Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. People in Melbourne are grieving at the death of Eurydice Dixon. Melbourne is full of strong, funny women like Eurydice, and this has hit us hard. Thousands of people will be gathering at Princes Park and around the country to remember Eurydice. Many people are in mourning, many are angry and many are both. Prime Minister, do you agree that, whatever we're collectively doing as a country now to change men's behaviour, we need to do more? Will you support increasing efforts to change men's behaviour so that everyone in this country feels safe?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for that question. Our hearts go out to Eurydice's family. Our prayers, our sympathy and our love are with them as they grieve her loss. Women must be safe everywhere—on the street, walking through a park, in their homes and at work. We need to ensure that we have a culture of respect for women. Not all disrespect of women ends up in violence against women, but that's where all violence against women begins, and so ensuring that we start from the very start, ensuring that our sons and grandsons respect the women in their lives, is vitally important. We all, as parents and grandparents, have a duty to do that. Also, we have a very profound duty to ensure that our public places, our streets and our parks, are safe places in which to work and walk.

I know that we are all united in this. This is not a partisan issue. When we sit down with states and local government to work through our city plans and City Deals, a key part of that is ensuring that we have an environment that is safe. As my wife, Lucy, often says in her capacity as chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, a measure of the liveability of a city is whether women are safe to walk wherever, and that has got to be another vital priority.

This is a heartbreaking tragedy, but what we must do, as we grieve, is ensure that we change the hearts of men to respect women. We start with the youngest men, little boys, our sons and grandsons, which makes sure that they respect their mothers and their sisters and all of the women in their lives. As grown men, we must lead by example and treat women with respect. We must ensure that our cities, our towns, our country—everywhere—is safe for every Australian to walk and work, whether it's a park, whether it's a workplace or whether it is in their own home. That is our commitment. I thank the honourable member for the question. I believe, Mr Speaker, that I speak for every honourable member in saying we must never, ever, ever tolerate violence against women. Eurydice Dixon, we mourn her loss, we grieve with her family and we say never again.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence: I associate the opposition with the Prime Minister's remarks. As a Melburnian, when we heard the news that this dreadful murder had happened at Princes Park, I felt the same shock that millions of other people felt, as one who is familiar with this park. My own boy has trained around the very oval where they found Eurydice. It is shocking. It is futile. It was beyond belief. Not again, I thought; not again has a woman been killed in Melbourne—or anywhere in Australia, to that end. Women in Australia have the right to freedom of movement. It is not the fault of women if they choose to walk home from transport to their house. All of this violence is ultimately preventable. We need to tackle the enablers of violence, we need to change the attitudes of men and we should commit ourselves here that nothing is off limits to prevent violence against women or, indeed, any Australian.