shorten Labor government if elected. We will develop and deliver a national 10-year plan to prevent violence against women and children. We'll establish a national advisory group—survivors, advocates, experts, counsellors, community lawyers and people on the front line who know what is needed and where. We'll continue to prioritise dollars and resources for prevention efforts and front-line services. We know how important it is to keep those services funded—money sure does make a difference.

While not all victims of family and domestic violence are women, we know that Australian women are nearly three times more likely than men to experience violence from an intimate partner. A Shorten Labor government will listen to women. These aren't just words. We already know that half of the MPs in the Shorten government will be women. Labor supports this bill, but points out that it is sadly deficient. It does not go far enough to protect vulnerable victims of family and domestic violence. It is the policy of a government that does not listen carefully to women, that does not understand women and that, sadly, has a very obvious and public problem with supporting and keeping women engaged within the Liberal Party.

This leave should be paid and it should be for 10 days. I repeat: this leave should be paid and it should be for 10 days. Family and domestic violence is a national crisis. It's everybody's business to prevent the scourge of family and domestic violence. It's everybody's business to make sure victims—and their families—can safely leave a violent relationship. It is the government's job to make sure that all workplaces fully support victims of domestic and family violence. So I call on the Morrison government to join with the Labor Party and commit to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. Do it right the first time.

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