Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Thursday morning this week I joined a rally of extraordinary women who have been at the forefront of the advocacy for women's safety in this nation. We gathered to commemorate women who were killed through acts of family and domestic violence, and to acknowledge those still trapped in violent homes. We also marked our new Labor government's introduction of legislation that will give around 11 million workers including casuals access to 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave. This legislation will mean that survivors of domestic violence will no longer be forced into the hideous situation where they choose between losing their jobs or escaping violence.

As Michele O'Neil, President of the ACTU, said at the rally 'this isn't something that began yesterday; this is a decade of struggle', a decade of campaigning, workplace from workplace and indeed in this building. As I walked back to place after that rally with my dear friend and colleague the member for Sydney, we reminisced about those very first meetings a decade ago we took with the ASU New South Wales secretary Natalie Lang and her extraordinarily courageous delegates who came to this House, along with researchers who were able to prosecute for the case for this paid domestic violence leave and the impact this policy shift would have. While advocates faced constant opposition from the former coalition government at that time, I am so heartened that the Anthony Albanese Labor government introduced this bill in the very first week of this new parliament to make this issue front and centre.

Report after report have revealed the devastating and endemic nature of domestic violence. It is not an unfortunate circumstance; it is a national shame. Just last month a report from the Paul Ramsay Foundation authored by Anne Summers revealed that 60 per cent of single mothers have experienced domestic violence. The same report also set out the immense financial challenges women face when leaving violent homes. This reflects what I hear in my electorate of Newcastle from our women's groups and from those victims and survivors, like the single mother who shared her experience of surviving and escaping domestic violence. Along with many others over my time, she wanted to share her story with me to highlight just how incredibly difficult it is to navigate your way through this process, and economic security was absolutely crucial for her in order to keep herself and her kids safe. She had used all of her personal and annual leave. She found it almost impossible to get to all of the appointments she needed to try and sort out housing, to get her kids into new schools. The perpetrator of the violence kept following her around, so she had to continuously be on the move. She had appointments with the police, she had to access support, all of this while trying desperately not to lose her job and the economic security that was going to enable her to actually set up a new safe environment for her and her kids. She isn't alone, and this is a story that I and my office hear time and time again. That is why it is crucial Labor has introduced this bill to cover all workers. Women should not be disadvantaged simply because they are casual workers. We know that women are far more likely to be in casual work than men, and this leave will give all workers the time, the support and the job security that they need to escape and to rebuild their lives after an abusive relationship.

The mood amongst the rally last Thursday differed vastly to when I was on those same lawns just last March with many of the same woman demanding justice and equality from the previous government. For starters, our new Prime Minister attended last week's rally. He addressed the vigil. He paid tribute to the women and the union movement behind this policy coming to reality. I thank him, as do all Australian women, for his leadership in this role. Getting out of a violent situation is always a hard thing to do but it is going to be less likely that you will be left jobless or without economic security due to the introduction of these laws into the Australian parliament.

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