Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to add my voice to the many who acknowledged an important occasion for our society and our country, yesterday, which was White Ribbon Day. The day was observed by me, many other members of this place and the community more broadly. White Ribbon Day, as we know, is a male-led campaign to end violence against women. Violence against women is a significant issue in my electorate and across the country and is, therefore, something that many of us campaign for throughout the year. Nonetheless, it is important to have days like White Ribbon Day to bring it to national prominence. Occasions like this give us an opportunity to reflect and take stock of not only what has been achieved and how far we have come but also how much more needs to be done to end the scourge that is domestic violence.

At yesterday's White Ribbon Day breakfast, here in parliament, Prime Minister Turnbull's address struck a chord with me and many of those who were gathered. In particular, he said:

Violence against women is the end point of disrespecting women.

Now, not all disrespect of women ends up in violence but all violence against women begins there.

As the Prime Minister also said, at a personal level: 'One of the most important things we all must do is to ensure our sons, our brothers and our grandsons respect their sisters, mothers and their grandmothers.'

Unfortunately, as I have said, in reflecting on the challenges ahead, we know that there is a long way to go. We know that one in six Australian women has experienced violence at the hand of a current or former partner, and more than 60 women have been killed, so far, this year.

I am therefore proud that the government is continuing to put its money where its mouth is and deliver in this area. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister and ministers announced a package worth over $100 million, designed to provide a safety net for women and children at risk of violence. This was announced at the Eastern Community Legal Centre, near my electorate of Deakin, and has been something that my community has welcomed.

I want to take this opportunity to, again, raise my concerns that we and the states are not adequately dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence against women and the flow-on impacts to children. I highlight my ongoing campaign and calls for the Victorian and state attorneys-general, collectively, to look at minimum mandatory sentencing for violent crimes against women and children, because we do not have faith that our unelected judiciary is dealing with these perpetrators of violence in the way that they should.

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

Thank you, member for Deakin, for those appropriate comments.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I wore a white ribbon in my lapel. Today my lapel is empty. What is exceptional about White Ribbon Day is that it is a male-led campaign to end men's violence against women. It is a powerful symbol to see the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition both speak publicly, using strong terms, about this terrible scourge. Symbols are very important, but to end this culture of violence we need more than symbols. Seventy-seven women have died this year. Seventy-seven women have been killed by violent men this year.

Obviously, we need to stop the violence. We need to stop the culture that allows this violence to continue. Each and every one of us needs to challenge the assumptions that we make. Most of the time, we are probably not even aware that we are making these assumptions. It is so easy to do. There would not be one among us who would not have been guilty of making those assumptions at some time—that little voice in your head that says: 'Why didn't she just leave? She must be exaggerating it. He's such a nice guy. He couldn't possibly be like that.' These are assumptions we have no right to make. By making these baseless assumptions we are feeding the culture that allows this horrible violence to continue.

We—men and women—need to challenge ourselves each time we make an assumption like that. We need each and every time to assume that this violence is happening. It is not a difficult assumption to make when you look at the statistics—one in three women will experience some sort of physical assault. Once we assume that the violence is happening, without question we can then start to help these women with some practical support so that it does not happen again—domestic violence leave so that victims will not be worried about losing their job while trying to access the legal services they need; funding for community legal centres that are on the front line of helping victims access justice and stopping the violence such as the women's legal service where my wife volunteers; and not allowing the violence to continue through the court system by providing legal aid so that women will not be cross-examined by the perpetrators of the violence.

Violence against women is our problem and we all need to do our bit to stop the violence. Putting on a white ribbon is a good part of that program but obviously we need to do something else on every other day of the year.