James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the second reading of the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022. I had the opportunity to speak on a motion on the principle of paid family and domestic violence leave—it was moved by the member for Paterson, from memory—in the last sitting week, so I won't revisit the comments I made in the chamber regarding my support for the principle. The substance of this bill, within that principle, is enshrining in the National Employment Standards something that's been established through a recent Fair Work Commission decision regarding paid, rather than unpaid, family and domestic violence leave.

We had the Fair Work Commission undertake an inquiry, and they handed down the decision back in March 2018, as they do when it comes to those that are on an award. Around two million Australians, from memory, as the most recent data indicates, are on some form of award. The Fair Work Commission made a decision in March 2018 that a leave entitlement should be created for everyone on an award, which was that they would have up to five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave per annum, and that would be enshrined in the award. The commission also decided that they would undertake a process over the subsequent few years to consider taking that decision further, to take the principle from unpaid to paid and also to consider whether or not the initial decision about five days was correct.

When the 2018 decision about unpaid leave was made under the previous government, we made the decision to enshrine that principle into the National Employment Standards, because, if we hadn't done that, the Fair Work Commission's decision would have only applied to people on an award. Whilst people on an award should have that entitlement, it's a logical extension that every worker should have that entitlement, whether or not they're on an award. The National Employment Standards apply to all employees, and we made the decision to extend the Fair Work Commission's creation of that entitlement to apply to everyone. That was universally welcomed by business in particular at the time.

What this bill is now doing is following exactly the same principle that we undertook after the 2018 decision, because, more recently, the Fair Work Commission completed their process that they outlined in the March 2018 decision to look at whether or not they would expand the entitlement to become paid rather than unpaid and also at whether or not the five-day period would be adjusted. Their decision for those on an award was to make it paid and also to increase the entitlement from five days to 10 days. What we're doing now is putting this—as we did three years ago—into the National Employment Standards so that that entitlement that those on an award now have is applied to all employees, by virtue of enshrining it in the National Employment Standards.

I'm very supportive of that principle. In contributing to the motion about paid family and domestic violence leave last sitting week in the House, I made the point of how vital it was that we do everything we can to support people in that horrible, terrible and disgraceful situation of being victims of family and domestic violence. We wouldn't ever want someone to feel, because of their employment circumstance, that they couldn't leave such a situation or have the time they needed to put themselves in a safe place and in a safe position because of fear of losing income or having some kind of repercussion for them through their employment.

I commend the Fair Work Commission for the work they've done in this space both in the 2018 and 2021 decisions. I think this is an excellent outcome in the fight that we all have a bipartisan approach towards, which is to stamp out the scourge that is family and domestic violence wherever we can. I think this principle will go another step towards achieving that. I commend it to the House.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022. During the last sitting of parliament, a vigil was held outside Parliament House by women's safety advocates to mark the day that a workplace right for domestic violence victims moved closer to becoming law. Tulips were laid in memory of those who had lost their lives to family violence. I know that many members of this House attended the vigil; it was very well attended. Later that day, as the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations introduced this legislation for 10 days of paid leave for victims of family violence, advocates stood and clapped.

This has been a long, long journey for so many Australians, so many touched by the scourge that is domestic and family violence. We know that there is no single answer to overcoming domestic and family violence, but we also know that family and domestic violence is preventable. We know the policy response needs to be multifaceted. It must come from strong leadership by government; from business—especially from business; from the unions who do so much to make our workplaces better; and, most importantly, from the community and from individuals. It is only fitting that an Albanese Labor government showed leadership by making this bill one of the first pieces of legislation tabled in the first sitting week of the 47th Parliament.

Currently, more than a third of Australian workers already have access to paid domestic violence leave, but making the entitlement a universal one will save lives. Anyone who works with victims and survivors of domestic and family violence will tell you that the most dangerous time for a woman is when she's leaving a violent relationship. It often takes a very long time to get to that breaking point where a woman leaves. Domestic violence is about control, and perpetrators go to extreme lengths to ensure that their victim does not have the physical and financial freedom to leave the violent relationship. Without paid leave, it can be harder for women to flee unsafe relationships. Those who flee have to be able to attend court, a complicated process; they have to find somewhere to live; and, often, they may need to find a new school for their already distraught children. A woman's right to safety cannot dependent on who her employer is. Women need to be given the means to leave safely while knowing that their employment is secure.

This bill will enshrine 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave as a workplace right for nearly every worker in Australia. This bill will make sure that paid family and domestic violence leave is included in the National Employment Standards, an historic reform that will help support all people, but mostly women, who are escaping abusive relationships. While family violence certainly touches the lives of many Australians, the evidence and the statistics are that women are disproportionately impacted. They are also disproportionately overrepresented in lower paid, casual and insecure jobs.

We know that family and domestic violence devastates the lives and livelihoods of those who directly experience it. For victims of family and domestic violence, their workplace can be a source of much-needed support. But it can also be a place where the perpetrator of the violence can readily target them. The University of New South Wales has reported that 19 per cent of Australian employees experiencing domestic violence reported harassment at their place of work—a place where they are known to be. Just imagine the awful dilemma for somebody who has finally taken the very serious and dangerous step of leaving a violent relationship—knowing that, the very next working day, the perpetrator of that violence will know exactly where they are, at what site and inside what hours. Not only that, but the perpetrator will know when they will be leaving that place of work.

That is putting a vulnerable victim into an even more vulnerable and dangerous position. If victims of domestic violence don't have access to paid family and domestic violence leave, they won't have the option of not going to work to avoid their perpetrator, and they won't have the ability to take immediate action to have a protection order put in place through the courts to stop the perpetrator from coming to their place of work to harass or threaten them.

What a difference it would make to the victim's ability to safely leave that relationship if they know that the next day they will not be in a place where their perpetrator will be able to find them and attempt to control them and put them back into their orbit. They will be able to take immediate action to put in place a protection order so that the perpetrator will not be able to go to their place of work or the place where they'll be residing, hopefully safely. These are important but simple things to put in place. To a woman leaving a violent relationship, it can be the difference between life and death. It is that serious. This legislation would make leaving a violent relationship a little bit easier. While getting out will still be very hard, this bill will hopefully mean that now there is less of a chance of someone losing their job and their financial security

This bill sends a clear message that family and domestic violence is not just a criminal justice or social issue but a workplace and economic issue. This bill is a crucial step in combating this crisis and making sure that those experiencing family and domestic violence are financially secure enough to address these challenges. This bill will provide a new workplace right that will more than likely save lives.

Earlier this year, the Australian Council of Trade Unions made submissions to the Fair Work Commission's review into the current model, which provided workers with five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave. The Australian union movement was advocating for a variation that would entitle employees to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. At those hearings, experts from the health, legal and community sectors called for urgent policy changes on behalf of those experiencing family and domestic violence—an issue that has seen a 62 per cent increase in people accessing domestic violence services since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Fair Work Commission hearings also heard from frontline workers. Frontline workers gave evidence at hearing after hearing about the absolute necessity of paid family and domestic violence leave, explaining its importance to accessing critical medical, legal, financial, emergency housing, safety planning, relocation and counselling services. Introducing a scheme that provides 2.23 million award-dependent workers with 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave will give those who are vulnerable to violence at home access to the crucial resources they need to stay employed, to stay housed and to stay healthy.

Family and domestic violence has far-reaching adverse implications for the victims, including disrupting their working life and lowering their ability to earn a permanent wage in a well-remunerated job. Then those ripples go out through families and communities. It is for that reason that it's important to legislate for an appropriate amount of paid domestic and family violence leave to be available to all employees and not just hope that it will be negotiated into workplace agreements. The women who need this leave the most will not be in a position to effectively bargain.

It is important to recognise that this bill is possible because of the hundreds of thousands of union members, community advocates and activists who stood up and demanded that the government act. This bill comes after more than a decade of tireless campaigning by the union movement, activists and community advocates which saw them win the inclusion of 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in collective agreements and then modern awards in May of this year.

On average, it can cost up to $18,000 to flee a violent home environment—money that should be spent on kids and on keeping a roof over the head. We know that economic security is the primary factor that determines if someone subjected to family and domestic violence remains in, escapes from or returns to a dangerous relationship. What's more, the cost of this leave to employers is very low, adding only 0.04c per hour worked. We know that employers already providing 10 days paid family and domestic leave—through union-won collective agreements and also modern award variations—are more likely to see greater retention of staff and higher levels of productivity when their employees are able to take paid leave to overcome serious challenges at home should they arise—and let's hope they never do.

One in six women experience domestic and family violence, which extends beyond physical violence and can include emotional abuse, coercion and financial control. This is something that can happen to anyone in any suburb, in any job or at any stage of their life. The paid leave will be a game changer for working women, who are disproportionately affected by family and domestic violence. Paid leave will be a game changer especially for those who report concern about job security and finances as a major barrier preventing them from fleeing violence. As I mentioned earlier, the average cost to flee is around $18,000. So paid leave is crucial to give impacted workers the time and resources they need.

The ACTU president, Michele O'Neil, has said:

Addressing family and domestic violence is key for closing the gender pay gap as women who experience violence are more likely to fall behind in their career into low-paid and casual work, or out of the workforce entirely.

The former government refused to support paid family and domestic violence leave. This is despite women earning less, having less super, facing harassment at work, and being more likely to be victims of family and domestic violence. These issues worsened during the pandemic, with domestic violence figures surging and sexual assault figures nearly doubling between 2020 and 2021. Working women already have to rely on annual and personal leave to cover time off for things like looking after children, parents and relatives, and for a range of other reasons. They shouldn't have to factor in the financial consequences of taking unpaid leave in order to be safe.

It costs to leave; it's that simple. These costs include setting up new electricity, water and gas accounts, child care, rent, moving fees—all of those things. A new school means a new uniform, new books and all of those sorts of things. And it takes time—time searching for properties, packing belongings, attending complicated court hearings, talking to counsellors and teachers, and making new childcare arrangements. The hidden toll exceeds 10 days of paid leave, but it's the bare minimum to make sure that women—or men; I do recognise that men could be in that same situation—aren't further disadvantaged when they're escaping a dangerous situation. In a country where one woman is murdered by a partner or family member every week, it is indisputable that paid leave could save lives.

Across the world, family and domestic violence leave is increasingly being discussed and advocated in the context of government and workplace responses to family and domestic violence. While many workplaces are introducing these entitlements into their agreements, only a handful of countries around the world have so far actually legislated for the provision of family domestic violence leave.

Interestingly, the first country to legislate for domestic violence leave was the Philippines, back in 2004. The Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act 2004 provides for victims of family and domestic violence to take up to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. Italy's Jobs Act 2016 provides for employees to take a maximum of three months paid family and domestic violence leave. And, I hate to say it, but even New Zealand in 2018 legislated an entitlement for all employees to take up to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, in addition to existing sick and holiday leave entitlements. Canada introduced domestic leave in 2019, and most Canadian provinces have also independently legislated for family and domestic violence leave. It's not yet legislated in the US, but the Biden administration has made a commitment to it. So Australia is now one of the leading countries to recognise this important workers' entitlement.

I do thank all of the people that have advocated tirelessly for this. The actions and advocacy of unions are never for the advancement of the individual alone. Unions act to make changes that benefit everyone. I want to point that out, because some people in this building seem to have a fear of unions. Maybe they've never sat down with unions and seen the great changes that they've brought to society.

Access to paid family and domestic violence leave saves lives. It saves lives. No worker should ever have to choose between their income and their safety, or the safety of their children. As we welcome in these new rights, it's important that we also commemorate all the lives lost—I won't go through those names, but we all know some of those names—and the people impacted in Australia by family and domestic violence. I commend the legislation to the chamber.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the great privilege of chairing the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee when we undertook a very extensive inquiry, which took over 12 months, into family, domestic and sexual violence. Naturally, one of the issues that arose was whether there should be paid domestic violence leave. What the member for Moreton said just a few moments ago is fundamentally false; he indicated that members on this side of the House were against setting up paid family and domestic violence leave. The committee looked at this issue extensively and made a recommendation, and the Fair Work Commission was actually undertaking its inquiry at the time. Extensive investigations and inquiries were being undertaken by the Fair Work Commission. The committee left it open; it didn't dismiss it or reject it. It looked at the importance of the issue. It is an important issue. The committee heard extensive evidence. The member for Moreton talked about an average of $18,000. That wasn't correct. That wasn't the figure that the committee heard. The committee heard that there were expenses of up to $18,000. It wasn't an average; it was up to $18,000. You might think I'm playing semantics, but, clearly, I'm not.

The issue of family, domestic and sexual violence is one over which this country should hang its head in shame. We see a woman die at the hands of a partner or a former partner every eight days. If that were any type of instance other than family, domestic and sexual violence, Australians would be up in arms. We'd be calling for fundamental legislative changes. I won't go so far as to say there would be riots in the streets, but there would be a great deal of concern and action. There would be calls for action. I lived and breathed this issue, at least from an academic point of view, when I chaired this committee. It was one that touched me deeply. I have to say I don't have any personal experience—thank God—in this area, but certainly, having worked on this committee and heard the evidence over such a long period of time, it impacted upon me and all of the committee members.

Not only does one woman die every eight days; there are many examples of where men's lives are taken. This is not just an instance of women dying at the hands of men. We know that, whilst one in six women are impacted upon by family, domestic and sexual violence, one in 16 men are also impacted upon. Clearly, there is a disparity in those figures—I'm not suggesting anything other than a great disparity—but quite often we home in, with a laser-like focus, on the impact on women. But we should also be mindful that one in 16 men are impacted by domestic violence.

These are Australians. The issue of family, domestic and sexual violence does not discriminate by postcode. It does not discriminate by how much money you have in the bank or how much money you earn. This impacts upon all quarters of life, in all areas of Australia. And, as I said when I started this speech, it is something that we, collectively, as Australians, should hang our head in shame over.

The committee which I chaired received over 350 submissions. We gathered over 90 hours of evidence. We made 88 bipartisan recommendations. It was a very significant piece of work. This inquiry formed the shaping of the next National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children, and I am, for one, very proud of the work that we did. The choice between physical and psychological safety and financial security is an impossible one for victims to make. Many victims of domestic, family and sexual violence feel entrapped, and this goes to the very issue of whether there should be some form of paid leave. No person should feel that they have to continue to live with a person because they can't afford not to—if that relationship is a violent one.

We in the committee recommended that the Fair Work Commission review the family violence leave measures that were already in place, which was five days of unpaid leave. The committee knew that the Fair Work Commission was undertaking extensive work on this issue, so if there was ever any criticism of the committee as to why it didn't make this decision about the introduction of paid domestic violence leave, it was because the work was already being undertaken extensively by the Fair Work Commission.

In their review, the Fair Work Commission ruled that leave should be paid for 10 days for full-time employees and on a pro-rata basis for part-time employees. That's what the Fair Work Commission found. It found that leave should be accrued progressively each year, in the same way as personal and carers' leave is accrued under the National Employment Standards to a cap of 10 days. It found that leave should be accessible in advance of an entitlement to such leave accruing, by agreement with the employee or employer. It found that leave should be paid at the employee's base rate of pay. It found that leave should extend only to those who are experiencing violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by a close relative to coerce, control, harm or intimidate an employee. It found that this ruling is in line with the commission's previous ruling under section 106B of the Fair Work Act.

I support this bill, with some caveats. The problem with the bill as it is currently drafted is that it goes beyond the recommendations of the Fair Work Commission. The bill as drafted effectively mirrors the recommendations of the ACTU to the Fair Work Commission. It goes beyond the findings of the Fair Work Commission. We all talk in this place about the importance of an independent arbiter and an independent umpire—in this case, the Fair Work Commission. What this government have done is go beyond it, and I'll talk about some of the problems with the way that they've addressed this issue.

Instead of supporting paid leave at the base rate of pay, as is the custom with other forms of personal leave, and in line with the Fair Work Commission's decision, Labor are promising a rate of pay including bonuses, loadings, allowances, overtime, penalty rates and other incentive-based payments. This is proof that the Labor Party do not understand the way that small business operates. It is proof that the Labor Party don't understand business—full stop! How is an employer going to calculate the rate of pay, taking into account bonuses, loadings, allowances, overtime and penalty rates, when those have not been earned?

How do you calculate for instance, a commission which has not been earned? How do you calculate overtime that has not been earned? These are things that other leave provisions do not provide for, for good reason: because they almost, in fact, make it unworkable and incalculable.

So I would implore those opposite to revisit this issue. Sure, you've got the numbers. Politics is a matter of mathematics. But, on behalf of small businesses in particular around this country, I would implore those members opposite to really have a good look at how these provisions are actually going to work. I'm not arguing with the merits of the underlying argument; I'm arguing about how the rate of pay is to be calculated.

My second issue is how family and domestic violence leave will be paid to casual workers. The Fair Work Commission found that the leave should be paid to full-time and part-time workers. But what about where you have casual workers? I know many people would say: 'Well, that's unfair. Why should you put casual workers aside?' I get the fairness argument, but, coming back to the calculation argument, how does one calculate the leave entitlements for someone who is a casual worker? Do you, for instance, look at an ordinary month or an ordinary fortnight? You've got 10 days leave. Do you calculate it over an average period? The bill is silent about that, so how are those calculations going to be made? Mr Deputy Speaker Wilkie, I know you're very curious about that, and with good reason. What about irregular rosters and irregular work? The whole basis of casual work is irregular, so the Fair Work Commission expressly did not extend its recommendation to casuals.

The other concern I've got is the upfront accrual of 10 days leave. Labor are proposing that the whole 10 days of leave be accrued on day one of employment. That is totally inconsistent with other forms of leave that are paid. So this is a concern where someone rocks up and starts work on day one and they've got 10 days. This is not Andrew Wallace, the member for Fisher, saying this; this is the Fair Work Commission, which didn't extend this recommendation for leave, as important as it is, to the various concerns that I have raised here—and it was for good reason that it didn't do so.

The Labor Party have a choice. They can box on and march through with their numbers—the iron laws of arithmetic. But I would ask them—on behalf of every small business owner around this country who is ultimately going to have to pay for this—to make it workable. Don't just repeat the lines of the ACTU. Respect the umpire's decision. The umpire is the Fair Work Commission. (Time expired)

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to be part of a government that is providing the leadership and the investment to help end family, domestic and sexual violence. Paid family and domestic violence leave is part of that commitment, and it's long overdue. It will also save lives. I've been a passionate advocate for this much-needed legislation for many years. I was proud to be Mayor of the Surf Coast Shire in my region of Victoria when, in 2010, the council voted to introduce paid family and domestic violence leave for its staff. The agreement was hailed as the world's first and most progressive workplace agreement on family violence. While that was world-leading then, it is now well and truly time that this entitlement applied to all employees in Australia, regardless of their type of employment.

Under this bill, more than 11 million Australian workers, including casuals, will have access to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. This change will give workers, who are overwhelmingly women, the means to escape violent situations without risking their job or their financial security. It is a horrific statistic that, in Australia, one woman dies at the hands of their former or current partner every 10 days. Recent research from Flinders University shows that, from the age of 15, around one in four women has experienced at least one incident of violence by an intimate partner. That sad statistic compares to about one in 13 men experiencing similar violence. In Australia, police receive a call relating to family and domestic violence every two minutes, on average.

There is clear evidence that the prevalence of family and domestic violence has increased with COVID-19. For instance, a Queensland study showed that 67 per cent of family and domestic violence services reported new clients seeking help for the first time during the COVID crisis. In my home state of Victoria, sentencing data shows there were 375,000 applications for family violence intervention orders between 2011 and 2020. In the Barwon South West region of the state, which includes my electorate of Corangamite, 25,700 family violence intervention order applications were made over that same period. Sadly, children living in rural and regional Victoria are more than twice as likely to be a respondent to a family violence intervention order.

Last March I visited Geelong's Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre, where I was told there had been a 100 per cent increase in people seeking help, driven in part by the pandemic and lockdowns. The Barwon Community Legal Service—based in Geelong and servicing my electorate—last year said that the number of clients experiencing family violence had risen enormously, with more than 60 per cent of clients reporting family violence. It's also telling that women across the nation experiencing family and domestic violence earn, on average, 35 per cent less than those who don't experience violence. It is an indictment of our society that Indigenous women are 35 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be hospitalised due to family and domestic violence.

This is a serious and systemic problem that must be better addressed. There is no single solution. However, this bill is an important part of that solution. All workers have a right to be safe at work and safe at home, and no worker should ever have to choose between their safety and their income. It's wrong that millions of workers still face that impossible choice. Casual workers are not spared from family and domestic violence. In fact, women who are experiencing family and domestic violence are more likely to be employed in casual or part-time work. We cannot leave them behind. We don't want a system where some workers get paid family violence leave and others don't. It has to apply to everyone. Casual workers are already dealing with the consequences of being in insecure work, unable to access other paid leave. Excluding casuals from this legislation would leave 2.6 million people without this protection and give employers an incentive to prefer casuals over permanent staff.

Unions have fought hard for paid family and domestic violence leave through the Fair Work Commission. Many employers, such as those in the Surf Coast Shire, have already done the right thing and established this entitlement. The government has consulted with business, both through their peak bodies and directly, and has received wide support. Businesses support this. Consultation has also occurred with unions, the states and territories and organisations working to support those impacted by this violence. Evidence heard by the Fair Work Commission found that the use of paid family and domestic violence leave schemes is very low. But the important thing is that it is there for people when they need it.

The Albanese government is committed to removing barriers for people escaping family and domestic violence in their homes. The government aims to release the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-32 this year, which would further this important work. The Albanese government has already committed to a range of other new initiatives that will address violence against women and children. These include new investments for an additional 500 community frontline workers; consent and respectful relationships education in schools—start early; safe and affordable housing for women fleeing violence; and a new domestic, family and sexual violence commission.

Prior to the election, Labor committed to seven new community domestic family and sexual violence community sector workers in my region, the Geelong region, including within my electorate of Corangamite. Similar commitments were made elsewhere in the nation. The additional workers will help up to 560 women experiencing violence who might otherwise be turned away. Leaving a violent relationship is the hardest and most dangerous thing that many people will ever do. We know that having a community sector worker there to help makes all the difference. Frontline domestic violence organisations tell us how much more they could do with an extra pair of hands. A single domestic violence case worker helps 80 to 100 women in the course of a year. Nine years of neglect and disinterest from the former federal government has left many frontline services surviving off the smell of an oily rag. Women in crisis should not be left to fend for themselves.

Survivors of domestic and family violence are brave and resilient. They deserve every chance to rebuild their lives and strive for a safer and better future for them and their families. That stark statistic of one woman dying every 10 days at the hands of a current or former partner in Australia is totally unacceptable. The national plan will set out a strategy for the next decade, with the aim of greatly reducing domestic and family violence.

The government is prioritising this important legislation to increase paid leave for family and domestic violence early in its term. That's a clear demonstration of the government's resolve to remove the barriers faced by those escaping violence. The bill seeks to amend the Fair Work Act, introducing into the National Employment Standards leave entitlements every year. I'm pleased that, in addition to introducing 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, the bill extends the definition of family and domestic violence to include the conduct of 'a member of an employee's household'. Importantly, the bill is also ensuring that casuals will be entitled to access leave at their full rate of pay for the hours they would have worked had they not taken leave. The scheme will start next February for most employees. Small businesses will have an extra six months to adjust to the change, so the scheme is expected to be fully operational by August next year. Small businesses are defined in the Fair Work Act as those with fewer than 15 employees.

This is a change that could and should have been made years ago, but the previous government failed to act, even though this had the support of the business community. Those on the opposition benches now have another chance to do the right thing and back this important legislation.

I'm proud to be part of a government that is moving quickly to deliver on election commitments. I'm especially proud of this bill to deliver on commitments under our Secure Australian Jobs Plan and the women's safety policy. I look back to 2010, when my shire, when I was mayor, introduced this legislation locally, and it went through. I'm so proud that now, across the nation, all men and women who deserve to be able to take that leave will have the opportunity do so, hopefully. There is no task more important for this parliament than providing support for Australian workers to be safe: safe at home and safe at work.

Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my first opportunity to speak in this Chamber, and we have an important piece of legislation that we're debating—the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022. Family and domestic violence remains a serious and growing problem in Australia. The member for Fisher described it as a great shame on our national situation, and I completely agree with that. The words I've written down here are that it is a great scourge affecting every community across Australia. I think that's a very important point that some of the previous speakers have made: that it's not just the vulnerable communities in Australia. It's not just the remote communities in Australia. This is a scourge that is affecting every community in Australia, and I know every representative here in the House of Representatives will have stories of people in domestic violence situations who have come through their electorate office doors and sought support.

For Australian women over the age of 15, approximately one in four experience violence by an intimate partner. That is quite a stunning statistic. Of course, there are many male victims of domestic violence as well, but the thought of one in four women in this country experiencing that is quite a remarkable and sobering statistic. In my own electorate of Bowman, we had our own harrowing story of domestic violence hit the headlines in the last couple of weeks. I won't go into the details of the matter because it will be before the courts, but, needless to say, it brought home the horror of DV and underlined the point that it exists in all corners of Australian society. This incident occurred in a very quiet suburban cul-de-sac. It's a street I've doorknocked before, during the election campaign. It is a lovely, peaceful, bayside street, and it's stunning to think that behind this idyllic scene was a nightmare just behind the door.

On average, one woman is killed by a current or former partner every 10 days in Australia—another sobering statistic. Just down the road from my electorate office in Middle Street, Cleveland, the local Red Rose Foundation and Zonta Club run a vigil every time one of these incidents occurs. It's an important reminder to our community. It's just a quiet, silent vigil. They hold it out the front of our public library, and motorists and pedestrians going past get a gentle reminder that yet another victim of domestic violence has passed away here in Australia.

Sixty-eight per cent of victims of family or domestic violence are in paid work. We know that financial security is a significant barrier to victims leaving violent relationships. This is what the experts tell us.

Many great organisations in my electorate are working to support victims of domestic violence. I want to name just a few of them and maybe touch on some of the lessons that they've imparted to me on this important issue. The Redland Community Centre offers free crisis counselling with professional, qualified and experienced counsellors and also offers self-help workshops. They organise referrals to other relevant support organisations and undertake crisis management on behalf of clients. They have emergency workers on hand who present themselves at the centre when someone is experiencing domestic violence.

Another one I'd like to mention is the Centre for Women & Co., who have done a terrific job in my community dealing with the scourge of DV. They offer trained and experienced DFV specialists providing crisis assessment over the phone or face to face. In particular, they provide advice on information, safety planning and support, which is such a critical aspect of assisting victims to plan their next steps, and that's what this bill goes to. They provide a referral to safe accommodation, of which they've got some within my electorate.

The conversations that I have had with the people working on the front line in the DFV space in my community underline the need for holistic support, and critical to this is financial security. For someone to pull away from a violent relationship, they need financial security and a well-executed plan as to how they're going to get out of the situation and get themselves into a safer circumstance. One of the previous speakers made the point—and I echo it from my conversations with people working in this space—that economic security is the No. 1 obstacle. The stories they tell me are very harrowing. I'm sure we've all experienced similar stories within our own electorates. It's certainly my experience, and I've been told by the people on the front line, that economic security is that critical, key step. Their lived experience is that, without that economic security, victims go back into these relationships, and the situations escalate even further, to the point we saw recently in my electorate, as I mentioned before.

In 2018 Australia joined only a handful of jurisdictions around the world when the then coalition government legislated to provide family domestic violence leave. The Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Act 2018 currently provides five days of annual FDV leave as part of the National Employment Standards. This leave is available to all employees, including part-time and casual employees, from the day they commence with their employer. The entitlement renews annually, but the unclaimed leave does not carry over to the next year. Contrary to the member for Moreton's contribution earlier, in which the picture was painted that people on the coalition side had not taken any action on this, I point to the fact that Australia was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to undertake that legislative change.

Since then, the Fair Work Commission have commissioned a review of FDV leave entitlements in modern awards. That began in April 2021, and the findings of the FWC review were handed down on 16 May, just five days before the federal election. Firstly, the FWC concluded that full-time employees and, on a pro-rata basis, part-time employees should be entitled to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave per year. Secondly, it found that the entitlement to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave per year should accrue progressively across the year in the same way as personal or carers' leave accrues under the National Employment Standards. The FWC concluded that the entitlement should accumulate from year to year, subject to a caveat whereby the total accrual doesn't exceed 10 days at any given time. Thirdly, the FWC recommended that the paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement should be accessible in advance of an entitlement to such leave accruing, by agreement between an employer and an employee. Fourthly, it was recommended that the paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement should operate on the basis that it is paid to the employee's base rate of pay, as defined under section 16 of the Fair Work Act.

That's where we got to with the review of the Fair Work Commission. The bill that the government has brought forward will amend the existing entitlement so that national system employees will be entitled to be paid 10 days FDV leave. The bill also extends the entitlement to casuals and provides that employees are to be paid FDV leave at their full rate of pay rather than just at their base rate of pay. The bill expands the definition of FDV to cover actions by former intimate partners and related household members. The commencement date has been set for 1 February 2023 for employees employed other than by a small business. The entitlement has a delayed six-month commencement for national system employees of small businesses—that would be a start date of 1 August 2023.

Those dates are actually quite close. It may be the fact that we've had a federal election in recent months, but I feel that 2022 is slipping away from us very quickly and that 1 February 2023 will be here in no time. There won't be much time for businesses to adapt to this. I note that there is a six-month extension for smaller businesses, but this is a fairly significant change, and I think we need to reflect on that, particularly in the current economic climate. Small businesses, big businesses, workers and individual households are doing it very tough at the moment. We're facing significant inflation and rising interest rates. There was another rate rise today. It is a very difficult time to be doing business in Australia. Skills, labour and supply shortages are being felt right across the economy. It is a difficult time to do business. It will be a difficult time to do business between now and the commencement date for this bill. We need to reflect on that.

The explanatory memorandum claims that the bill has no financial impact. Of course, that's in reference to the federal government. The intention of the bill is to create an obligation upon employers, rather than the federal government providing any support in terms of direct payment for people claiming this leave. Of course, there is no financial impact for the government on this front, but we have to recognise that this will create some very real cost impositions for business. It is important to note that the former coalition government took a different tact in implementing the original Fair Work Commission decision.

Back in December 2018, the former coalition government passed historic legislation enshrining five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave in the National Employment Standards. These standards set out 11 minimum employment entitlements to ensure consistency of entitlements for employees. The former coalition government reforms matched what the decision of the Fair Work Commission was in relation to award-reliant employees. This new entitlement ensured, as far as possible, consistency in entitlements for employees in the national system and reduced complexity for business. I think that's a critical point. Wherever we can, we should be ensuring that the implementation of these things is very consistent for business. I note that my time is slipping away, so I'm going to race ahead.

Legislating in the National Employment Standards a right to unpaid family and domestic violence leave was an important step and part of the various measures put in place by the former coalition government to support family and domestic violence victims and address this very real issue, which is of great concern to everyone in my community. It is important to note the thoroughness of the recent Fair Work Commission review. This was a proper full review. It took on board input and advocacy from a range of unions and employee representative bodies. Submissions were made and hearings were conducted for every single step of the process. The decision and recommendations were reached independently.

The Labor government's bill goes beyond the model recommended by the independent Fair Work Commission and implements many of the claims made by the ACTU during the hearing of the matter. It's quite concerning that this is going far further than what the Fair Work Commission had recommended. It's critical that we get the balance right. I'll touch on some of the differences. In relation to the accrual of leave, the Fair Work Commission said that the entitlement to 10 days paid FDV leave per year should accrue progressively during a year of service in the same way that personal leave is accrued. The entitlement should accumulate from year to year but subject to a cap whereby the total accrual will not exceed 10 days. This is to ensure someone who starts a new job doesn't instantly have 10 days of liability. It will have the effect of operating as a phasing-in mechanism for the entitlement over the first 12 months. There's the extension to casual employees, which is another point that some of the other speakers have raised, so I'm not going to touch on that. In terms of the rate of pay, it's important to note the distinction. The Fair Work Commission asked for it to be applied to the base rate of pay; this bill seeks to have it applied to the full rate of pay.

There are many groups who've offered their opinions on the legislation and many different business groups who've essentially recommended that we go back to the Fair Work Commission's recommendation, including ACCI, the Ai Group and COSBOA. The cruel impact of family and domestic violence on victims and their dependents is a national tragedy. It is a tragedy that we must fix through education, positive role models, criminal prosecution and social and workplace support. The former coalition government recognised the importance of this problem when, in 2018, it became one of the first governments in the world to act in this regard. What is clear is that both the original legislation and the Fair Work Commission recommendations all show a profound determination to provide effective and sustainable support for victims of FDV. Under the provisions of the bills, the issue needs to be worked through. I think we need to go back to where the— (Time expired)

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very privileged to stand here today to speak in support of the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022, and I'm incredibly honoured to be a part of a government that is passing such an important bill—important for so many women out there.

Rather than get into the technicalities of the bill in the time that I have here, I'd like just to ask the indulgence of people present here and those watching. Just grant me a little bit of indulgence. I'm going to ask you, just for a minute, to imagine yourself at the shopping centre doing your weekly shopping or maybe grabbing something for dinner that night because it's your turn to cook—in my household, every night is my turn to cook. You've got your trolley and you're pushing it down the aisle, and just across there you see a woman dressed in a nurse's outfit. She's carrying a basket. She's grabbing a few items as she goes along. Obviously she's got a list that she's working from, and obviously she's in a hurry. Coming around the corner, you see another woman, a mum with two children: a two-year-old who's starting to throw a little bit of a tantrum, and a one-year-old in the trolley who's getting fairly restless. It's that time of the day for them when they really just want to go home, have their dinner and be put down to bed. She's got a little bit of a frown, and she's trying to figure out how she's going to wrangle it all.

Moving on to the next aisle, you see another woman, perhaps a bit older—perhaps she's retired or perhaps she's still working—and she's standing there looking at the myriad of pasta choices, wondering which pasta to get. I've been there. There's always so much choice in pasta, yet people still insist on making their own. Then, down the way a little bit, you see another woman coming along. She's got her heels on and she's dressed in a business suit. She too has a list and a basket, and she's just grabbing things off the shelf. Obviously, she knows exactly what she's cooking for dinner.

Now I want you to pick one of those women—any one of them. Pick one of those women and imagine that that woman is going home to a partner that she is absolutely terrified of. Imagine that she's going to go home and she doesn't know if she picked the right pasta, because, if she picked the wrong pasta, there'll be hell to pay. Imagine that she's going to go home and that child still hasn't settled and, if she hasn't settled the child by then, there's going to be hell to pay. Imagine that she's going to go home and she doesn't know if she's going to make it through the night again without a bruise or a broken wrist or a broken arm or a black eye. Those are the statistics: one in four women—any women. One in four women that you walk past in the shopping centre is going home to a place that is not safe.

Then, when she gets the courage, the ability and the capacity to finally leave, she knows she's going to live in poverty. She knows that she might have to lose her job. She knows that she's going to have to find someone to look after her kids. She knows that she's also going to have to show up to work every day. She's got to get her mortgage sorted out. She's got to find a place to rent. She's got to get her bank finances sorted out. She's got to do shopping. She's got to furnish her house or an apartment, if she can find an apartment. Perhaps she's got to go to a refuge and spend time in a refuge just to be able to be safe. I've been there, and I've been absolutely honoured by having so many women come and share with me their stories of being there.

When they finally leave—and I say 'finally' because it takes more than one go, and many women go back again and again and again, because they have no place to go and they have no financial security, which means that they're forced back to their abusers, to the perpetrators of violence—they need time. They need the time to get their affairs in order and to have some stability for themselves and, if they have children, for their children, who are often with the woman who has had to leave a violent situation and an unsafe home.

When I stood up here, I said I'm privileged to speak about this, because there was a time in my life when I couldn't even have imagined being able to speak about this topic. There was a time in my life when I couldn't even have imagined that we here in this place would be passing such a bill and recognising exactly what is needed to support, help and assist women—and men, but primarily women—who are leaving violent situations. There are many of them out there, my friends. You just don't know who they are.

I remember the first time I spoke about my story. It was at a professional women's gathering, and the number of women who were teachers, doctors or lawyers who came to me and shared their stories with me would absolutely blow your mind. Sixty-eight per cent of women who are escaping family and domestic violence are employed in some form or another. Sixty-eight per cent of those women have to go to work the next day. If those women are in casual work, they have to forgo a day's work and a day's salary in order to be able to rent and furnish a place, sort out their finances, go to court, get a restraining order, seek a lawyer or just take the time that they need to look after their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of their children, if they have children with them.

This is a good bill. This is a bill that we can all come together to support. Yes, I know that there are some concerns: how are the businesses going to afford it—dah, dah, dah? But let me tell you this: if you had ever had to stand in front of your boss and say, 'Hey, I might have to go to a refuge tonight,' and have him respond, 'Well, are you going to make it into work tomorrow?' then you would know just how important this bill is. You would have no reservations whatsoever in supporting this bill. If you had ever had to find a place to live, furnish that place, get your kids off to school—or maybe even change their place of schooling—or go to a court to get a restraining order, you would know how time-consuming it is, and you would know what kind of support you need to be able to do that when you're coming out of trauma or when you're still in trauma.

I said I didn't want to get into the technicalities of this bill, but I will just make a plea to everyone here about how important this bill is, from and on behalf of all the women with lived experience who I've had the absolute honour of meeting over the years—how much this bill means to them and how much it means to them that we are standing in this place talking about this, talking about a way to support them out of family and domestic violence. The situation hasn't changed in the 30 years that I've been a survivor. The numbers are still up there. We're still counting dead women. Anything that we can do—any measure that we can take to help women get out of family and domestic violence, support them and wrap around them and their children as we're doing this—will go a long way to lowering that startling statistic of how many women die every week and how many women are living with family and domestic violence. Anything we can do to make that statistic lower and to support women is a good thing. It's a good thing.

In closing, I commend this bill to the House. I think I've made it pretty clear that I commend this bill to the House. I feel very passionately about this bill. I think I've made that pretty clear too. I implore every member of this House to think about it. Think about that woman at the shopping centre. You might not know her, but, in passing this bill, you can make a difference to her life.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the contribution by the member of Cowan.

Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every two minutes in Australia, police are called to a domestic and family violence matter. These are our neighbours, our friends and our workmates. Since the age of 15, approximately one in four women have experienced violence by an intimate partner. These are our besties. These are our mothers. These are our daughters and their teenage friends. These are me. These are you. First Nations women are at least 32 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family and domestic violence than non-Indigenous women. On average, one woman is killed by her current or former partner every 10 days in this country.

Family and domestic violence can be physical, sexual or emotional, and it can affect anyone, no matter their gender. However, it affects women most severely. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Recorded Crime—Victims data from 2021, more than a quarter of homicides nationally were family and domestic violence related, and most of the victims were women. Without adequate support, women have been made to bear the physical, emotional and financial cost of being trapped in a cycle of abuse and control at home, with no way out. Family and domestic violence carries health, welfare and social consequences which reach into every aspect of a victim's life. I'd like to take a moment to note the work of the amazing organisation Impact for Women that supports women and families through such trauma with clothes and household items in my electorate of Goldstein.

There are many economic consequences. Violence against women and their children has been estimated to cost Australia $26 billion a year. These costs relate to health services, criminal justice processes and lost productivity. While domestic and family violence largely occurs outside the workplace, its impact reaches into the workplace. More than 68 per cent of people experiencing family and domestic violence are in paid work. Many of them can't leave violent situations without risking joblessness, financial stress, homelessness and poverty. This is why paid family and domestic violence leave is so critical. As the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations said in July, 'No employee should be forced to make a choice between earning a wage and protecting the safety of themselves and their families.'

While I acknowledge the concerns of small businesses both inside and outside of my electorate, submissions to the Victorian royal commission into family and domestic violence made it clear that financial security is a significant protective factor in victims gaining freedom from abusive partners. To gain that freedom, victims-survivors need time off work to access legal appointments, find a new house, find a new school, attend court, move, be available to meet tradies to install safety measures and change financial accounts. Support for victims-survivors in their workplace is critical during the relationship separation phase. The 2021 Playing our part report by the Champions of Change coalition cited that, on average, it takes seven to eight attempts to leave a relationship and around $18,000 and 141 hours for a person to extricate themselves from that abusive relationship. Victims-survivors who are economically dependent on their perpetrator are more likely to remain in that relationship. The more financial independence a victim-survivor has, the more likely they are to be able to leave.

In the Monash University 2021 survey and in interviews with victims-survivors conducted as part of the Fair Work Commission's review of domestic and family violence leave provisions, victims-survivors described the importance of paid domestic violence leave:

I just needed some time to get myself together, my headspace, get some treatments, just to see where I am today. I just couldn’t believe what was happening to me, because it was a number of assaults. It was just awful.

…   …   …

If I didn’t have access to [family violence] leave, I would have lost my job, I would have lost everything… I don’t know if I would have survived … [paid family violence leave] was my lifeline.

Domestic violence doesn't discriminate according to postcode, culture, education or workplace. I've spoken to women in my electorate of Goldstein who are trapped in violent relationships, too frightened to leave, too financially controlled to leave. As the member for Cowan said, these women are all around us. Whether a person is employed on a full-time basis in a well-paid, secure job or in casual, precarious employment, the consequences of living with violence are not diminished.

I commend this government for introducing its Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill and for extending this leave, importantly, to part-time and casual workers. In February 2022, 22.8 per cent of Australian employees, or around 2.6 million, were casuals, with female employees overrepresented in casual employment. The bill provides for the rate of pay for family and domestic violence leave to be calculated at an employee's full rate of pay, and I strongly support this provision in the bill. No one should be financially disadvantaged because they're leaving a violent relationship. We also know that perpetrators may have access to and, indeed, monitor their victim's bank account, so a reduction in a worker's pay could be a red flag to the perpetrator and put the victim at further risk of violence.

Paid leave will save lives and help vulnerable employees escape dangerous situations. It will allow women the opportunity to plan to leave, allow them to take action to leave, and support them after they choose to leave. But the effectiveness of the leave policy depends upon a safe and supportive workplace culture where employees feel comfortable to seek help at work. The administration and operation of this leave policy is just as critical as the existence of the legislation itself. Employers and managers can't be expected to become family and domestic violence counsellors or experts, especially those in small businesses that don't have HR departments. They can, however, ensure that the workplace has policies and procedures in place to support workers who are experiencing family and domestic violence. Small businesses must be supported in this, and I will continue to engage with those in my electorate regarding the transition to the implementation of these measures.

Critical to a worker's safety is the ability to recognise the signs of domestic violence and to refer workers to domestic violence services for expert advice and resources. This sort of whole-of-workplace training must become a priority under the next National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. As others have noted, this bill is only one part of the framework. The bigger picture is the national plan. We must get this right, and it's urgent. The next national plan must have adequate funding, clearer actions and targets, and a well-chosen and properly resourced new family and sexual violence commission and commissioner who can ensure proper evaluation and accountability, so sorely lacking in the first national plan.

The previous plan failed to achieve the single target it set for itself—to see a significant and sustained reduction in violence against women and children during the 12 years from 2010 to 2022. In that time, rates of domestic violence have been stable, and rates of sexual violence have actually increased. Here are some of the key elements that must be embedded into that plan: we need genuine bipartisan commitment and funding to shift away from short-term, bandaid solutions towards longer-term funding cycles; there can be no improvement in women's safety—whatever the new plan's final form—unless it is backed by significant investment; and we need to address the structural drivers of family, domestic and sexual violence—in particular, gender inequality.

Gender inequality is a social condition characterised by unequal value afforded to men and women, and an unequal distribution of power, resources and opportunity between them. Power and control are at the core of all acts of domestic and family violence and occur in an environment of gender inequality. Gendered violence will only be truly addressed when Australian women are equal to men. We need primary prevention and education campaigns that build awareness of the support services available to victims-survivors of family and domestic violence and how to access them. We need education on safe, healthy and respectful relationships embedded into early childhood education settings more consistently.

Violence against women is a national emergency. As Australian feminist and writer Anne Summers said in her recent column:

… it is not poverty that causes domestic violence, as is often thought. It is the other way round. Violence causes poverty.

And it is this realisation that makes so many women remain in violent relationships.

…   …   …

What kind of society forces women into such an intolerable situation?

Until women have equality in all sectors of society, and until they're safe inside and outside of their homes, we must apply a gendered lens to all policies and legislation.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Goldstein for her fine speech. I'm proud to have the opportunity to speak on this bill, the Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022. And I'm proud to be a member of a government that cares about workers, about women and about the right of every worker to a safe home, community and workplace. The bill before us delivers on one of the key commitments Labor made at the federal election—to legislate for 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave for full-time, part-time and casual employees. We will get straight to the job of fixing the failures of the previous government and delivering on the commitments we made during the 2022 federal election.

All workers in Australia have the right to be safe at work and safe at home. No worker should ever have to choose between their safety and their income. It is unacceptable that millions of workers in Australia still face this impossible choice. We know that family and domestic violence is ubiquitous and disproportionately affects women, who are more likely to be casual or part-time. We also know that leaving an abuser is the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence. Maintaining financial security is critical, as is providing adequate time for victims to deal with the many matters that need to be dealt with for them to take the steps to leave a situation of abuse. It's time-consuming and it's emotionally draining, and those matters need to be taken into consideration. In leaving abuse or violence, women incur significant time and financial costs, including finding a new place to live, seeking legal support, receiving medical treatment, and enrolling their children in a new school, for example.

The facts set out by the Fair Work Commission in its recent review are harrowing. Since the age of 15, approximately one in four women—as well as one in 13 men—have experienced at least one incidence of violence by an intimate partner. Indigenous women are 35 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family and domestic violence than non-Indigenous women. On average, one woman is killed by her current or former partner every 10

days in Australia. This is just an absolutely devastating state of affairs.

In Tasmania, calls to police regarding family violence have steadily increased each year since 2014. It's getting worse, not better. Currently, on average, police receive up to nine calls related to domestic violence every single day. Last month during state budget estimates, Tasmania Police advised that, as of 31 March, there had been 3,077 family violence incidents reported to police. Unfortunately, the prevalence of family and domestic violence has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commissioner for Children and Young People in Tasmania has reported that some perpetrators exploited the restrictions on movement and stay-at-home orders imposed during the early stages of the pandemic in Tasmania to intensify their family violence, especially through further isolating women from friends, family or colleagues—or, indeed, workmates. Indeed, a Queensland study showed 67 per cent of family and domestic violence services reported new clients seeking their help for the first time during the COVID-19 crisis.

As well as the personal and social cost of family and domestic violence, there is also a financial impact and a cost to business. Of people experiencing family and domestic violence, 68 per cent are in paid work. Women who are experiencing family and domestic violence earn 35 per cent less than those who are not. The impact of FDV costs employers up to $2 billion a year. This legislation before us today will help reduce these costs by reducing absenteeism, reducing turnover of employees and improving the understanding and management of family and domestic violence by employers. That shouldn't be understated. If managers and employers can learn more about the impacts of this on their employees and confront this as a workplace issue, I think that will help things and help them be more empathetic to the workers who are going through this.

Looking more broadly, KPMG estimates that the total cost to the Australian economy of violence against women and their children sits at around $22 billion a year. In his testimony to the Fair Work Commission on this matter, Dr Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work, estimated the ultimate impact of 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave on total labour costs in the Australian economy. He found that the final impact of this provision on total labour costs was almost too small to measure, equivalent to an increase of labour costs of one-sixtieth of one per cent, not even enough to be visible in aggregate economic data. These costs are easily outweighed by the economic benefits of reducing the incidence of FDV, let alone the social benefits. So the economic costs are negligible, too small even to contemplate, but the benefits are manifest.

Our legislation extends the Fair Work Commission's recent preliminary view by introducing a right to 10 days paid leave for all eligible employees covered by the National Employment Standards, including rostered casuals. Leave is particularly necessary for casual employees, who are already dealing with the consequences of being in insecure work and are unable to access other paid leave. Excluding casuals altogether would leave 2.6 million employees—more than 20 per cent of all employees—without this protection and provide further incentive for employers to prefer casuals over permanent job holders.

The other key difference between our proposal and the commission's preliminary view is that payment for leave will be at the employee's full rate of pay as opposed to the bare rate minimum that applies under the NES for other paid leave entitlements. This departure is also critical to meet our policy objective of minimising, to the greatest extent possible, the damage and disruption to a person's life and economic security caused by family and domestic violence. We have also extended the definition of family and domestic violence to include conduct of a member of an employee's household, to recognise that Australians are living in more diverse and different arrangements.

The new entitlement will take effect on 1 February 2023 for businesses other than small business—fewer than 15 employees—and on 1 August 2023 for small business, in recognition that they have limited human resources and payroll capabilities.

I'll spend the last couple of minutes talking about the economics of this, but, to me, that's not the main game. The main game is the social and human impact of this change, which recognises that women in workplaces need this support. It's been too long in coming. It would have been great to have it come in sooner than it is, but at least we're making headway now. This also goes to the women's safety issues that the Labor Party articulated at the last election. We're going to establish a new Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Commissioner. We're going to fund 500 new community sector workers. We're going to invest $77 million to help make sure all Australian school students are able to access high-quality, age-appropriate consent and respectful relationships education. We will work with the states and territories to strengthen and harmonise laws relating to sexual assault and consent. We will deliver a separate national plan for First Nations people, to end violence against women and family violence, because of those horrendous rates among Indigenous woman. We will support justice reinvestment in First Nations communities, with a $79 million investment to reduce incarceration rates, including early intervention to reduce family violence. We will deliver more safe and affordable housing, helping women and children fleeing violence. There is $1.6 million to be spent on building 4,000 new social housing properties specifically allocated to women and children fleeing domestic and family violence. And there is $100 million allocated for crisis and transitional housing options for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, and for older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness.

Violence against women and their children is a crime and a fundamental breach of human rights. Every Australian deserves to live free from violence. The Albanese Labor government is providing the leadership and investment needed to help end family, domestic and sexual violence, and it starts with this bill. I commend the bill to the House.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to support an increase in the domestic and family violence leave entitlement for victims-survivors of family and domestic violence, from five to 10 days each year. It is irrefutable that the rate of family and domestic violence is growing in our country, and there is an urgent need for our communities to help when we can. Prior to coming to this place, I met twice with the women's roundtable from Kooyong. They pressed upon me the importance of this leave entitlement. They spoke of research which supported its implementation and acknowledged the unfortunate prevalence of domestic violence in and around Kooyong.

In most cases, the victims of family violence are women and children. The data tells us that, from the age of 15, one in four women and one in 13 men have experienced intimate partner violence. Women in rural areas are 24 times more likely to be hospitalised than women in the cities. We must implement whatever measures we can to support people who are experiencing family violence.

Academic research shows that, on average, it takes seven or eight attempts to leave a violent relationship. It also comes at a significant financial cost. On average, it takes more than 140 hours. This process of extrication, which is statistically the most dangerous period for women and their children who are fleeing violence, cannot simply occur outside work hours. About 68 per cent of people who are experiencing family violence are in paid work. Many are unable to escape violence without the risk of losing their job and experiencing financial stress. This can often result in homelessness and long-term poverty. Unpaid leave may not help. Some women are in a financial position to take unpaid leave; most are not. Furthermore, experts warn that any unexpected pause in income from unpaid leave can be a flag to an abuser. This is another reason why it's crucial that a person's paid work is maintained throughout the period of leaving a violent partner, and later, too, as they start to recover or begin the process of court hearings or counselling. During this difficult and often dangerous time, support from the workplace is critical. No worker should ever have to choose between their safety and their income.

I also support the minimisation of barriers to obtaining this leave. It's still a highly stigmatised subject for many, although it is to be hoped that measures such as this one will help in the process of destigmatisation. Importantly, I hope that employers will start from a place of reasonable belief and a recognition of the bravery of those who come forward. We do not want people failing to ask for help because of the difficulties in providing proof of their abuse.

This bill is one of those special reforms that, while members and senators in this place will pass it through the parliament, belongs to the advocates who fought for it. People fleeing domestic violence and abuse will be afforded 10 days of paid leave because of the persistence, the dedication and the courage of survivors of violence who have worked very hard so that no-one else will have to go through what they went through.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Family violence can affect anyone. We know that it is not class based; we know that it is not culturally based. We know that, from the statistics, one woman every 10 days loses her life to family violence. And we know we need to be doing more as a country and as a government to be helping these women and, quite often, their children. It's a situation that many of us in this place know of an example. We know of someone who may have lost their life or who has gone through or is going through the tough decision about what to do, whether they be a loved one, a family member, a neighbour, a work colleague or somebody in our community. Everybody knows somebody who has been a victim or a survivor of family violence. We say this with a heavy heart because we know that the bill before us has come too late for too many women. This bill has come too late for women who may have survived but have scars. This bill has come too late for children who carry their experiences with them.

The Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022 replaces the current entitlement in the National Employment Standards of five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period with 10 days of paid leave for full-time, part-time and casual employees. It also extends the definition of family and domestic violence to include current and former intimate partners of an employee and members of an employee's household. When the minister introduced this bill into the parliament, he explained in detail why it was necessary to extend this entitlement to a broader group of employees than other entitlements have done. Currently, casual employees aren't entitled to sick leave. This bill goes further than any other workplace entitlement because family violence doesn't distinguish employment status. You can be somebody wanting to leave an abusive relationship, whether you're a full-time, part-time or casual employee. That is why it is so important that this bill include casual workers.

More than 11 million Australian workers, including casuals, will have access to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave under this legislation. Casual workers are not spared from family and domestic violence. In fact, women who are experiencing family and domestic violence are more likely to be employed in casual work, and we cannot leave them behind. That is why it is a universal entitlement. It is needed. This is a historical step that we, as a parliament, are making. It will change the lives of women experiencing family violence. It will save lives. Those who say that aren't romanticising, celebrating or glorifying what this bill will do. It will literally save lives because it will give women pay and time and an opportunity to have a conversation with their employer about why they need time off to deal with what is happening in their lives.

Far too often we hear testimony from family and friends: 'Why didn't she let me know? Why didn't she speak up? Why didn't she just leave?' For far too many women, the reason not to leave is a financial one—they can't afford to lose that day of pay; they've run out of leave, if they're entitled to leave; they just can't see a way out. Whilst this is not the silver bullet, it is one way that we're hoping to help those women who make that decision to leave an abusive relationship. Paid family and domestic violence leave is part of our commitment that we are standing here making together, hopefully as a parliament, to provide the leadership and investment that we need to support families and to help end the hideous cycle of family and domestic and sexual violence. Paid family and domestic violence leave is a long-overdue change.

I do want to acknowledge that in my time here this is an issue that the parliament—particularly us when in opposition—did take seriously and did work constructively on. We did support the five days of unpaid leave when it was first introduced by the previous government, and at that time we called for it to be paid, because we know that very few people can actually afford to give that day up if they need that money to pay rent and bills. Those 10 days give women the opportunity to attend court, to change schools for their child if they need to, to spend a day with their kids, to work with them on what's going on and happening, to attend counselling, and to do whatever they need to do to get themselves to a safe place where they can feel safe from violence and start to slowly rebuild their lives after the experiences that they've had.

We talk a lot about it being women, because it nearly always is. Yes, there are a few incidents where it's men who are victims of family and domestic violence, but it's nearly always women—those are the statistics—and children. Children in these relationships either bear witness or are themselves victims of violence. This is why this reform is so necessary and long overdue. This change will give workers, overwhelmingly women, the means to escape violent situations without risk of losing their jobs or financial security.

I can remember having a conversation with a woman in my electorate shortly after I was elected. She'd fled Melbourne, to central Victoria, and was staying with friends. She was still making the tough commute back to Melbourne to work. She was worried that her former partner would turn up at her workplace and was struggling to have the conversation with her son about why they were staying for an extra-long period with their friends. She eventually ran out of her leave entitlements and eventually had to quit her job because she just couldn't continue that commute. She was leaving the area to move somewhere else because she was struggling to get access to accommodation. She felt embarrassed about the idea of turning up to work without having been able to have a shower, if she were forced to live out of her car. She felt embarrassed to have the conversation with her work colleagues about what she was going through, because she thought that so many of them were good friends with her former partner. These are the thoughts, the ideas and the real conversations that women are having each and every day.

This entitlement now makes it law and gives them the opportunity to have leave and to ask for leave. Yes, there is a big support package that needs to go with this—an education piece for our employers and for women and for work colleagues to have about why this entitlement is necessary, to encourage women to ask for it if they need it, and to encourage employers to support women who need it. But having the entitlement legislated in the first place means we're halfway there.

Another example is a small business in my electorate who reached out. They knew that one of their workers was a victim of family violence, and they wanted to do all they could to help her and said: 'What can we do? We don't know who to turn to. This person is an invaluable employee. We can see her burning through her leave. We know she needs help, and we don't know what to do.' At that stage, there was no entitlement for unpaid leave. There was no-one in Fair Work or in organisations that this business could turn to for support. They had to wing it alone. It shouldn't be that way. If we are going to be serious about ending the systemic and endemic—or pandemic—issue that we have of women being victims of family and domestic violence, we have to normalise the conversation and give employers, as well as women, the tools and the opportunity to support their workers in these situations.

The good news for this proactive employer was that they did get help from the Centre for Non-Violence—which is based in my electorate—who quickly worked out a great plan. They did everything they could to keep on this woman, this particular employee of theirs, who they said ran the place—she ran the books, she ran the diary and she was invaluable to them—and today they are all stronger than ever.

I really want to congratulate this business and other businesses and employers who have done the right thing and reached out, because it is a tough time. It's a tough time for anyone who knows that someone they care about is going through family and domestic violence—how to support them. And quite often you don't know the best way to help them. So that is why seeing the leadership from this business has really stuck with me. I hope that more businesses, once this bill is enacted, are able to do the same and that this gives them the opportunity to understand how they can better support their employees.

Following consultation with business, the government has determined that the schedule will commence from 1 February 2023 for most employees. Small businesses will have an extra six months to adjust to the change, meaning the scheme will be fully operational in August of next year. This is a change that could have been made years ago but wasn't. Even though it had the support of the business community and would have easily passed the parliament, it has taken this parliament—it is up to us, the 47th Parliament—to make this a reality.

The campaign began long ago, and I want to acknowledge the efforts of the ASU—the Australian Services Union—and of civil society organisations and the community sector in campaigning for this. They did not give up. They wanted to see 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave enshrined in our National Employment Standards so that every worker who needed this entitlement could access it. The very first family violence leave enforceable instrument anywhere in the world was negotiated by the ASU Victoria and Tasmania branch into the 2010 Surf Coast Shire agreement, and I want to acknowledge the member for Corangamite, who was the mayor at the time. Leadership from the employer, the Surf Coast Shire Council, and from the union who fought for that entitlement to be in the agreement—that is where we work best. The reason why what ASU and the civil society members did was so significant was that in many cases they weren't fighting for this entitlement for themselves, which is what usually happens in union campaigns; they were fighting for this entitlement for every worker in every workplace. That is why their We Won't Wait campaign deserves recognition.

What else needs to be done? As I said, this is just one of many things, many initiatives, that we need to do if we are going to stop the endless cycle of family and domestic violence. We know from the stats that, in the 12 minutes that I have been speaking, the police have already been called out six times. Every two minutes, the police are called out to an incident of family and domestic violence. We need to be supporting our frontline workers. We need to make sure that they've got the skills and that there are enough of them to support women who are fleeing family violence. Our government has also announced an additional 500 frontline community workers; funding for consent and respectful relationship education in schools; safe and affordable housing for women fleeing family violence, including more accommodation to be built in my electorate; and a new Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Commission.

This is just the beginning. We know this has to be a partnership, a compact and a commitment—not just from our government but also from state governments, from local governments, from every employer and from every organisation—that we work together so that, in a generation's time, these horrible statistics are not still a reality. If we want to support women to leave, we need to do so with every tool and every opportunity we have. We do not want to be here in a generation's time talking about the lost generation of women—one every 10 days losing their lives to family and domestic violence—and their children and family members who are left behind to pick up the pieces.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for Indi.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker Sharkie, and congratulations on your elevation to the Speaker's panel. The Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022 will provide all employees covered by the National Employment Standards with 10 days paid leave at their full rate of pay if they're experiencing family or domestic violence. It expands the definition of family and domestic violence to cover actions by former intimate partners and unrelated household members. It also extends the entitlement to those who are employed on a casual basis and delays its implementation for employees of small businesses in order to give those employers more time to be ready for those changes, which is so important.

I welcome this legislation. Family and domestic violence is an epidemic in our society and this is just one of many measures the government must take to address an issue that leaves a wide and deep scar across the lives of too many people, predominantly women and children. Family violence is the leading preventable contributor to death and disability in women aged 15 to 45 years, and it's the biggest contributor to women's ill health. It's also the largest driver of homelessness for women and—unbelievably!—results in a police call-out on average once every two minutes across Australia. It's extraordinary. Throughout my clinical career I met countless women experiencing family violence, and that's not surprising, because one in six Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or previous partner. As a midwife, I screened for intimate partner violence, and this was an important evidence based intervention because it's estimated that around 15 per cent of women who report abuse report that that abuse started or worsened during pregnancy—again, a shocking revelation.

The rate of family violence in the biggest towns of my electorate of Indi is staggering. Women in Wodonga and Wangaratta experience family violence at a rate 33 per cent higher than the Victorian average, and in Benalla it's 76 per cent higher. Those numbers are hard to fathom, but they represent thousands of women I represent, and I wish to use this platform to assist them in any way that we as legislators can. Of course this change won't solve family and domestic violence; it's just one piece in the puzzle. I hope to see much more from the government on the prevention end of this scourge, and I welcome what I heard from the member for Bendigo just now about the prevention space. For someone experiencing family and domestic violence, this leave could make what previously seemed impossible possible: attending a doctor's appointment, attending an antenatal check, attending hospital, going to the police, appearing in court, attending an appointment with a counsellor or with a lawyer, going to the bank, opening a new account or going to an inspection of a new rental to start a new life. Previously, a victim of family violence may have felt those tasks to be out of their reach because they couldn't afford to miss work. Leaving their relationship may have already seemed an insurmountable task because of the huge financial cost involved. This goes some way to lightening that load, but this is just the beginning. Family violence can have long-term impacts on the health, wellbeing, education, relationships and, so importantly, the mental health of women and their children.

Making this leave available isn't just about doing the right thing for women at the most vulnerable times of their life; it also makes sound economic sense to make paid leave available to those experiencing family and domestic violence because that violence is having a seriously negative effect on our economy. In 2015, PricewaterhouseCoopers calculated that the broad economic costs of violence against women by their partners totalled $12.6 billion per year. I note that the Australian Industry Group has aired concerns about the cost this will place on employers, believing it to be too much of an impost. But employers are already paying the cost of domestic violence through absenteeism and lost productivity. Making this leave available will help good employees who, through no fault of their own, are experiencing domestic and family violence. At the Jobs and Skills Summit last week, much was said about increasing women's participation in the workforce and about reducing barriers to participation. This is just one of the ways in which we can assist women to stay in the workforce and ensure their own economic security as they respond to the violence they're experiencing.

While this is welcome, I know that for some employers it will be a challenge. There are many good employers across my electorate who want to do the right thing by their employees, who want to be fair and who want to support them when they are experiencing family violence. The CEO of COSBOA, Alexi Boyd, made the very important point that many small businesses have treated these situations with compassion and generosity, but they're not experts in handling trauma. While we are really welcoming this measure, we must also ensure that there's education and support, especially for small businesses. Implementing this reform must be simple and it must not cause unnecessary red tape for employers—and especially not for victims of violence. We mustn't create another barrier in the effort to remove one for those experiencing family and domestic violence.

This is a great first step, but it must not be the last step. I look forward to seeing many more bills coming into this House to address the scourge of family and domestic violence, to see funding for primary prevention, for education and support services, and for strategies which focus on changing behaviour and, crucially, the structural, cultural and societal contexts that target underlying causes, such as gender inequality and poverty.

I close by acknowledging the work of the incredible people across my electorate of Indi who work in this very difficult space: Women's Health Goulburn North East, Gateway Health, our GPs, our social workers, our nurses, our midwives and our emergency department staff. Case workers across Indi, I thank you for your work, and I thank the government for this important bill.

Debate adjourned.