Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I echo the sentiments of the member for Jagajaga. This was a difficult and confronting inquiry, but I did feel it was a great privilege to be able to participate in it. I'm very hopeful that it makes a start and is a step forward.

As laid out in stark language at the foreword of this report, the facts tell us that, in the time since this inquiry was referred, more than 40 women will have been murdered at the hands of a current or former partner. Sadly, we now know the name Kelly Wilkinson—a name quickly etched into our memory as that of Hannah Clarke. Just like Hannah, Kelly was horrifically murdered by her former partner and father of her children. Just like Hannah, Kelly had tried to seek help in order to stay safe. These horrific details that have emerged since Kelly's life was taken by her abuser point to some of the very issues that the report and its recommendations are working to address—that someone can be going to the police every day and still not be safe. Like Kelly, like Hannah and like so many women, this culminates in the most horrendous of outcomes.

Every day in Australia, countless women and children experience non-lethal family violence and abuse, the impact of which, as we heard time and time again throughout the inquiry, is profound and long lasting on victims-survivors and their families and friends and on the very fabric of our society. As the chair said yesterday, around 90 hours of evidence were submitted as part of this inquiry, and we must not let the stories we heard be in vain. With 88 recommendations—and it is my hope that all of them will be implemented—there is an opportunity to finally move the dial on this insidious issue that seeps through every corner of our society, sometimes so quietly that we do not hear the sounds of coercive control and sometimes so loudly that we're shaken awake when we read the story of yet another woman murdered by a current or former partner and ask ourselves, yet again, 'How could this happen?'

Though I can't highlight each recommendation today, there are a range of measures which, beyond responding to the current crisis, also focus on addressing the challenge of the principal drivers of family, domestic and sexual violence—that is, gender inequality; stereotypical attitudes towards gender roles, characteristics and behaviour; and disrespect of girls and women. All abuse starts with disrespect, and until we begin to truly address this challenge we won't see the societal shift that we desperately need.

I'd like to acknowledge the work of some Tasmanian organisations who provided evidence to the committee. Laurel House, based in the northern Tasmanian region, provide sexual assault support services, including counselling and crisis support to local women, children and men affected by sexual assault in our community. They also provide much-needed education services, including a new consent program, which is now being offered to schools in the northern Tasmanian region. I'd like to thank the team at Laurel House, and particularly acting chief executive Frances Pratt, for the important services they provide to the local community and for the submission that they made to this inquiry.

In the two years since I was elected, I've also been working closely with Yvette Cehtel, CEO of Women's Legal Service Tasmania, and we've had many, many discussions on what the reality of family and domestic violence in our state looks like, how the federal government can play a role in supporting women and their families facing these situations and how we as a government can also drive meaningful change. I greatly appreciate their submission to the inquiry, particularly around the issue of coercive control. Thanks also to Engender Equality, a leading voice against family violence in Tasmania, for their submission and for the endless and tireless work they undertake every day, day after day, to end family, domestic and intimate partner violence. With this report and the budget investment of $1.1 billion, I am hopeful that we will begin to see movement in the area of women's safety.

It is pleasing to see that much of the funding will go to addressing particular challenges that have been raised in this report. One such challenge raised at the committee was the high cost of legal support and the barrier that this creates for many victim-survivors in the justice system. The $120 million funding injection into specialised women's legal services will support thousands of women and children to safely escape violent relationships. This funding has been welcomed by service providers, including Women's Legal Services Australia. Additionally, there's significant funding to provide financial assistance to women escaping a violent relationship. We'll also provide relief to women in this incredibly distressing situation.

There are positive steps being taken to look at responding to the current crisis, but we must continue to move towards long-term structural reform that will create meaningful change. This is a start, it is a step forward, but it can't stop here. It must continue.

Debate adjourned.

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