Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Lindsay, I have a set of statistics I'm not proud of. The Nepean Police Area Command has stations in Penrith and St Marys in my electorate, and they have some of the highest rates of domestic and family violence in New South Wales. We need to do better as a community. This is a multipartisan effort. Every conversation and intervention will help break these terrible statistics that relate to real-life circumstances.

Penrith Women's Health Centre is an incredible local organisation that assists hundreds and hundreds of local families each year. But a few weeks ago their CEO wrote to me about a nonrenewal of funding by the Albanese Labor government. This meant that last Friday, the last business day of the financial year, a part-time caseworker was going to be let go from the centre. Further, we learnt last week that this could mean a reduction of casework been taken on by the centre by 30 per cent—30 per cent less casework for women escaping domestic violence. This is not good enough.

I wrote to the Minister for Social Services and the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, pushing them to put money back on the table for the Penrith Women's Health Centre. There are so many vulnerable women across the Western Sydney community that the centre supports. They operate across the Penrith, Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains areas and need to be adequately funded to do their vital work. The centre provides food support and programs to assist young women as well. The caseworkers are constantly helping those experiencing the pain of partner trauma, whether that be a young mum in a difficult situation with a new partner, a family that has endured years of abuse or an elderly woman who is scared to leave, because she just doesn't have the finances to support herself. These are the stories that we keep hearing time and time again. It is what the Penrith Women's Health Centre helps to combat every day.

I thank our opposition spokesperson for countering family and domestic violence, Senator Kerrynne Liddle, for her enormous work in this space and for meeting with the Penrith Women's Health Centre as well. I know Senator Liddle made representations to the minister. I also made a contribution in the House last week, highlighting the need for funding to be restored. Funding for the MUSTER program that I campaigned for at the 2019 election and secured for the Penrith Women's Health Centre was the funding that was going to be taken away. But, finally, at the eleventh hour, with a lot of pushing and advocacy, the centre had good news. It was confirmed with state government officials that they had been successful for further funding by the Commonwealth. This funding included one full-time qualified worker and one trainee position until 20 June 2026.

The thing is, we shouldn't have to fight down to the wire for funding for domestic violence services or have the threat of losing a staff member before finally being listened to. We have an announcement by the Labor government of these 500 new, frontline domestic violence workers, but it's only slow in its delivery. We need to act quicker. The government needs to act quicker. And I wonder if the positions allocated to the Penrith Women's Health Centre will be ticked off as new positions for the government or if the data will reflect that it's actually a partial increase in casework support, given they were going to cut a position. I really hope politics isn't played with this very valuable organisation.

By 30 June 2023, 200 new workers were meant to be helping across Australian neighbourhoods and regional areas. However, none had been delivered by that time. The target number by 30 June 2024 to have begun work in the community was 352 positions. Unfortunately, the data reflects that, by this time, only 94 had been contracted. From the numbers released just a few days ago, there has been no advancement in employing those 500 frontline workers in Victoria, Tasmania or the ACT since the last reporting period. Local organisations that do their utmost to support women in crisis should not have to wait. They should not have to be on tenterhooks to know what their future is. There is a serious problem with this program if the government thinks it's okay for such vital services to be told the day before letting someone go that that person can keep their job. In my time as the shadow assistant minister for mental health and suicide prevention, I remember speaking to many organisations about the struggles they faced with government funding lapsing periods and not knowing if programs were going to receive the needed money. This needs to stop for vital support services across the country. They need certainty, and I encourage and urge the Labor government to deliver this.

In this discussion on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Woman, we need a stronger, overarching approach to combating family and domestic violence in every single suburb and town across the country. As I said, my particular electorate has higher statistics than most, and it is something that I work very hard every day to eliminate. But, as we all say in this place, more needs to be done. One of the things that we have control over is the allocation of funding for these grassroots organisations that mean so much to women in need.

I hope that the Albanese Labor government revises the model to ensure greater take-up of the program for the 500 frontline services, that they make sure that these are new positions and not simply positions given back to organisations after taking away support, and that they really put a focus on prioritising these positions because these positions are actual people on the ground supporting those most in need. The Australian families facing domestic violence expect no less.

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