Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Janice Walker; Alison Robinson; Nerol Doble; Alana Martin; Keira Marshall; Bonnie Lee Anderson; Donna Baraket; a 26-year-old Western Australian woman; Amarjit Kaur Sardar; Rebecca Young; Min 'Sue' Cho; Natasha Nibizi; Joanne Perry; a 60-year-old New South Wales woman; Chaithanya 'Swetha' Madhagani; a 66-year-old Western Australian woman; Hannah McGuire; Molly Ticehurst; Emma Bates; Erica Hay; Yolonda Mumbulla; and Joan Mary Drane—these are the names of women who have been killed at the hands of their partners this year already. It is a national tragedy.

As I move around the country meeting with community groups, support services and small-business owners, the domestic violence crisis is what women are raising with me, more than anything else, as one of Australia's biggest issues. The sector is experiencing double or even triple the need for client support. This is a good sign, as women are feeling supported to come forward and seek assistance. However, we need more support workers on the ground in our regions helping women detach safely from men who use family violence. Improving the safety of women and girls is above politics. Too many women have been killed as a result of violence in 2024. The numbers are going in the wrong direction, and immediate action is required.

Unfortunately, governments alone cannot fix this crisis. A lot is about culture and education. But, to the extent that governments can contribute to the solution, they must pull on every lever. It requires all levels of governments to continue to work together, because, from bail laws to federally funded support programs, the policy levers span across Commonwealth and state lines. The coalition has repeatedly committed to working with the government to combat the scourge of domestic violence in Australia. Every woman who has lost their life deserves this, and every single family member or friend who has lost a loved one needs to know that they're not alone.

But it's also vital that, when governments make commitments to the women of Australia, they deliver on them. The Albanese Labor government committed 500 frontline service and community workers to support people experiencing family and domestic violence. This was a commitment that was funded back in October 2022. To date, we're yet to see enough of these critical community workers on the ground, particularly in rural and regional communities. The sector is experiencing double or even triple the need for client support, and some areas are yet to see any extra workers on the ground. Senator Liddle, in the other place, uncovered that only two family and domestic violence workers had been employed by February 2024. Minister Rishworth responded in March, saying that actually 17 full-time-equivalent workers were in place. The latest figure is around the 40 mark. Senator Liddle has since discovered that some of these workers are not new. The money has gone to turning part-time contracts to full-time, and paperwork has gone out in some states only in the last week or two. Where policies are announced, the Prime Minister must also prioritise the delivery, so I am respectfully asking the Prime Minister to please urgently prioritise the 500 community workers that were promised and budgeted for in the October 2022 budget.

I support members bringing attention to this issue at every opportunity and I commend those involved in today's motion. There should be and there will be many more. If I reflect on my 20-odd years in this place, we have become very good at breaking the silence but not at breaking the cycle. As I and many women and men stood at rallies around the country recently, hearing the voices of the women who stepped forward on that day to recount the heartbreaking stories that have become all too familiar, one thing that really struck me was that, in every woman's case, their family and community knew exactly what needed to happen to keep that woman alive, and those actions were not taken. But in every case, families and communities could relay the chain of events, the series of occurrences, where the intervention should have happened.

I know we have all talked about our strong records. The coalition delivered $3.4 billion in 2022-23 and $2.1 billion, including $1.3 billion to drive women's safety, in the subsequent budget. But we all know that more always needs to be done.

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