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

I'd like to start by offering my sincere sympathy to Eurydice Dixon's family, both immediate and extended, and to all of her friends and supporters. I never met Eurydice Dixon or her family. I did not know who she was or the attributes that drew people to her as a friend or supporter. I was never fortunate enough to witness one of her comedy shows or witness her true passion for life. What happened to Eurydice Dixon was an absolute tragedy—a tragedy that, sadly, is becoming far too familiar for many women around the nation. This tragic loss of life was, unfortunately, the 30th instance of a woman losing her life to violence by a male this year. The nation once again is mourning the loss of a woman's life far too early. We mourn together for Eurydice and for all the women whose lives have ended as a result of violence.

What made Eurydice's death even more horrific was the fact that she was doing normal, everyday activities. She'd finished her comedy performance, had walked to pick up some food and was walking home through the park, metres from her home. In this instance, what was perceived to be an ordinary activity resulted in a tragic death. Last Monday evening on ABC's Q&A, a woman in the audience spoke about how she carries her car keys in a particular way when walking to her car in the evening. This is her way of protecting herself.

Eurydice's death has again sparked conversation throughout the nation. Women are sharing their stories and speaking out about their experiences of violence. Intense conversation about violence against women in Australia is continual and cannot be ignored. Women cannot live in constant fear of being violently attacked when doing ordinary, everyday activities, like walking home—regardless of the hour. We in this House must take this issue seriously and work to ensure that we, as a parliament, address violence against women, because, if we fail to do so, we fail the Australian people.

Implementing actions that focus on women's safety creates a sense of hope that change is happening and that we, as elected representatives, are delivering strong leadership against any form of violence against women. Over the last few days, the conversation has turned to talk about the culture and structural causes of violence. Walking home should not mean that you are risking your life. Catching a taxi or public transport should not be a dangerous activity. Women have the human right to move freely around the nation without the need for better security cameras or lighting in specified areas; although, these interventions are helpful.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's report Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia, 2018 reported that one in six, or 1.5 million, women and one in nine, or 922,000, men are physically and/or sexually abused before the age of 15. The report also highlighted that one in five, or 1.7 million, women and one in 20, or 428,000, men have been sexually assaulted or threatened since the age of 15. These are extremely alarming statistics, especially when we know that children who are victims of or witnesses to family violence or abuse have a heightened chance of experiencing further violence later in life.

We are all aware of the social and economic impacts that violence against women, and family and domestic violence has on our society and community. I'm proud to stand with the Labor team that has announced, under a Shorten Labor government, that we will introduce 10 days paid family violence leave for all workers who need it, as this will boost productivity, improve retention and decrease absenteeism. Labor is demonstrating strong leadership because we want to ensure that those who experience violence are supported. This will contribute to real change in the culture of violence.

However, there is much more to do. Eliminating violence against women is everybody's business. We must adopt the principle: 'if you see it, report it'. I think the words of retired Chief of Army Lieutenant-General David Morrison—'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept'—are incredibly relevant in this context. As a nation, we must not walk past violence against women or domestic and family violence when we witness it. We must stand united. We must take action to ensure that violence against women stops, and that it stops now. We must ensure that our sons and daughters have a good role model and that they are educated from the cradle about acceptable and respectful behaviour. I want the best future for my children and grandchildren, and that is a future that does not include violence against women or domestic and family violence. We, as a nation, need to stand united and say that violence against women stops now. We need to take the appropriate action to ensure our words are enacted, because words without action are not useful at all.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Lindsay for providing an opportunity for us to discuss this incredibly important issue in our parliament. Something I've really noticed after five years of being in the chamber is that the conversations that happen in our parliament, that happen up here in Canberra, can feel very remote to the people we represent in our electorates. But the issue that's being discussed tonight about violence against women, about the right of Australian women to be safe on our streets and in our homes, is core to the daily lived experience of half our population. It's really important that we talk about it.

I was incredibly shocked and saddened by the death of Eurydice Dixon. I want to offer my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends, to everyone who knew and loved her. No doubt there are so many people whose lives she touched who are missing her incredibly right now. As I experience these things now at this stage of my life, I feel I experience them more as a parent than as a participant, and when I heard about the way that this crime was committed and the innocence of that act that was being conducted by this woman—simply walking through a park on her way home; it wasn't even that late at night—I think of her parents. To lose a child under those circumstances is something you would never want for any Australian, so I really want to give my condolences to her family.

Eurydice was a really inspiring young woman, by all reports. She made people laugh. What an amazing thing to do in a world that doesn't always feel so positive. I read a lovely article in which her friend Kieran Butler described her as brave, courageous, loyal and trustworthy. He said, 'She could genuinely empathise with and understand a point of view or action she vehemently disagreed with. That is rare in someone so young.' Indeed, it is rare in any person, and it's a quality that all of us in this building should aspire to.

What happened to her has left us all shaken. It was brutal, cruel and incredibly hard to understand. It's also a painful, burning reminder of the failure of our parliament, legal system and society to end violence against women. Only four days before the death of Eurydice, another woman, Qi Yu, was murdered, allegedly by her male housemate. She was a 28-year-old Chinese woman living here in Australia—another woman dying at the hands of a man right here in our suburbs. I note that this incredibly sad death of Eurydice Dixon has brought to mind and brought to the fore of the political debate and the debate that we are having around our kitchen tables the fact that 30 women have been killed by men's violence against women this year. We think about the mountains that are moved when we see incidents of a different kind that kill that many people, yet when it's violence against women, for some reason there's a lot of talk and a lot of discussion, but I don't see the action to back it up.

Something I have noted in the public discussion that's taken place around the death of Eurydice Dixon has been a good conversation where I think there are men in this country who are really trying to listen. I had a conversation with my own partner where it became obvious to me that there are a lot of very well-meaning men in this country, men that I respect, who don't know the experience that Australian women live every day: the fact that if you're alone and walking down a dark street you carry your keys in your hand in case you need them as a weapon; you have 000 dialled on your mobile phone in case you feel in danger; you feel fretful and fearful if you hear footsteps behind you. I say that, not to complain, but only because we grow in humanity when we share our experiences with one another. This is the lived experience of Australian women. That's not right and it's not good enough.

When I say that, I know that as a white woman living in a city I'm safer than many Australian women are. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised because of family-violence-related assault than non-Indigenous women. We're living in a country where these things are going on in suburbs and households every day. It's not good enough. I'm glad for the opportunity for the parliament to debate it, but the time for debate has to end at some point. We need to do more.

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to start by offering my condolences to the family and friends of Eurydice Dixon, to those who loved her and who knew her. She appears, by all accounts, to have been a remarkable woman and certainly did not deserve the brutal death that she encountered. I offer my condolences to all women who have experienced violence and to their families, friends and loved ones.

I'm five foot nothing significant in heels. I consider myself to be fit and healthy. After all, I did do two years of boxing, two years of Bikram yoga and I go to the gym as often as I can. But, if I were confronted by someone double my size and double my strength, all that would not be enough. I can carry my phone in my hand and my keys in my other hand. I can text my husband and my friends as to where I'm going, when I get there and when I expect to be there. I can walk along well-lit paths. But that still wouldn't be enough.

It's part of human nature to take on protective and avoidance behaviours in the face of clear and present threats. We as women are told to take account of our own safety, and we do that. Most people do—again, in the face of clear and present threats. But not all violence against women presents as a clear and present threat. In fact, most violence against women is perpetrated by somebody known to them. Also, something as simple and as everyday as getting into a taxi or onto an empty bus, or walking down the path on your normal way home of an evening can lead to a devastating, brutal and violent situation.

It's also not enough to offer well-meaning, though ineffective, platitudes about respect for women. More needs to be done, and that doesn't mean curtailing women's rights to freedom of movement. As I mentioned, we all take on protective and avoidance behaviours when we sense a threat. In that case, all that is left for women is to stay home—perhaps barefoot and pregnant, in the kitchen? But even home isn't always safe. We need more. We need more to be done to protect women.

The Australian Human Rights Commission provided a submission in 2017 to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, and I quote from their submission:

Australia has a disturbingly high rate of violence against women. In recent times, policy and public discussions on violence against women in Australia have had a strong focus on family and domestic violence, in particular intimate partner violence. However, consultations conducted by the Commission indicate that violence against women can take many forms, including family and domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence in residential settings and online violence and harassment.

In fact, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that one woman a week and one man a month were killed by a current or former partner in the two years from 2012-13 to 2013-14. There are a number of initiatives out there that focus on violence against women, but these rates are still extraordinarily high, and extraordinarily high for Australia. They demonstrate that we do, in fact, need more to be done.

We need education programs on building respectful relationships from birth, through school, to adulthood, at schools, at universities and at higher education institutions. We need workplace programs focused not just on the workplace but on public spaces too. We need to have, above all, a discussion about violence against women that does not disintegrate into a binary one of women versus men, where some men want to silence the debate because they feel victimised, or where some women want to victimise other women by somehow making violence their responsibility. We need an approach that tackles the context in which violence against women has been allowed to spread and to grow, and that also looks at the trend towards high trait aggression and the normalisation of all kinds of violence in our society. Until then, we can offer condolences and we can make speeches about respect for women, but, for each woman who dies as a result of violence, we remain culpable.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made order of the day for the next sitting.