Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The theme of this year's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is simple: 'No excuse'. Last Saturday, Bayside Council in the electorate of Barton held its annual walk against domestic violence. Residents came out in force to say there is no excuse for violence. I was proud to join them alongside Mayor Ed McDougall; Steve Kamper, the New South Wales Minister for Multiculturalism and member for Rockdale; and St George Police Area Command Detective Superintendent Paul Dunstan.

This is something deeply personal to me. So many women and children have experienced violence in the places where they should be safest: in their homes and in relationships. It breaks survivors and their families. In New South Wales, one in four women have experienced violence by a partner or another known person since they were 15.

Yesterday, the government tabled the response to the report of the missing and murdered First Nations women and children inquiry. The inquiry heard from survivors, and families made submissions on behalf of their relatives. First Nations women are 33 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family and domestic violence. Aboriginal women in New South Wales are eight times as likely to be recorded as victims. Of the 26 women killed nationally in intimate partner homicides since January, seven were Aboriginal women.

Events like Bayside Walk demonstrate the important change in our society around domestic and family violence. This change is an important piece of the puzzle in preventing violence and ensuring survivors know their community is behind them. But prevention and proper support are also essential. The Albanese Labor government has made addressing gendered violence a priority. The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children sets out what governments and wider society will do to end gender based violence in one generation. Four point four billion dollars in Commonwealth funding commitments will support that work.

The government's response includes a standalone action plan and $194 million to support First Nations women's safety; improving criminal justice reforms to sexual violence; and other pieces of the puzzle. Last week, the nation's Attorney-General agreed to the terms of the new National Access to Justice Partnership. It is the biggest ever boost in funding to legal and community legal services, totalling $3.9 billion. It includes $838 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services. This investment and strategy also focuses on prevention. We have committed $104 million to Our Watch, and the plan supports early intervention efforts to address and prevent violence in men. Ending the scourge of domestic and family violence in a generation is an ambitious goal, but investments by government and the community working together will take us a long way.

I will finish up by saying that we very often hear the shocking statistics of how many women are murdered, but we should also remind ourselves that there are thousands and thousands of women who are maimed, often for the rest of their lives, with brain damage, smashed jaws that mean you can't eat, broken limbs, and scars that are both physical and mental. We can never forget the intergenerational effects that domestic and sexual violence has for the children of those women and those men. This is an issue that we all must face together. It is not a women's issue. It is not a children's issue. It is a societal issue.

The House transcript was published up to 20:00 . The remainder of the transcript will be published progressively as it is completed.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Payne ) took the chair at 16:00.

See this speech in context