Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like many in this chamber and elsewhere, I'm looking forward to a restful 2021 holiday season. It's been a testing 2021 for many people—for small businesses, for year 12 students and for people with families and loved ones overseas. It has been an especially tough year for women who have been fleeing situations of domestic or family violence. The incidence of domestic and family violence has gone up measurably in the past 12 months, including in my electorate of Wentworth. I want to commend three local organisations who have done a huge amount of work in the past 12 months to help women leave their situations and find and start new lives, often with their children. There's Lou's Place, a community based refuge for women founded in 1999; there's the Women's and Girls' Emergency Centre, which every night supports almost 200 women impacted by violence and domestic violence; and there's the Run for Good Project, which supports 10 to 15 families to find a new home every week with furniture and other essential home items. That is why, this year, my Wentworth Christmas Appeal is asking for items to help these centres help women fleeing situations of great danger and great distress. So please drop off some items to my electorate office in Edgecliff, anything that will help people leaving those situations, and we'll get it to those centres.