Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) currently in Australia, one woman every 4 days is murdered by her current or former partner and 2.3 million Australian women have experienced violence from an intimate partner;

(b) as of 16 May 2024, at least 28 women have been allegedly murdered by their male partner in Australia;

(c) the rate of women killed by an intimate partner in Australia increased by nearly 30% in 2022-23, compared to the previous year despite the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 being in effect; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) an immediate boost of $1 billion in annual funding for frontline services for domestic, family and sexual violence, including crisis services, refuges and emergency housing;

(b) immediately increase funding to Legal Aid by $484 million to allow more women to access the legal help they require and Women's Legal Services Australia by $25 million to allow more women to access the legal help they require;

(c) undertake an immediate national review of sentencing laws, with a special focus on strengthening state and territory level responses with use of AVOs, electronic monitoring of domestic violence and sexual assault offenders, and removal of character references during sentencing in domestic violence cases;

(d) establish a national database to record all those convicted of family, domestic and sexual violence offences;

(e) establish a national mechanism to track family, domestic and sexual violence deaths across all states and territories to identify red flags and risk factors.

(f) fund community education and prevention work consistently including respectful relationships education to bring about culture change.

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