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

After the Prime Minister set high expectations for women's safety, I have to say that this year's budget is a disappointment for victims of family and domestic violence. There have been at least 26 women allegedly killed as a result of domestic and family violence this year and many others killed at the hands of violent male perpetrators. We know that at least 39 children have lost a mother. These are sobering and shocking statistics as we only enter June, and the government's big budget announcement was to continue a support payment the coalition established in 2021.

Frankly, this is just not good enough. It's not good enough given that the Albanese Labor government promised to end domestic violence in a generation. A generation is 20 years. Two years in, we are not on track to meet this promise, and data shows that we're going in the wrong direction. This is not a personal political attack on the government. This is a benchmark the government set itself and a benchmark it is not meeting. Here we are, two years into this term, and the violence is getting worse. We must hold this government to account for the safety of women and children across Australia. No-one forced them to promise the women of Australia that they would end domestic violence, but it is a promise they made. It's a promise they were only too willing to highlight in the media. So I'm calling on them to do more to deliver what they promised.

Just as we endorsed some sensible measures in Labor's first two budgets, we do the same in its third budget. We support the extension of emergency payments to support women and children fleeing domestic violence—a policy the coalition established in 2021 as the escaping violence payment. The coalition has also given its immediate and full support to funding for crisis and transitional accommodation. We support the rapid review into best-practice domestic violence prevention approaches that was reannounced last week. The coalition supports a prevention approach to family and domestic violence and for that to be the focus of this review. But I once again call on the government to demonstrate proper accountability and confirm the date when this review will be reporting. How can they call it a rapid review and not even provide a reporting date?

We're also calling on the government to be upfront about funding frontline services. Dozens of women have been violently killed in Australia since the start of the year, and women's organisations have widely criticised the government for failing to properly fund frontline services in their budget. Overnight it was revealed that not two, not 44 but now only 67 of the 500 frontline and community workers promised back in October 2022 are on the ground providing vital support. The minister revised her promise to say that 352 would be on the ground this financial year, but even this is not on track. It's well off track. In the Prime Minister's own state of New South Wales, only six workers are on the ground—six of 148. They should be tracking for 118 workers next financial year, but we aren't even into double digits. These are not just figures. These are workers that should be out there supporting women and children experiencing family and domestic violence, supporting the LGBTIQA+ community, supporting women with disability, supporting culturally and linguistically diverse women and children and supporting First Nations people.

Budgets are about choices. Domestic violence is raging. It's a national crisis. It demands greater action. Australians were promised that women's safety would be a priority, and I'm not sure that we're seeing that backed up today. The government's answer, when asked about more funding, is, 'We have done what we have done,' but that excuse is hard for women to stomach when we see waste in political spending hand over fist. Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers have allocated $45 million for an advertising campaign to promote a Future Made in Australia, and $300 million of energy relief payments will go to owners of unoccupied homes. Minister Bill Shorten is paying over $600,000 for his own personal speechwriter while domestic violence payment processing times, administered by his own Services Australia, have blown out from two days to as high as 11 days under this government. So I ask: is women's safety really a priority of this government?

The budget was criticised for not properly funding frontline services. It has all the wrong priorities. This is unconscionable when frontline domestic violence services are crying out for support. The Prime Minister said he would prioritise women's safety, and frontline services are turning away women because they didn't get any money from this budget. I am incensed that women in need continue to miss out because Anthony Albanese's priorities are all wrong.

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