Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Warringah for bringing this motion on gendered violence and acknowledge her longstanding work and advocacy in this area. There are tragic, avoidable headlines every week that confirm that gendered violence is a national crisis. The blunt statistics tell a horrific story that is worth repeating so that our nation can grasp the enormity of the problem. These are non-emotional, empirical facts: 2.3 million Australian women have experienced violence from an intimate partner. They could be your mother, your sister, your daughter, your cousin, your friend, your neighbour or even your work colleague. Yes, we all definitely know a victim-survivor of coercive control, of emotional abuse, of financial abuse, of physical violence or of sexual violence. This touches all of us.

As of mid-May, at least 21 women have been murdered by a current or former partner. That is one women dead every four days, 21 women whose lives were ended by someone they should have been able to trust, 21 families who are left to pick up the pieces of their lives and move forward with grief and loss. And at least another 11 women have allegedly been killed this year in violent acts by men. None of us will forget the scenes from Bondi Junction in April and the horrible realisation that the deranged perpetrator was targeting women. And while the headlines tend to focus on the number of deaths due to intimate-partner violence, let's not forget that in 2021-22 an average of 15 women per day were hospitalised because of gender violence. Deputy Speaker, do you know how much damage is necessary to keep somebody in a hospital bed?

Gendered violence is obviously a scourge on our nation. We have a lot of work to do. We know that gendered violence is not a problem that the Albanese government can solve on its own. It comes down to all of us. So, today I'm going to talk to all of us. We all need to pay closer attention to our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our cousins, our friends and our colleagues for the signs that it might be happening—happening to women, happening to young teenagers, the people we know and love. It's not always obvious by any means, but there are some indications that if a woman has been assaulted once by an intimate partner she is likely to be assaulted again.

The Canadians have come up with a domestic assault risk assessment. It's a questionnaire administered by professionals and used to determine the likelihood that a perpetrator will offend again. Some of the questions rely on police evidence, such as prior criminal convictions for domestic assaults or a prior non-domestic assault conviction. However, many of the indicators are things we would know about the women in our lives—some details revealed in their cry for help, perhaps, be that cry explicit or subconscious. The indicators for us to consider include: Does she have more than one child or does she have a child from a previous partner? Did he assault her when she was pregnant? Has he been violent before? Does he have two or more indicators of substance abuse? Is she worried about future assaults or has her partner threatened to kill her? Is it hard for her to access victim support services? This is part of the chilling checklist used, and the more questions that are answered with 'yes', the more likely he is to do it again and perhaps to escalate.

There are numerous other behavioural indicators that can point to a woman you know experiencing domestic violence. And before people contact my office with 'not all men'-erisms, I assure you that this is by no means an exhaustive list. It's important to be aware that, if she seems afraid of her partner or is anxious to please him, if she doesn't see much of her friends or family or when she is away from him she is continually contacted by him, if her partner puts her down publicly, if he controls her access to money, if she seems frightened or—the obvious one—if she has mysterious bruises, it's not often that the situation goes away. In many cases, the woman does not know where to turn to for help or is too afraid to. We need to be brave in supporting women, which means having those confronting conversations. These are not easy subjects to broach. But respectful and supportive conversations, starting with a question like, 'Is everything okay? I have noticed—' inserting what you've noticed, could be the start of a journey away from control and violence to safety.

Taking a step away from the personal level, we need to focus on government and systems to support both victims-survivors of gendered violence and the urgent action that the nation needs to do on prevention. That's why the recent Labor budget included substantial funding to provide direct support to women and children fleeing violence. Labor has made the Leaving Violence Program permanent, ensuring financial support and support services for up to 12 weeks. The budget included a range of other measures too. We're investing $1 billion in social housing for young people, women and children fleeing violence. We're rolling out an education program on consent and respectful relationships, trying to change that culture. We've convened a rapid review of how best to prevent violence against women. This will be driven by Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Micaela Cronin, and will seek the feedback of experts in the field.

Labor remains focused on our goal to end violence against women and children in one generation. In October 2022, in partnership with state and territory governments, we released the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. A key focus is on addressing the underlying factors that drive violence against women and children. The goals are to prevent violence before it occurs, to intervene early and to prevent escalation.

I would encourage everyone to read Jess Hill and Michael Salter's work Rethinking primary prevention. In this piece, they set out four priorities. The first of these is accountability and consequences for perpetrators. This could include proactive work to locate high-risk and known offenders and ensure DV orders are being implemented. It could also include banks suspending the accounts of men who are financially abusing their intimate partners. Secondly, they outline the effects of intergenerational trauma, child neglect and child abuse, both for potential perpetrators and for potential victims. To quote from their article:

Child abuse and neglect—including growing up with coercive control, being physically or sexually abused, being shamed and/or neglected by parents—are accelerants to adult victimisation and perpetration. Traumatised and abused girls who are not supported to recover and heal are more likely to be targeted by violent and controlling perpetrators throughout their lives.

Their childhood trauma:

… often has the effect of normalising grooming and maltreatment and blinding them to 'red flags' and boundary violations.

And so the cycle repeats.

At the same time, traumatized boys are disproportionately at risk of becoming perpetrators of gender-based violence, and other forms of criminal behaviour—

trapped by their own history. It's obvious we need to work with both victims-survivors and perpetrators and those at risk to break these vicious cycles. Hill and Salter stress the vital importance of supporting women and children economically. Lastly, they highlight the external commercial factors that can lead to gendered violence. This is the role of alcohol, pornography and gambling. All exacerbate gendered violence. Gendered violence is a multifaceted problem.

As I've said, the work needs to be done at a personal as well as a government level. Labor has provided $2.3 billion of funding for programs that focus on consent, respectful relationships and sexual violence prevention. This includes $100 million over five years for the crucial work of Our Watch, the leading body for the primary prevention of violence against women and children in Australia. Organisations in the states and territories which support women experiencing violence have benefited from an additional $159 million to deliver their vital frontline services—funding that was due to cease next month. We're addressing the workplace shortages and steadily growing the number of vital frontline workers. Another initiative with an immediate positive impact for women dealing with violence is the ability to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave from their workplaces, whether they're permanent or casual.

Labor is also undertaking ongoing systemic work. We're strengthening the way the criminal justice system responds to sexual assault. The Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry is currently underway on this topic. We're committed to strengthening and harmonising sexual assault and consent laws and improving both the experience and outcomes for victim-survivors in the justice system. I'd like to thank the lived-experience expert advisory group on the inquiry for their bravery and advocacy. Lord knows we've seen too many horror stories with links to this workplace play out in the media lately. We must do better by our brave victim-survivors.

Gendered violence affects women of every age, cultural background, level of education and job, in every community across our country. Ninety-one per cent of Australians recognise that gendered violence is a problem—that's good—but only 47 per cent think it's a problem in their community. It's happening everywhere, and we all need to address it. We all have the responsibility to resolve it.

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