Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday, I had the honour of attending the Fremantle Community Legal Centre's white ribbon event at Walyalup Koort in the city of Fremantle to stand against the scourge of men's violence against women and to support its elimination. It's unacceptable for women in Australia and elsewhere that the threat of physical and sexual violence perpetrated by men is never far away. On the flagstones in the entry hall, white crosses stood in rows to mark squares of laminated testimony that carried the stories of murdered women. For all of those crosses, it wasn't a field of pain and loss that stretched back several years; many of the stories were from August, September, October and November 2024.

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It serves as a reminder that the struggle for women's basic rights remains acute and desperate. It's an opportunity to remember that the work required to eliminate violence against women is an effort that needs all of us all of the time. It's genuinely shocking to think that men's violence contributes to more death, disability and illness in women aged between 15 and 44 in Australia than any other preventable risk factor. On average, one woman is murdered by her partner each week, and for First Nations women in Western Australia alone as many as one in two women has experienced violence and abuse. It's unacceptable, yet virtually every family will have had some experience of this deep societal disease. It's vital therefore that we lift our effort to challenge and change this awful state of affairs in every possible dimension in our culture, in the services that support women who experience violence and in our law enforcement and criminal justice systems.

I want to acknowledge the staff and leadership of the Fremantle Community Legal Centre for their life-saving work. I'm glad to be a member of a government that recognises the incredible contribution these centres make in the cause of safety, peace and justice for Australian women. In September, the Albanese government announced an investment of $3.9 billion to back those services through the new National Access to Justice Partnership. Ending violence against women and children has rightly been a top of the list priority for the Albanese Labor government. Indeed, we've invested more than $3.4 billion in initiatives to support the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children from 2022 to 2032. We've legislated so that, for the first time, workers in Australia have an entitlement to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. We've made sure the Housing Australia Future Fund will deliver an additional 4,000 dwellings for women and children fleeing violence, and we've funded the Leaving Violence program.

Gender-based violence is a national crisis that requires attention and action at every level so that women and children in Australia can feel safe everywhere.

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