Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Goldstein for moving this motion in recognition of the national emergency that is violence perpetrated against women in Australia. I'd like to thank the member for Newcastle for moving her motion earlier today, and I thank all the speakers on this very troubling topic. There have been several speakers before me this morning who have highlighted the devastating impacts of intimate partner violence and domestic violence on women and their families, including their children, on communities and on the nation more broadly. The statistics are devastating. Approximately one Australian woman is killed every nine days by a male intimate partner. One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence perpetrated by a man since the age of 15—one in three. Aboriginal women, as the member for Goldstein noted, are 11 times as likely to die from family violence as non-Aboriginal women. There are 49 women who have been killed by acts of violence as of 17 November this year, 2023. We know that violence affects women of every age, from every cultural background, from different jobs and from different levels of education or income, living in different areas and leading different lives. No woman is immune, and this shouldn't be the case.

Last week, on 25 November, we marked the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, beginning 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. You'll have noticed, Deputy Speaker, some of us are wearing orange today in recognition of that.

This global campaign calls on citizens to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls and calls on governments worldwide to share how they are investing in gender based violence prevention. In Northern Tasmania a walk to end violence against women and girls will take place daily from today to 10 December, with the Migrant Resource Centre in Northern Tasmania and Citizen Tasmania leading the walk on Wednesday. It will be leaving from Launceston Town Hall at 12.30 pm and making its way across the city. Community members can join at any point along the route, and it will return to the town hall at 1.15 pm. In the south of the state the Tasman Bridge will be lit up in orange for a week in recognition of the period of activism. The importance of community activism cannot be overstated, and I take the member for Goldstein's point: so much more needs to be done by governments—federal, state, territory—and internationally, but community activism has a big role to play here as well.

Evidence shows improving attitudes and understanding is a key method of prevention of sexual harm and violence. To improve attitudes and understanding, we need to improve awareness. The devastating statistics we are seeing of violence being perpetrated in homes across this country show how deep-seeded the cultural issues are. You only need to see the cesspit that is social media today to see the wanton misogyny that infects social media. The troubling values that lead to domestic and intimate partner violence are breeding new perpetrators, and I can't help but feel that social media is breeding new perpetrators in the way relationships with women are fomented.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to the goal of ending violence against women and children in one generation. It's a lofty goal but it's one we are committed to. We are taking immediate and practical steps to prevent violence against women. We legislated 10 paid days of family and domestic violence leave for all employees, including casuals. People shouldn't have to choose between their own safety and their children's safety without losing income or their job completely. Regular income is an important aspect of family stability, and these 10 days give women the time to act and make the life plans necessary to escape a dangerous situation; they can get to removalists, see a lawyer and do all the things that need to be done to escape domestic violence. Our Housing Australia Future Fund will help deliver the government's commitment to 30,000 new social and affordable homes in just five years, and that includes 4,000 homes for women and children impacted by domestic and family violence. We have boosted funding for consent education, with $3.5 million in direct funding to Teach Us Consent, as part of a broader package of measures targeting sexual violence and consent announced in the budget.

As violence against women continues to plague Australian communities, we must take important steps to address violent behaviour before it starts. I can't help but repeat that; that is the most important thing to me. We need to reach kids, particularly boys before they become men, and change their values early so they can respect women later in life.

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