Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2018. This bill is an absolute minimum that should be legislated. But, in reality, as other speakers on this side have said before me, we know that it doesn't go far enough. We know that it doesn't deliver the things that are required for someone escaping domestic violence. It should provide for paid family and domestic violence leave, and I say so because we know that when you're in a domestic violence situation, in a household where you are threatened and where your safety's at risk, there is an urgency about that matter. It's not something that you can plan and do and think out thoroughly before you take any action. Action is required immediately, and, in many cases, that action is escaping that house or that residence as quickly as possible for the safety of you, your children and other family members.

Therefore, to do something along those lines—to get up and leave—you require some form of payment. So, if you're not getting paid for this leave, it affects you economically, which then affects the things that you have to put in place immediately, such as finding a new residence. If you're lucky, you might be able to find something in a few days. Second best would be to go and stay with friends, relatives et cetera or in a safe home that is provided somewhere. But the actions that that person takes are urgent. You need to put your family, your kids, in a safe place. You need to provide food for them. You need to provide perhaps a bond for rent. You need to do a whole range of things. Not having any pay for that period puts an extra burden on that person. It could prevent them from leaving a very dangerous place, in turn meaning that their lives are at risk—their wellbeing is at risk.

Therefore, even though we support this bill, we do so because it's an absolute minimum that anyone can do. But in reality, as I said, it just doesn't go far enough. It should provide for paid family and domestic violence leave.

Extensive Australian research and international research tell us that family and domestic violence can happen to anyone. It occurs in all ages, postcodes and socioeconomic groups. It doesn't matter what religion you are, what race you are, what colour you are or what your socioeconomic standing is. We've seen through surveys and through research that has been done that it happens at all levels. It could happen to anyone, basically. It impacts individuals and families. It impacts the entire community. It impacts the economy as well. It has a ripple effect.

While both men and women may be living in a violent situation or relationship, domestic violence is nearly always perpetrated by the male, and the victim is almost always a woman—not in all occurrences, but in the majority. Almost one million women—up to 70 per cent of women—living in a violent relationship are in the workforce. That's a million women who are in the workforce and may at some stage require to have things such as domestic violence leave put in place for their own safety. These women are more likely to have lower incomes and a disrupted work history. They often have to change jobs at short notice because they're moving around. Perhaps you have to leave the suburb you live in or the city, the town or the area that you live in. It means that it's very difficult for them. As I said, these women are more likely to have lower incomes and a disrupted work history. They often have to change jobs at short notice and are very often in casual or part-time work.

Sixty per cent of these women have children, whose lives are seriously impacted by living with violence. A violent household has massive effects on children. We know this through research and many other things. Domestic and family violence clearly impacts the workforce. It's a workforce health and safety issue as well, because, if that person is not well at work, it affects safety and it affects your outputs, but it also affects the whole workplace.

Prior to coming here, when I had my three years out of this place, I did some work for a great union, the Australian Services Union. A particular case that has stayed in my mind was a woman who had been pulled up by management and had been given a warning about her work. She had left home because of a domestic violence situation, and her partner was calling up to 10 times a day. Someone complained, 'We're taking all these particular calls.' She was called in to management, and she was told to stop talking on the phone or to tell this person to stop calling; 'otherwise, your job is at risk'. That is a situation which I encountered, and this wasn't a very small business; this was one of the major banks. I won't name them and shame them, but it was one of the major banks that had put this woman through this.

She contacted her union at the time, and I happened to be the person who was looking into it. We sat down and negotiated. The warning was taken off, but obviously this particular manager had no idea of the workplace arrangements that had been put in place in a big bank like this particular bank, and he wasn't following the protocol of that business. But there's a little situation where the person who had left the domestically violent household was being harassed at work by the partner and, because he was making so many phone calls and turning up to work, she was the one who was given a warning and told that her work wasn't up to scratch. So that is a situation that can happen. We need good education out there to let people know that domestic violence affects everyone that you're involved with: your children, your family, the community and certainly the workplace itself.

A person with a job is far more likely to leave a relationship, because they, obviously, have some form of income, but if you cut that income when you take your leave for domestic violence that doesn't assist the situation. That's why it's critical that paid domestic and family violence leave is available as a universal right to all Australian workers. It is very important and is a fundamental right, because this is happening through no fault of your own.

I don't think anyone should be forced to choose between their income and their safety, or the safety of their family. As I said, a lot of people will not take action if they know that they will be not receiving any income because you need time to put a whole range of things into place. This bill merely provides five days of no income. There is nothing to help pay the bills that are associated with it, including bonds for new premises if they're renting or money to move furniture out of the house—the things that are required. There is nothing to help them move to a safer home, a safer environment, and nothing to keep the lights on to pay the power companies et cetera. There is nothing to keep a household going.

We know that working women need time and financial independence to make themselves, and sometimes their children, safe. As I said, no worker should have to choose between keeping their job and keeping their family safe, so we need at least 10 days paid leave. Research and other studies that have been done show that 10 days is pretty well an absolute minimum. You need those 10 days to provide pay as well, which gives the person a better opportunity—knowing that they are still getting paid—to be able to take action to leave that violent situation and that very dangerous place.

The New Zealand government has already guaranteed 10 days paid leave, proving that it's possible at the national level. This government needs to do more to assist women, who are being killed every week. We see the statistic of one woman being killed every single week by an abusive partner. We've heard some horror stories over the last few years. Some dreadful things have happened. These have all been women who were subjected to domestic violence. If some of those women were working and had paid leave, who knows? Their situation could have been very, very different. We don't want to see any more women killed because of domestic violence.

As I said, we are supporting this bill, and it is a very small step in the right direction. I would like to back all the surveys and research that has been done, and all those experts who say that you need paid leave. You need paid leave to leave. And you need 10 days pay as a minimum, which is the recommended period.

I'm proud that the union that I worked for, the Australian Services Union—and I am a member and have been a member for nearly 30 years—has members working in the frontline DV services as well. We had members who were working in the domestic violence services. I've spoken to some of them over the years. Just recently they told me how long it can take to recover from having been in an abusive relationship. It doesn't happen overnight. It hasn't happen over a week. It takes time to meet with police, to meet with lawyers and to meet with real estate agents. You might need to see a doctor, to see counsellors for yourself or for your children, to talk to schoolteachers or to the principals of your school to let them know what the situation is for those kids' families. Childcare centres and many, many other services are needed to escape violence. Most of these services are available only during business hours, while that person is working, so you need that time off to be able to access these services, to talk to people and to get everything into balance.

To escape a violent relationship you need to have time off work to attend these appointments, but you also desperately need the money. That is the part that isn't covered in this bill. You need the money you earn in your job to pay for everything that is required: solicitors; removalists; rental bonds; the first month's rent, up-front in most cases; gas and electricity connections; a phone line; counselling; doctors' appointments; new furniture; appliances; and sometimes a new school. And the list goes on and on. There are travel expenses to get to all these appointments as well if you're not driving, and, if you are driving, there is petrol and parking. All these things add up. If there is no money to pay for all these things, that person may think they cannot leave that situation they're in—and we're putting them at risk. We don't want any of those people to be one of those statistics that I just read out earlier—one woman per week on average.

The ASU, and this side of the chamber, has been campaigning for decades for paid domestic and family violence leave—one workplace and one enterprise agreement at a time. I was part of that, and it was interesting to see that a lot of the workplaces were taking it up. I agree with the ASU—which has done the research and many other things—that this entitlement shouldn't just be accessible to workers lucky enough to be employed in a well unionised workplace, with enterprise agreements, where they know that they have the support of their workplace, of the agreement that is in place and of their union; it should be a universal entitlement for all workers.

I take my hat off to the people who are constantly advocating in this important space—in particular, the South Australian state secretary of the Australian Services Union, Abbie Spencer, who has been championing this in South Australia. Some of our councils in South Australia have taken this on board, and many of them have signed up to be a White Ribbon workplace as well. There is a whole set of criteria they have to go through. Many of our workplaces in South Australia have signed up so that they can show that they are doing something for domestic violence.

As I said from the start, we are supporting this bill. It is a minimum step that we can take. But if you really want to make it work, if you really want to assist women who are in the situation that they have to flee to protect their safety and the safety of their children, we need 10 days paid leave so they can afford to pay for the things that are required. Certainly, if they're not getting paid when they are working, we don't want them to stay in a very dangerous situation.

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