Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today thousands of women rallied around the country to express their anger and frustration at so little action for so long about gender violence. It's not surprising really when one in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. There are five women in this room right now, so look around. One in five—that's the number that we're talking about, 1. 7 million women. We can't really address this until we ask the next question too which is: who did it? Since the age of 15 1.7 million women have been sexually assaulted. So when we look around we must also see men who did it. It has to be that way. That must be the case. It's a question we don't actually ask. We don't concentrate on the victims and we don't actually ask: how is this happening in our society in 2021, that 1.7 million, one in five, women have been sexually assaulted since the age of 15? These are extraordinary numbers and it's even more extraordinary when you realise that of those women half didn't seek any support at all—none. No support. They were silent. Until today when they raised their voices and we in this parliament are obligated to listen. We are obligated to listen to that roar of pain and recognise that this has gone on far too long.