Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you've been raped, one thing you don't need is for the most private details of your rape, your assault, to be available to anyone who subpoenas them. What you do want to know is that the person counselling you is an expert and will, like any professional, maintain confidentiality so that you, the one who has gone through the traumatic experience, has control over that information. Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia has provided exactly that: confidential, specialist sexual assault and domestic violence trauma counselling to thousands of women, children and men who have contacted 1800RESPECT since it was established in 2010.

But the Minister for Social Services decided to defund RDVSA, based on information provided by Medibank Health Solutions. That was a bad call. Now RDVSA counsellors cannot, rightly, based on their professional ethics, deliver a service via Medibank where client confidentiality will no longer be respected. You don't measure the quality of a trauma counselling service based solely on how fast the phone is answered. It's about the quality of the service that people on the end of that phone receive, which can take time and needs expertise. The minister has devalued highly skilled trauma counsellors and has sold out rape victims. It's time he showed some respect.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.