Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, more than 300 people turned out for the Safer Families, Better Communities walk on the Cairns Esplanade. It was a very public statement that Cairns has zero tolerance for domestic and family violence.

I commend the tireless efforts of Amanda Lee-Ross, head of the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service, who is doing fantastic work in our region. As Amanda said, we must work together as a community to be effective on this issue. It is about reporting violence when we know it is happening—not just waiting for the victim to do it. We also need to make sure that front-line services are properly resourced so that they can deal with the influx of people needing assistance. Amanda said that in the last 12 months they have had a 13 per cent jump in people coming to their office and a 26 per cent jump in referrals from police. Worryingly, today's Cairns Post reports that every bed for victims of domestic violence was full, in Cairns, on Friday night.

I am very pleased with the government's $100 million support package, although I recognise it will take a little time for the benefits to flow through to front-line services. Every woman and child in Australia has the right to feel safe and to live without fear, and I congratulate the Cairns community for taking a stand. It is important that when we make statements in relation to family and domestic violence they are on zero tolerance. It is an absolute plague on our community.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I echo the sentiments of the speaker who preceded me because I too rise to speak about domestic violence. I welcome the government's announcement of $15 million in funding for the delivery of targeted legal-assistance services to help women experiencing domestic violence. We all know this is much needed.

I was, however, disappointed that the Western Community Legal Service, which serves my community of Lalor, was not included in the funding round. WCLC has recently partnered with the Werribee Mercy Hospital to establish a family-violence service as part of the antenatal clinic. This service is due to start prior to December, this year, initially with a one-day-per-week commitment and an on-call service for urgent cases. The service was hoping to operate three days per week, but financial constraints are limiting the level of service. It would have been an ideal service for attracting some of this funding from the government. The WCLC is also concerned about funding more generally, when the current funding commitments end in 2017, adding to those funding pressures.

I ask what criteria were used to determine where this funding would go and which hospitals and legal centres would be involved in that? I ask for support from the government that Lalor and the western suburbs of Melbourne be supported, that more funds be found to support this fabulous service that has been independently established; let us see it lengthened and strengthened in my community.