Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships Forum (Forum) is funded by the Australian Government and is designed to support women in the region in politics and to assist Pacific parliaments in addressing gender equality issues;

(2) recognises that the Pacific region has the lowest regional average of women parliamentarians in the world, currently 13.1 per cent female representation in single or lower houses across the region, including Australia and New Zealand;

(3) recognises that the third annual Forum was held from 29 April to 1 May in Suva, Fiji, with the focus on addressing family violence in the Pacific region; and

(4) notes that reducing family violence will require a coordinated approach, and that the Forum agreed on a list of priorities for Pacific parliaments to pursue that will raise awareness and encourage action to address the issue.

I rise today to move this motion recognising the work of the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships Forum. In late April I was privileged to attend the third annual Pacific forum in Suva, Fiji, with many of my colleagues, including the member for Macquarie. Funded by the Australian government, the forum brings together female parliamentarians from Australia and New Zealand as well as from nations across the Pacific region. What we try to do is to support women parliamentarians and build their capacity to address gender equality issues in parliaments in the region.

It is clear that forums such as these remain relevant and necessary. Just 13.1 per cent of positions in unicameral parliaments or lower houses of parliament are held by women in the Pacific region. This is the lowest of any region in the world. Exclude Australia and New Zealand and the figure drops to just 5.4 per cent. In countries such as Vanuatu, Tonga and Tokelau, women are not represented at all in parliament. In the case of the Federated States of Micronesia, it is one of the few countries in the world to have never elected a female member of parliament. As one participant astutely observed, it is difficult to be a truly representative democracy when so few representatives are women.

The paucity of female representation in parliaments across the region means there is much more work to do in reducing the barriers to entry to parliament for women, as well as in supporting those who have made it. There is still a perception in many countries that politics is primarily a man's profession. So women seeking to enter parliament often face an entrenched male-dominated culture, both in seeking endorsement by a political party and in parliament itself. They can also have difficulty raising money to support their campaigns. The forum heard the story of one woman representing a constituency of multiple islands having to physically row herself from island to island to visit constituents, as she was unable to afford an outboard motor.

On the occasions that women are actually elected to parliament, there can often be few women members from whom to draw support and advice. To address this problem, the forum developed and tested a learning program that has been drafted by the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships and is aimed at newly elected parliamentarians. It introduces the concept of gender equality and ways in which it can be pursued within a parliamentary context. Constructive feedback was provided that will assist in the final rollout of the program to Pacific region parliaments next year.

The major focus of the forum this year was on ending family violence. As we know, this is a global problem but one that is endemic in large parts of our region. Figures shared at the forum indicated that, globally, 35.6 per cent of women have experienced some sort of physical violence, including sexual violence. However, for women in Tonga the figure rises to an astounding 79 per cent—almost four in every five women. Sixty-eight per cent of women in Kiribati have experienced violence from an intimate partner; this is more than twice the global average of 30 per cent. One in four women in Solomon Islands report that they have been abused during pregnancy. The figures are no less startling for girls. Thirty per cent of women in Vanuatu report being sexually abused before the age of 15.

This pattern of abuse challenges the already strained social services. It is estimated that, in Papua New Guinea, domestic violence injuries make up 80 to 90 per cent of injuries presented by women at health facilities. We know that such abuse leads to poorer employment prospects for women, and the consequential family dysfunction leads to lower educational attainment for children. This cycle of abuse must stop. It is heartening that most Pacific nations have finally begun the process of addressing family violence in the last few years by enacting legislation specifically addressing the issue. This sentiment is admirable; however, it must be backed up by real action. It is now up to law enforcement agencies and the legal system to treat this insidious problem with the seriousness it so clearly warrants.

The forum agreed upon a set of agreed priorities to address family violence that are reasoned, practical and achievable. I was encouraged by the constructive and collegial attitude shown by all participants and their collective determination to do all that is necessary to end family violence. My colleagues, including the member for Macquarie and the member for Chisholm who are in the chamber today, have worked over the last three years to strengthen our relationship with these other countries. It is so important that we continue to foster and support these women.

On a happier note, I want to congratulate the women in Bougainville, where four women were elected in the recent elections, including one women who ran in a seat against many male candidates. I look forward to future years, when they will have more successes.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I do not want to do the member for Macquarie out of her right to second the motion but in this instance I would like to thank the member for Ryan for moving the motion because it is wonderful that it is a bipartisan program that we are all working towards. The member for Macquarie and I have managed to get to all three of the conferences—in Sydney, Tonga and Fiji. Sadly, many people from the Australian parliament did not make it to the Tonga conference because of parliamentary sittings. In Fiji it was fantastic to have such fantastic representation from Australia—both federal and state parliaments—and our colleagues from New Zealand. This is a genuine bipartisan effort and a genuine Pacific effort to address an issue that is endemic in our societies—and, sadly, even in our society. Members from the Pacific, women who were at these forums, said, 'If Australia can't reach the goals for getting rid of domestic violence, what hope have we?' That was a salient point made by women coming together to ensure that their voices are heard at the highest level.

This is a wonderful program that was started under Prime Minister Gillard and continued and supported very heavily by Julie Bishop. I want to thank all those people for the continuation of this support because without funding from the Australian government this program would not exist. With 51 per cent of the world's population being female, we need diversity across all sectors of our community—business, civil and parliament—to ensure that we achieve greater economic, social and community outcomes. Without female voices on company boards or in parliament we cannot achieve the best we have to offer. We need to show leadership by having females in parliament to demonstrate that their voices are important, valid and needed. This is so true in any parliament, but it is particularly true in our region, where domestic violence is such a scourge. A UNICEF-UFPA study within the South-Pacific region concluded:

Violence against women and children is regarded as symptomatic of a wider gender inequality in society, and laws and policies need to be reviewed, changed and implemented in order to address this inequality. Governments in the South-Pacific island countries should make changes to current laws and policies, procedures or regulations in order to comply with national and international policies such as CRC and CEDAW.

That was a great focus of the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships Forum—by having women in positions of authority at the very top, they can engender change not only in their legal system but throughout their whole society. So we need women's voices in parliaments on issues that impact not just women but families and whole communities. These communities cannot flourish and prosper if we are still dealing with this insidious situation of domestic violence.

After three years we have had some successes in this space. The member for Macquarie and I met a phenomenal woman when we were in Tonga. She was then a candidate for the Fijian election—she was from Fiji. She is now a member of the Fijian parliament, Salote Rodrodro. We met her when she was a candidate. She was a fledgling. She was very nervous, did not know what to do and did not know whether she was taking the right step; given the situation in Fiji it was also fairly complicated. But then we met her in Fiji, and she is a fully endorsed member of her parliament. A great array of women from the Fijian parliament were there. Indeed, the speaker of the Fijian parliament was hosting us and we were honoured to have the Prime Minister of Fiji come along and speak so emphatically about the need to end family violence in his country. It was quite a way to open the whole proceedings. Ex-Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, the Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls, came along and spoke, again giving the whole sense of how important this space is and how committed we as the Australian parliament are to continuing with this program to see genuine change.

We endorsed an outcome statement, and I recommend that people look at it and see what we can do in this space not only to end domestic violence across the globe but also to bring more women into parliaments so that they can lead and be voices for change. We hear reports that the economic cost of family violence is considered to be approximately three per cent of GDP—and I think that that is probably an underestimate—and that childhood experience of family violence may be repeated from generation to generation, growing exponentially. We need legislative measures and women to ensure that we end this situation of violence.

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to support this motion moved by the member for Ryan and joined by my colleague opposite. We have attended a number of these forums. They have been most beneficial not only for the women of the Pacific who have been present but also for us. Despite the Pacific region being vast and culturally diverse, Pacific island countries and territories face many common challenges in addressing gender inequality. Violence against women in the Pacific is a chronic epidemic, with over 60 per cent of women in some countries reporting experience of physical and/or sexual violence. Women make up just four per cent of parliamentarians in the Pacific—the lowest rate in the world—compared to the global average of around 20 per cent. Across the region there is a significant and persistent gap between male and female participation in economic activity and labour markets. Men outnumber women in paid employment outside the agricultural sector by approximately two to one. These are some of the challenges that we are focusing on from Australia.

Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development is an important investment by Australia in the Pacific. One of the best ways to achieve economic growth and prosperity in the Pacific region is to empower women. The Australian government is supporting the 10-year, $320 million Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program, which aims to improve the political, economic and social opportunities of women in 14 Pacific countries. It focuses firstly on increasing the effective representation of women and women's interests through leadership at all levels of decision making, secondly on expanding women's opportunities to earn an income and accumulate economic assets, and thirdly and most importantly on reducing violence against women and increasing access to support services and to justice for survivors of violence. The time I have today does not allow me the opportunity to talk about examples of all the initiatives that are funded by the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program. One of the most important is the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships project, which facilitates dialogue, mentoring and training between Australian and Pacific island women MPs and parliamentary staff to improve the capacity of parliaments to address gender equality issues. It is around $2.8 million over five years.

In the few minutes I have left I would like to focus particularly on what happened in Fiji and some of the outcomes of other forums that have taken place. As has already been mentioned, we participated in the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships project annual forum in Suva alongside 63 other parliamentarians from 15 jurisdictions in the region. The focus was on legislative responses to family violence.

Participants agreed to a set of priorities to strengthen legislative action, and I will mention some of those. Reliable data and research are needed to better understand what does and does not work in addressing violence, to justify and prioritise funding and to establish baselines against which to monitor progress. Current legislation and regulations that address family violence should be audited and their implementation monitored to ensure that they are effective, comprehensive and adequately funded. Legislators must work with a range of groups, including church and traditional leaders; NGOs; government agencies; and police, health, education and justice systems. Legislators need training to scope the causes and effects of family violence, and men and women legislators together must work in legislative reform. It was recommended that cross-party parliamentary gender equality committees be established to ensure that awareness of family violence in the Pacific region is raised as a matter of urgency and that the scope of the issue is understood by legislators and parliaments to encourage the sharing of lessons learned.

I want to highlight a couple of outcomes achieved that are specific to some of the nations represented. Senators from Palau were inspired to establish a new NGO, the Centre for Women's Empowerment Palau, which aims to support women's political representation following their participation in the PWPP forum for Pacific and Australian women MPs in February this year. Ongoing mentoring relationships have been established between the Victorian and Solomon Islands regions. Learnings gained from participation in the research skills placements at the Australian Parliamentary Library will assist PNG parliamentary officers to establish a gender office in PNG. (Time expired)

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to endorse the comments of all speakers in this debate so far. I was very privileged to attend the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships program in Suva between 29 April and 1 May. As has already been stated by other speakers in this debate, the theme of the gathering was family violence in the Pacific region. The forum took place in and was supported by the Fijian parliament, and the speaker of the Fijian parliament was the host.

On the first day, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Mr Bainimarama, delivered the opening address. He said in his address that family violence is a vitally important issue and a test of values. I think that was a very significant statement that he made in that forum. He encouraged the forum to send a strong message to the world that family violence is a matter for public discussion. It is not something that should be kept behind closed doors; it should be recognised and addressed in an open forum and all the issues surrounding family violence should be addressed.

The forum provided an overview of actions taken in different countries and identified issues, actions, engagement and changes that have taken place. It is very easy to focus on the negatives, but there have been changes and there have been more women elected to the parliaments of Pacific nations. These things are all positive. It looked at the form and complexity of aid budgets, the way money is given by donor countries and the need to simplify that. It looked at the economic and health impacts of violence against women in societies in the Pacific. There were a number of really good, strong statements from the floor and a number of women shared their experiences and the experiences of their constituents.

Some areas in the Pacific are missing programs. Children before their birth was identified as an area that needed to be addressed, as well as employment of women and the importance of the employment of women in relation to the issue of violence against women. Bilateral relationships with donors were highlighted as being very important, as were the need for election platforms of various nations to include policies that directly mentioned violence against women; impact statements on policies on families; budget programs where violence against women is specifically mentioned; gender training; and looking at the millennium development goals.

On the last day we had a number of modules where the women broke into different groups, and I was privileged to lead one of those modules. The module that I led was 'the MP survival kit'. It was extremely interesting to look at the diverse backgrounds that the women in the group came from and the challenges that they faced. Everybody sharing their experience and talking about their challenges placed them in a better position. The forum had a number of outcomes, which have been highlighted by previous speakers—outcomes that we endorse—and also established priorities into the future. Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships is a very valuable forum and it is one that we as a nation should continue to support.

Debate adjourned.