Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday in this parliament, we talked about the scourge of family and domestic violence, and the commitment that everyone in this place is making to tackling family and domestic violence. We know that 17 per cent of women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime from a current or former partner. That means that there are so many women in our community who have survived domestic and family violence. Sadly, there are a lot of women in our community who have not survived. The statistic that is often quoted is that one woman a week is killed at the hands of a current or former partner. This year that has increased, to this nation's great shame.

For all of those reasons, it was very, very pleasing that the Leader of the Opposition yesterday announced a policy calling for an urgent national crisis summit in respect of family and domestic violence that would bring together stakeholders, including all levels of governments, to commit to implementing the necessary reforms to eliminate family and domestic violence. He also called for interim measures to ensure survivors of family and domestic violence are safe at home and measures to ensure appropriate levels of funding for community legal centres that provide assistance to victims of family and domestic violence. I mentioned the Women's Legal Service at Annerley in Queensland, an important service; and there are many like it across this country that assist women fleeing violent situations.