Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'll begin by commending the member for Holt for moving this motion. It's a very important and timely motion to discuss in this place. I also acknowledge the work that the member for Newcastle has undertaken over a long period of time on this issue and many related issues.

At this, the beginning of my speech, I acknowledge points made by both of the previous speakers, the member for Holt and the member for Durack, that men have a pivotal role to play in moving this issue forward. As a man who has seen this debate played out in the main chamber and in this chamber, on this motion and others, it has led to a degree of introspection and thought about attitudes in my life and amongst my friends and how they've evolved over the years, so I think that is a useful starting point.

The other point I would make, which I think other speakers have made, is there are shocking numbers in this debate. People often talk about one in four women having experienced intimate violence since the age of 15, and then there's the increasing number of women who have been killed by their partners. But, of course, as the member for Holt pointed out, behind every one of those statistics is a woman, is a person with dreams and aspirations, is a family and is a tragedy that touches on so many lives and has ripples throughout society, so it's really critical to look beyond that.

And, finally, I wanted to make the point that in many areas of social policy there are short-run and long-run considerations, but I think there are few, if any, where they are as stark as in this case. The short-run needs are so jarring and desperate, often, where somebody—a woman in almost all cases—is seeking to escape, has an urgent and desperate need for financial and other support. The long-run issues in relation to intimate partner violence, and family violence more generally, relate to some of the most entrenched attitudes and social norms in society, so they are incredibly difficult to budge.

We're talking, in a lot of ways, about a set of social policies that has to grapple with the urgent and the immediate and, at the same time, are measures put in place that are preventative, that change attitudes in a very complex and slow-moving way. I think that's reflected in the fact that this government is trying to undertake holistic reform. The government has invested in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, which is a plan over a 10-year horizon involving $3.4 billion. Within that plan there are both short-run and long-run components. As the member for Holt pointed out, the short-run component includes a significant step up—almost a billion dollars in assistance—for women for a safety net for those fleeing intimate partner violence. Those payments can provide support in terms of safety planning, risk assessments and referrals to support pathways. Of course, there are other mechanisms the government is putting in place such as critical housing supports in the HAFF, and there are mechanisms like the prohibition and strong penalties against deepfake pornography.

Those are really critical short-term measures in which this government has invested significantly, but I want to say it's also critical that, in parallel with that, we invest in programs that move attitudes. Stop it at the Start is a really important preventative program that moves to change the attitudes of younger men—teenagers, in particular. I can say that this dovetails with and supports a number of other important programs in Victoria. We have Respectful Relationships. We need to make sure that we are undertaking a range of approaches on this.

I might just add, finally, on this point. I'm very conscious, as a representative of a very multicultural electorate that that adds another layer of complexity and nuance to this issue. It adds challenges, frankly, that there is a wide-ranging set of ways in which different committees approach these issues. We need to make sure that we are putting sensible and sensitive material in front of teenage boys, but we need to make sure that it's complex enough and nuanced enough to deal with all of those kinds of differences.

This government is trying to look at this issue from a short-run and a long-run perspective, and I commend again the member for Holt for raising this very important issue.

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