Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to recognise the very powerful women from frontline domestic and family violence services in Newcastle who drove all the way to Canberra to make their voices heard by this government about the complete lack of action for women and children suffering domestic violence in Australia. On display on the lawns of Parliament House this morning were 150 'dresses of sorrow'. These dresses have been lovingly made to commemorate the women who have been murdered in senseless acts of violence in Australia. Each dress tells an individual story, but they are the lived experiences of too many women in Australia. Heart sickened from bearing the pain, trauma and grief of these deaths year after year, the Newcastle women brought these dresses to Canberra to transfer that burden to the Prime Minister and his government, to demand urgent, enduring and sustainable action. This morning, they gifted those 150 dresses to the Prime Minister. This is a precious gift, but it comes with a call to government to take responsibility, to take national leadership, and to increase dramatically the funding to domestic and family violence services and refuges for the homeless so that no woman is turned away, to immediately address the housing crisis in Australia and to address the gendered poverty that persists in this nation. Enough is enough, Prime Minister. (Time expired)