Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Gender based violence is unacceptable. Violence against women is unacceptable. These things really should not be controversial at all. If there's anything that all of us in this House can agree on, surely this is it, and yet the current numbers are staggering. One in four women has experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. One in four women has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner since the age of 15. One in five women has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 and one in six women, and one in nine men, has experienced physical or sexual abuse before the age of 15. And one in six women has experienced economic abuse by a cohabiting partner.

However, the most egregious number I have is 31. Thirty-one women have been killed by gender based violence this year alone, and we're only two-thirds through the year. Last year the number was 56. The killing needs to stop. The violence needs to stop. The amount of suffering being experienced by women across our country is truly heartbreaking, and the lack of change is demoralising.

The Albanese government has not shied away from the dire reality of the situation, and we have taken on the responsibility of supporting women struggling with domestic and intimate partner violence. We're taking this seriously because we understand that, without support and resources, women will continue to be abused and killed. We are taking steps to address this issue and implement the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. Domestic and family violence is the main reason women and children leave their homes in Australia and is the leading cause of homelessness in children. We will invest $100 million under the Housing Australia Future Fund to address this. We are implementing all recommendations from the Respect@Work report because Commonwealth Parliamentary workplaces should be a positive example and set the standard for all Australian workplaces. We've legislated a positive duty on employers to ensure their workplaces are safe for all employees and free of harassment.

We are investing in consent and respectful relationships education in schools to ensure that we are challenging gender based biases before they become deeply ingrained. This means our children will be taught how to respect and support future partners. It aims to bring about a cultural change required to curb the number of perpetrators of intimate partner violence in the future but also to empower those who experience violence, either now or in the future, to recognise that it is wrong and that they do have options and rights and to take action. We're improving the support offered by 1800RESPECT and have already expanded it to be able to assist people experiencing workplace sexual harassment. We are funding direct assistance in the form of $39.6 million for additional support through the Escaping Violence Payment program, $25 million over five years for innovative sponsors to address the behaviour of perpetrators and $12.6 million over two years to extend the program assisting temporary visa holders who experience family, domestic and sexual violence. These are just some of the measures the Albanese government is working on so that we can achieve our goal of ending gender-based violence within one generation. It's an ambitious goal, and we have a lot of catching up to do, but, if we all work together, we can achieve it.

Within this long list of actions we are taking is our commitment to instituting 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. This policy has been in place for large and medium businesses since the beginning of February this year, and now we're bringing this into effect for small business as well. From 1 August, all Australian workers have access to paid domestic violence leave. We are changing our nation's narrative around this issue and providing support to those who desperately need it. Victim-survivors leaving or thinking about leaving violent relationships need to be able to attend lawyers, counsellors, financial counsellors and banks and make the arrangements for a safe escape. One of the most dangerous times for a victim of domestic violence is when they make the decision to leave. Up to 75 per cent of abused women who are murdered are killed after they leave. It is an exceptionally dangerous but courageous thing to do.

Importantly, family and domestic violence leave is available for people working casually because we know that family and domestic violence can impact anyone and women, who are often the victim-survivors, are overrepresented in the casual workforce. They also need to know that they will have an income after they have left, because poverty and not knowing how they will survive and where they will go is one of the major reasons that women don't leave and one of the major reasons that they go back to a violent household and a violent partner after they have left.

Paid family and domestic violence leave is one step in ensuring that a woman does not need to choose between her job and her safety. Small business have had an extra six months to adjust to the changes in leave entitlements in recognition of the fact that many do not have the same human resource capacity as large businesses. To ensure that smaller business do have resources required to make the arrangements to administer the leave effectively, the Albanese government has provided a range of supports and guidance from the Fair Work Ombudsman.

To further support small businesses the Australian government and Lifeline Australia have released a fantastic podcast called Small Business, Big Impact on how to support employees experiencing family and domestic violence. The podcast is a helpful tool that small businesses can utilise to prepare for conversations about paid family and domestic violence leave, including how they can best support their employees. In each podcast episode, the host, Gretel Killeen, speaks with an expert guest to discuss the signs of domestic violence and how employers can talk to their employees about it. I would encourage small businesses in my electorate to make use of this.

The government have also commissioned the website smallbusiness.10dayspaidfdvleave.com.au specifically to assist small businesses with this transition and provide information. Existing government funded services, like 1800RESPECT and DV-alert, will continue to support business and their employees while dealing with family and domestic violence. These supports are a vital part of our plan to implement this change to leave entitlements. We want to work together with small businesses so that they are empowered to play an important role in eradicating DV.

I often speak in this place about my time as CEO of Catherine House, but many years earlier I also ran women's health and safety services for SA Health. This role included a number of women's health services which also provided domestic violence services and a perpetrator rehabilitation unit. I saw the impact that psychological abuse had on women—strong, confident and capable women—who, after years of manipulation, found themselves paralysed, fearful and unable to think of a way to save themselves. I saw the impact that financial abuse had on women who, although sometimes working themselves, had no financial resources to buy themselves lunch, let alone fund a way to escape. They had no access to bank accounts and no access to credit cards. I saw the impact of social isolation on women whose own families thought they had abandoned them and whose friends had drifted away after they repeatedly missed catch-ups because they weren't able or allowed to leave the house. I saw firsthand the impact a strong support network, or lack thereof, had on a woman's ability to survive and escape a violent relationship. I saw how all of these factors, all of these abuses, come together to keep victims-survivors trapped. And I saw how it sometimes ended in tragedy—56 last year and 31 this year so far. This has to stop.

Every year the Pay Our Respects group organises a vigil on the steps of the South Australian Parliament House. Each woman of the group represents one woman killed in Australia in the past year. Their names and a little bit about their lives are read out. We do this because they're not just numbers. They are real people with names, with families and with friends. Each year we say that we hope we won't have to be here again next year. And each year we are back again, reciting the names of more women who have been killed.

Lives lost. Futures lost. Families and friends in mourning. Communities and neighbourhoods in shock. The violence has to stop. This government is committed to making it so.

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