Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

It has been the saddest of years for the family and friends of Samantha Murphy—an unfathomable loss of a wife, mother and friend. We continue to hold them close in our thoughts and to support them. Amid the shock and sadness we all feel, the community has stepped up in a way that shows the best of us in dealing with the worst possible news—and not just once: the community has also stepped up following the deaths of Rebecca Young and Hannah McGuire, which also happened during the last 12 difficult months.

Grief can be a long path to walk. Having the support of people around you actually helps. As I've said before, we, the community, have another task as well: making the world we live in a safer place for women. Simply living your life shouldn't put you in danger. Women shouldn't have to worry that being out by themselves at night or in the early morning or even being behind closed doors in their own home puts them at risk.

I wrote in an op-ed last April that how we educate our boys in this community matters and that their opportunities to learn how to be the fabulous, beautiful men we all know in some aspects of our lives actually matter. Governments have a role to play, too, with campaigns, early intervention services and a national plan from all levels of government as well as legislated paid family and domestic violence leave, better access to child care and early education.

There are, of course, small signs of change. Ballarat resident Pauline O'Shannessy-Dowling has told the ABC that when she is out running, which was what Samantha was doing, men who are also running are making the effort to let her know that they are not a threat. Last year we saw at the first Ballarat Marathon a concerted effort of dads running with their daughters. They really wanted to come together as a community to show how much they care about their girls.

There are signs of a much bigger change under way in our community. A partnership of organisations, businesses, clubs and groups led by Women's Health Grampians called the Communities of Respect and Equality, CoRE, alliance shares a vision for safe, equal and respectful communities. The CoRE alliance usually has between one and five new organisations join as members each year. Since February last year when Samantha went missing, 19 organisations have joined, 13 of which were from Ballarat including a number of schools, and this significant increase has been driven by students themselves.

There has also been a notable increase in inquiries from organisations and individuals, particularly men, interested in CoRE and what they can do to prevent gender based violence. Men's Initiative information sessions saw a massive increase in registrations, and, in December, Women's Health Grampians and the City of Ballarat held a leadership forum for men interested in learning more about how they can lead change to prevent gender based violence in the organisations they're part of. At that event, 188 people attended, of whom 60 per cent were men.

These are all positive signs of the change that we want. Again, the community is stepping up, and, importantly, men are stepping up as part of that. We all need to see change across our communities, and, in mine, that has been incredibly important and felt very deeply by the deaths of Samantha, Rebecca and Hannah. We want a community that is safe for everybody, particularly women. Everywhere, in every community and in every place, we need to stop seeing violence against women and to stop losing women like beautiful Samantha Murphy, who still had so much to give.

In this, the anniversary week of her loss and leading into the anniversaries of the deaths of Rebecca and Hannah, my thoughts and my condolences continue to go out to their families. The legacy of their deaths is that we do so much better to keep women safe in our communities.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 12:22

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