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

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that:

(a) victims and survivors of sexual and family violence should be able to gain access to the highest standard of professional counselling support;

(b) 1800 RESPECT, a national telephone and on line counselling service for people living with sexual assault and family violence, is an important part of the national response to family and domestic violence;

(c) since the establishment of the 1800 RESPECT service, Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia has provided specialist sexual assault and domestic violence trauma counselling for the service; and

(d) Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia, which has operated for almost fifty years, has achieved international recognition for its expertise in its field;

(2) notes that:

(a) Medibank Health Solutions (MHS), a for-profit company, receives public funds to administer 1800 RESPECT;

(b) MHS recently announced that the service previously provided by Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia would now be provided by four organisations, three of which have not previously provided trauma counselling for the 1800 RESPECT service;

(c) the consequence of this decision is a 75 per cent reduction in the public funding provided to Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia via MHS for the provision of the 1800 RESPECT service, as that organisation becomes one of four providers, rather than the sole provider; and

(d) in those circumstances, the Board of Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia has decided not to accept the proposed MHS contract, which the Board states does not provide sufficient funding to enable Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia to provide the service, and imposes obligations which the Board considers unethical; and

(3) calls upon the Prime Minister to ensure that victims and survivors of family and domestic violence continue to have access to best practice specialist sexual assault and family violence trauma counselling services as previously provided by Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia.

Reducing funding to Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia will cause the loss of expert trauma specialist counselling and will also reduce the number of trauma specialist counsellors available and working in Australia. The Turnbull government is allowing its for-profit contractor to cut funds from Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia and redirect those funds to other organisations. The other organisations are well respected domestic violence organisations, but the cuts will mean that Australian victims and survivors of family and domestic violence will have less access to specialist trauma counselling. Minister Porter must explain how the Turnbull government will ensure that victims and survivors have access to specialist trauma counselling and how the government will either avoid the redundancy of up to 70 staff members or fund their severance payments.

Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia has been the sole provider of specialist trauma counselling for the 1800 RESPECT service since that service's inception. Now the Turnbull government is giving the for-profit firm that manages the contract for the service, Medibank Health Services, the green light to reduce RDVSA's funding by 75 per cent by moving to a panel system. The money will be reallocated to three other organisations. The new organisations joining the panel are well-respected, not-for-profit, state based domestic violence crisis services. No-one would question their experience in providing excellent and crucial support to women in crisis, including information and referral services. I've visited some of those services myself, and I've seen firsthand the excellent work they do with victims and survivors of family and domestic violence.

The government could certainly take action if it wanted to start taking on responsibility to fund or partly fund crisis support to complement the support that is already provided by the state jurisdictions or if it wanted to support greater consistency and coverage across state lines for those services. Any new support for crisis services should not, though, involve any reduction in the work already being done by the Commonwealth to give effect to the National Plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010‐2022. Any new support for crisis services should not involve a reduction in the availability of trauma counselling services. They serve different purposes, and both purposes are important.

1800RESPECT has, since its inception, provided a specialist trauma-counselling service. Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia has operated for much longer than the inception of 1800RESPECT—in fact, for almost 50 years. In 2011 its executive officer, Karen Willis, received an OAM for her work in relation to violence against women. The consequences of the reduction in funding to RDVSA, together with some new contract conditions that have caused it to have serious ethical concerns, have seen RDVSA decide not to accept the new arrangement. Those ethical concerns have been about requirements including an obligation to hand over client files and to allow voice recording of trauma counselling. The Turnbull government has yet to say how such voice recordings would be excluded from obligations under subpoenas across the country. In other words, how will the Turnbull government make sure that victims' telephone conversations with counsellors—no matter where the victim is in Australia; no matter where the service is in Australia—won't be obtained by violent perpetrators in the course of litigation and played aloud in court?

Under the proposed new panel arrangement RDVSA would have had 50 staff redundancies, but walking away from the contract will mean 70 staff redundancies. Those are the figures RDVSA has provided, yet we're told that staff support the decision to walk away, even though it means more redundancies, so strong are their concerns about the proposed new arrangement, their apprehension that 1800RESPECT would become an information and referral service rather than a trauma counselling service, and their worries about the ethical ramifications. This latest change to the service, to reduce access to trauma counsellors and transform the service so it focuses on providers that have traditionally worked in information and referral rather than specialist trauma counselling, comes after the Turnbull government and its for-profit contractor, Medibank Health Solutions, last year started diverting callers away from RDVSA's specialist trauma counsellors to less-qualified people in a first-responder triage process which was heavily criticised at the time.

The Turnbull government needs to say how it will make sure that Australian domestic, family and sexual violence victims and survivors and their supporters have access to specialist trauma counselling. The Turnbull government also needs to say what it will do to avoid the loss of up to 70 experienced frontline domestic and family violence and sexual violence staff from this nation's workforce. It also needs to say how the severance entitlements of these frontline workers will be covered in the event that the Turnbull government is unable to prevent the redundancies. Finally, the government must not fail to honour its commitments to the other panel organisations who have entered into this process in good faith.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak today on the motion of the member for Griffith regarding a significant issue facing our community. Domestic violence and sexual assault are serious and real issues that we must tackle across Australia, and particularly on the Central Coast. These crimes affect deeply the lives of many individuals and families in our communities. It's crucial for those families and victims to know they're not alone. That's why the government is committed to ensuring that there is high quality and accessible support available for those facing, or who are at risk of facing, sexual assault and domestic violence situations.

1800RESPECT is an outstanding national service that provides counselling for members of our community affected by sexual assault and domestic violence. Services like 1800RESPECT give many vulnerable people a place to turn to in order to seek the professional help they need at a time when they need it most. While I thank the member for Griffith for shedding light on this exceptional national service and the work of many victim support organisations, it is unfortunate that this issue arises in such a manner, because the focus should be on helping those that these services assist—the victims of the crimes of family violence and sexual assault—instead of using it for political pointscoring. I note that Labor has claimed that, due to a supposed 75 per cent reduction in government funding, the 1800RESPECT service has been negatively affected, yet the government has not, nor does it intend to, reduce funding for the 1800RESPECT service; quite the opposite.

The coalition government is undertaking a major effort to make 1800RESPECT the best service of its type in the world. We've worked hard at turning around a system that was failing to help victims of domestic and family abuse and sexual assault. In fact, I'm advised that the service had previously only been answering 33 per cent of calls. That meant that around two-thirds of people contacting the service didn't get to speak to a counsellor. Worse still, of those calls that were answered, waiting times to get to a counsellor were more than 10 minutes. I think all sides of the chamber today can agree that this is unacceptable.

In response, in 2014, the government committed $3.8 million to Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia to see more calls answered. Unfortunately, this failed to change call answer rates. The government commissioned an independent report on the best way to improve the service. One of the key outcomes the report recommended was a triage systems with counsellors with a three-year degree and minimum two years counselling experience to answer the calls. This has meant that many calls, like simple requests for information, could be dealt with immediately. What's more, if callers required more specialised counselling, they were transferred to an even more experienced counsellor, so they didn't have to retell their story. The improvement was immediate. Now I'm told that more than 90 per cent of calls are answered with an average wait time of 37 seconds.

We are now continuing our process for improvement of 1800RESPECT and putting an extra $5 million a year into the service until December 2019. In this financial year, this will see over $19 million in total provided to 1800RESPECT.

The government also finalised its tender process for the trauma specialist component of the service, which was due to expire. The minister has advised that four highly skilled and respected organisations have offered to take part in a new panel arrangement and, across the four trauma specialist partners, the $5 million extra funding will be used to increase the number of trauma specialist counsellors from 31 to 48.

I understand that Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia have refused to take part in the panel arrangement, citing a loss of revenue and privacy concerns. However, the minister assures me that, because recordings and file notes of counselling conversations are the subject of legislated privilege, the counselling communication is protected. I'm further assured that every effort will be made to absorb staff from Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia across 1800RESPECT, and additional money will be used to provide training to all 1800RESPECT.

Running a campaign with the Australian Services Union against our government on such an important issue is not what the Labor Party should be doing. What we ought to be doing together is talking about how we can best help people in crisis in raising awareness in our communities. There are a number of important events that are being organised across our country for White Ribbon Day—for example, on Saturday 25 November. In my electorate, there is always an incredible show of support from the local police area command, businesses and families as together we walk up The Skillion in Terrigal. It's a walk I have joined for a number of years now, and I intend to do so again. I call on all speakers to unite and focus on backing important services like 1800RESPECT, and I invite the opposition to do the same.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this motion. I congratulate the member for Griffith in advancing this issue. I had to visit a couple of weeks ago Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, which is in my electorate, to speak with staff following the organisation's decision to withdraw from the 1800RESPECT counselling service. This was not of course an easy decision for RDVSA to make.

For almost 50 years, RDVSA have provided specialist sexual assault and domestic violence trauma counselling. Its staff are highly qualified. RDVSA uses the Standards of Practice Manual for Services against Sexual Violence, which requires counsellors to have a tertiary qualification in counselling, social work, psychology or equivalent, and at least three years counselling experience. The organisation is well-known for this expertise, and its executive officer, Karen Willis, has received an AOM for her work in relation to violence against women.

Since its inception, 1800RESPECT, which is an important Labor legacy—and RDVSA has been the sole provider of its specialist trauma counselling, assisting women living with domestic violence nationwide. The decision to withdraw from the 1800RESPECT counselling service follows a series of decisions made by the Turnbull government and lengthy negotiations with Medibank Health Solutions. In October 2006 RDVSA's contract with the Turnbull government expired, and the contract for 1800RESPECT was put out to tender. While the Turnbull government has announced the 1800RESPECT service will continue, RDVSA will see its funding slashed by 75 per cent, with this funding allocated to three other organisations. It would also be required to operate as part of the MHS call centre model. MHS, of course, was not subject to an open-tender process. The quality and experience of these three other organisations is not under dispute. Each plays a critical role in their respective states assisting women living with domestic violence.

The issue here is with the Turnbull government's decision to slash RDVSA's funding by 75 per cent, which will see a reduction in the specialist services they offer, and a loss of jobs. The previous speaker, with respect, said they could just go to work for one of the organisations that has been offered a contract. If they were to do that, it would require these women, with families, to move interstate. It is not that simple, and the government knows that full well.

The Turnbull government should be looking at ways it can facilitate the growth of organisations like RDVSA. The fact is that new support for crisis services should not involve a reduction in the availability of much needed trauma counselling services. But for RDVSA this decision to withdraw is not just about the reduction in funding. It's also about some of the new contract conditions, which have caused serious concerns. These ethical concerns are about requirements that include an obligation to hand over client files, and to allow voice recording, and we are yet to be told how these voice recordings would be excluded from obligations under subpoenas.

If RDVSA had accepted the new panel arrangement, the organisation would have seen 50 staff redundancies. As it is, withdrawing from the contract means 70 staff redundancies. We've been told the staff support this decision, because of their many concerns about the proposed new arrangement. This last change to the service, to reduce access to trauma counsellors and transform the service so that it focuses on information and referral, rather than specialist trauma counselling, comes after the Turnbull government and its for-profit contractor, Medibank Health Services, last year started diverting callers away from RDVSA specialist trauma counsellors to lesser-qualified people, in a first responder triage process. The Turnbull government needs to say how it will make sure that Australian victims and survivors of domestic and family violence and sexual violence, and their supporters, have access to specialist trauma counselling.

The Turnbull government also must say what it will do to avoid the loss of 70 experienced frontline domestic and family violence and sexual violence staff. These are committed people—I have met with them. They're very upset that they won't be able to continue to do the work. The Turnbull government also must say how the severance entitlement of these frontline workers will be covered. (Time expired)

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege to speak on this motion, but also to clarify the debate and the intent, because, unfortunately, what we have just heard from the previous speaker—the aspirant Leader of the Opposition; the people's choice—is that he is more interested in the terms and contract—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What would actually be appropriate is if we just were polite and calm and listened to people rather than trying to distract, because what we just heard was that the focus of this motion for some people is mostly about employment terms and conditions of people who work on the service, rather than the people who need that service. A number of members sitting opposite are 100 per cent right: this is actually about people who experience the tragedy of sexual violence or sexual assault and family violence, and making sure they get the support and care they need.

We should be focusing on outcomes and supporting the people concerned and perhaps being a little bit less concerned about inputs, because the reality is, if you can reform a service to improve outcomes for people who are experiencing tragedy within their lives, that is far more important than protecting the interests of people who happen to be in employment who may be represented by unions or other groups as part of the political process. What it comes to—

An opposition member interjecting—

I make no apology for standing up for victims of domestic and family violence and making sure we have services that provide for people based on need. The comments from those opposite, who seem to want to dissuade against that motion and that proposition, are doing them a disservice. They should be ashamed of that conduct. When it comes down to it, we have a service that is designed to assist people who have faced issues of domestic and family violence. They need support. The fundamental focus of the reforms that are being proposed by this government is making sure we get the best outcomes for those people and making sure that non-profit organisations that are able to provide those services to those people who have been victims of violence meet the best standard.

We know there have been some issues with the service in the past. This is not a partisan comment; it's a reality that has prompted the government to take action. The non-profit organisation Medibank Health Solutions has accepted the invitation that from October 2017 it will work with various other community organisations to provide the support and care necessary for people who have been victims of domestic violence. It's critically important that those services are provided in a sensible, rational, private and confidential way. As many of the people on both sides of the parliament in this chamber know, people who are experiencing issues of family and domestic violence or issues of harassment need privacy and confidentiality. That's why the new arrangements that are in place for the privacy of callers will be upheld. The contractor has been advised. It will take the privacy of calls very seriously and comply with all Australian privacy legislation and policy. That's fundamentally a good thing. That's about a policy that focuses on outcomes and improving the assistance and care provided to people who are victims of domestic and family violence.

The law will also focus on the protection of confidential counselling communication. All trauma counselling service providers will be subject to the same legal protections and requirements concerning the production of confidential records of communication with victims of sexual assault. That is another important principle and provision as a foundation for making sure that people get the assistance and support they need in times when they experience the tragedy of violence.

But the heart of the proposal being put forward by this government is actually about outcomes and making sure those who need support and assistance get it. The helpline needs to be available at times when people are at their most vulnerable so we don't have situations where people who are vulnerable have their calls delayed or diverted because there isn't the support and assistance. If you care about the outcomes that are faced by people who suffer the consequences of domestic and family violence or sexual assault, you should be supporting the efforts by the government. At the heart of our focus is: how do we improve the lives and situations of people who do not deserve the situations that they face? It's always disappointing when we see that being turned into a partisan political proposition focused on the interests of those people who have not always delivered the best outcomes in the past.

Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak out against this government's privatisation of rape and domestic violence services, and I am pleased to support the member for Griffith's motion. I am curious and interested to see the member for Robertson, the member for Boothby and the member for Goldstein, who is sadly now walking out the door, here to speak about the service. The member for Goldstein tried to turn this into union bashing. I hope they have a thorough understanding of what this government that they belong to, led in this case by Minister Porter, has done to this service and why they think making money off the back of rape victims is acceptable. I assume they don't, but I find it criminal that they could be in here in support of privatising rape services. A woman, man or child at their most vulnerable as a victim of rape is now a dollar sign in the eyes of the Turnbull government. The contempt the government has for victims is breathtaking, and the contempt in which it holds the rules and upholding them is absolutely shocking. It presides with a born-to-rule mentality, and I am happy to call it out. Asking professional rape and trauma counsellors to break their industry's code of ethics is riding roughshod over them in the interests of making money and not providing thorough support.

I can understand how government members can come to this conclusion. If you have never needed 1800RESPECT, if you have never been raped, or if you are not one of the one in three people who have experienced domestic violence, it could be easy to reach a conclusion like this. If they haven't been a victim, I say to them: lucky you. But, with the vulnerable people who have been raped, bashed or traumatised, we owe it to them as our duty of care to ensure that the services are available to them, no matter what. Why shouldn't victims and survivors of rape and family violence get the best possible counselling service available? What possible justification could the government come up with for this to take place?

Minister Porter has attempted to create a diversion from this. Of course he would, because we know he hates to be called out on dudding the people of this country. He has blamed 1800RESPECT's provider, Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia, saying they declined to be a subcontractor on the panel. I can assure the minister he got that right—of course they did. The offer made to them by Medibank Health Solutions was an offer that a professional organisation could only refuse. There was no choice but to withdraw. The decision was not taken lightly by RDVSA—a service, let me remind you, that has operated for almost 50 years and is recognised internationally for its expertise.

But, clearly, we now know how to do business with this government. If you are willing to trade your values, your ethics and the quality of your counselling services and, most importantly, monetise rape victims and turn them into cash cows, then you can have a contract. If those opposite don't understand what they support, because they don't care about victims, they should consider the statement made by the Medibank Health Solutions director: 'Medibank Health Solutions is to double its profit from sexual assault and domestic violence over the next five years.' With a statement like that, should there be any question whatsoever in the mind of Minister Porter and the minds of those on the opposite side about the goal of Medibank Health Solutions? Does Minister Porter understand that the primary outcome of this service should not be making money but saving lives and reducing the trauma felt by someone who has been raped or bashed? He would have to be a pretty bland breed of special to not understand how profoundly poor that statement is, based on the nature and the content of the services they provide. Since when did we profit from victims of rape, let alone double our profits from victims of rape and domestic violence?

I'm astounded that this government has not intervened. But why would it—it is only in the national strategy to reduce violence towards women? And we now know that reporting rates have risen and access to this service is being driven by demand. This is poor legislation led by a poor Prime Minister, who is more committed to running a $122 million opinion poll on the rights of people before the law. What a shame he isn't as committed to the rights of rape and domestic violence victims. But I bet that come White Ribbon Day in November or the international day for eliminating gender violence this Prime Minister will again talk a big game.

Everyone else who cares about rape victims and wants to see an end to domestic and family violence should think long and hard at the next election about supporting the Liberals, because the Liberals cannot be trusted to support victims of rape and domestic violence. Defunding Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia from providing, on time, the critical service that provides the absolute support these victims need is a demonstration of the Liberals' lack of commitment to the women, children and men who have been raped or traumatised by family violence.

Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I feel it's necessary to set the record straight on the Turnbull government's funding for the 1800RESPECT helpline after the contributions of those opposite. Whilst most of this motion is non-contentious, the allegations that our government is not doing everything it can to empower victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are simply untrue.

While I acknowledge the important work of Rape and Domestic Violence Services over recent years, we must be doing more to ensure that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are getting all the help they need. When we came to government, 67 per cent of calls to the 1800RESPECT helpline, run exclusively by Rape and Domestic Violence Services, were left unanswered. Of the minority of calls who did get through, they had to wait an agonising 10 minutes. This situation left vulnerable people without an appropriate level of support or a service that could be relied on. With two-thirds of victims' calls for help going unanswered, this government implemented a plan to fix the helpline. We urgently undertook an independent review of the system, after which an emergency triage system was put in place in August 2016. This was called the first response model, and it has significantly improved the service. I'm proud to be able to stand here and say that the 1800RESPECT helpline is now answering 93 per cent of calls, and the average call wait time is down to just 37 seconds. This is a staggering improvement, but we're not going to stop there. We have increased funding for this vital service by $5 million in the most recent budget, bringing our total funding to $19 million in 2017-18 financial year. To put this into perspective, that means an extra 17 full-time specialist trauma counsellors available for victims of domestic violence. Now with a total of 48 counsellors, the service has never been this comprehensive or well funded.

The next opportunity for us to improve the service came this year when the current contract for the provision of the service came up for renewal on 1 July. In keeping with our principles of good governance, we directed Medibank Health Solutions to conduct a tender process to determine the best way of managing the service into the future. Medibank Health Solutions offered four invitations to leading Australian not-for-profit organisations, including Rape and Domestic Violence Services. By their choosing, Rape and Domestic Violence Services refused the invitation to participate in operating the 1800RESPECT helpline. That was their decision and, as such, it was outside of the government's control.

This motion before us talks about the change in funding to the service, but it doesn't say that the funding is being reallocated to other leading not-for- profit organisations, nor does it highlight our government's continually growing fund for domestic violence support services. This motion is not about fact. It's a rather poor attempt at political pointscoring and playing games. Domestic violence and sexual assault, however, are not playthings to be used for dishonest short-term political gain by the opposition and those opposite, and for them to do so is grossly irresponsible and dangerous. Allow me to put this question to those opposite: how many vulnerable women might hear the Labor Party's lies about reducing funding and think, 'Well, no-one's going to answer my call, so there's no point in me calling for help.' It's disappointing that just when we get this service working—which was a mess thanks to Labor's mismanagement—they would spread the harmful lie that the government is not 100 per cent behind those who have been subjected to domestic violence or sexual assault. It's simply not the case. The Labor Party should be joining me in congratulating our government for prioritising support for victims by outlining the huge increase in service funding, and thus encouraging those affected to pick up the phone. This thoughtless scaremongering from those opposite needs to stop, and they need to work with us to develop even better policies to address these very serious issues.

That's what the Turnbull government has been putting its energy into. We have escalated the national conversation and invested more funding than ever before. No Commonwealth government has ever invested this much in this area. In addition to our $100 million Women's Safety Package, which includes specialist domestic violence units around the country and new technologies to assist women experiencing domestic violence, we have launched a powerful national information campaign to change attitudes about violence and disrespect. This builds on our $100 million in new funding for domestic violence measures announced in the 2016 budget, and includes $30 million for legal assistance. With all these policies in mind, the government's commitment to addressing domestic violence cannot be doubted.

Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Griffith for raising this very important motion. Though it is only on occasion that both sides of this House agree, I'm sure we could come together and unanimously agree that victims and survivors of sexual and family violence deserve our support. They have a right to it. I'm sure that everyone would agree that they should be able to gain access to professional counselling support of the highest standard available. For people who have been through as much as these women, children and men, and for people who have suffered through this much, it's the least we can do. That's why I rise here today. I rise to join with the member for Griffith to call upon the Prime Minister to ensure that these victims and survivors continue to have access to the best specialist trauma counselling available—because, following a recent announcement by Medibank Health Solutions, it's clear that the quality of service offered is about to take a really significant hit.

Back in 1974, with support and funding from the Whitlam Labor government, Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia was established. Since that time, it has achieved international recognition and acclaim for the work that it does for victims and survivors of rape and domestic violence. Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, or RDVSA, has been the sole provider for the 1800RESPECT specialist trauma telephone service since it was established—that is, until now. Now the Turnbull government is giving Medibank Health Solutions, the for-profit firm that manages the contract for the service, the green light to change the existing arrangements that, to date, have been largely successful in offering specialist support to victims of trauma.

The new arrangements include changes to contract conditions, as well as a new funding model—a new funding model that will see public funding that has typically been solely allocated to RDVSA reallocated to include three other organisations. This amounts to a 75 per cent cut to the funding RDVSA receives to administer 1800RESPECT—75 per cent of its funding. Even a one per cent reduction could be devastating, let alone a cut of such a significant amount. That's not to say that the new organisations don't do great work; of course they do. Each of the new organisations is well respected. They are not-for-profit domestic violence crisis services. But therein lies the difference: these are crisis services, not trauma services. Whilst both services are important, they do serve very different purposes. Any new support for crisis services should not come through a cut to existing trauma counselling services. Since 1800RESPECT's inception, it has been a specialist trauma counselling service, but the new arrangements will see a fundamental change to this lauded service.

If RDVSA were to accept the proposed reduction in funding, it would result in 50 staff redundancies in their organisation. But RDVSA have turned their backs on the new contract, which will result in an extra 20 redundancies. That means a total of 70 people that assist in providing these vital services to Australian victims and survivors of rape and domestic violence will lose their jobs. Yet we're told that the staff of the RDVSA support this decision. The staff of the RDVSA are so concerned about the new arrangements that they would rather lose their jobs. That's how concerning these new arrangements are. It's not just concerns that relate to the lesser service that would be provided with less funds but also the serious ethical concerns that exist within the new contract conditions. The most alarming would probably be that the new contract conditions include an obligation to hand over every single new and existing client file from the 1800RESPECT service to Medibank Health Solutions, and allow voice recording. Can you believe this? The Turnbull government has yet to say how much of the voice recordings would be excluded from obligations under subpoenas. But I think the aim here is to compel the handover of new and existing client files under 1800RESPECT.

It is not right to let a for-profit service determine how much public funding is allocated to such an important issue. It's not right to dilute a dedicated trauma counselling service by dividing the work among service providers that typically serve another purpose. It is not right what the government is allowing to happen to 1800RESPECT and RDVSA, and I won't stand by quietly and let this happen.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the member for Griffith and my colleagues on this side of the Chamber, I rise to register my absolute rejection of this new arrangement that's going to be put in place by Minister Porter and this government when it comes to the 1800RESPECT service. I know this service well and I know many people that have relied on this service. I know Karen Willis and the people from Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, and I know their reputation. I have visited that service in the past, and I know Karen personally. Karen, her staff and that organisation have 50 years of experience. How can a government ignore, not understand, not respect and—most importantly—not listen to 50 years of experience? I met with Karen Willis and the ASU last week. They explained to me very carefully the implications of the decisions this government has taken in relation to the 1800 RESPECT service. I won't go over the ground that has already been covered by my colleagues, but the ground that they have covered very well is the importance of trauma counselling. That's what we are talking about here.

In my discussions with Karen she explained carefully—and it's not hard to make the emotional and intellectual leap to understand what she was saying—that trauma counselling is often about people who experienced sexual violence when they were children and have finally found the capacity and had faith in the 1800 RESPECT trauma counselling service to be able to finally address those horrors. That does not happen in the case of someone who is less qualified than the people who have been doing the counselling service with RDVSA. It requires patience. It requires several conversations. It requires long conversations. It is not just about registering that you want to talk to someone, and certainly not someone who is less qualified than the present counsellors working out of their kitchen or lounge room.

I, like other members, am not saying that the people and the organisations who will now be taking on this tender are not reputable, good organisations. But what I am saying is that the very nature of this service is being changed, from a trauma counselling service to a service that does not deal with trauma counselling, that is a referral service on sexual violence and domestic violence. It has been outlined clearly why RDVSA have not proceeded with the tender. It is not, as the member for Boothby just outlined, that somehow or other they just decided not to. That is an insult to the people at RDVSA. It was, as my colleague the member for Lindsay outlined, because of deep ethical concerns about the people whose voices have been recorded and the information on files that will be required to be handed over. This government is compromising the very safety, the very confidence—that some of this information could end up in the hands of violent perpetrators in litigation and played aloud in court. For someone who has been sexually assaulted as a child and has finally gone to get some support for that, this prospect will stop them from seeking that support. And the very idea that this is going to become a money-for-service fee is just not acceptable. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.