Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) domestic and intimate partner violence is a national crisis and whilst impacting all genders, the casualties are overwhelmingly women;

(b) on average in Australia, one woman per week is murdered by her current or former partner;

(c) as of 4 February 2024, six women have been allegedly murdered by their male partner in Australia;

(d) in the year 2021-22, 5,606 women were hospitalised due to family and domestic violence, an average of 15 women per day;

(e) the number of Australian women killed by their partners each year has not changed significantly in over 30 years;

(f) women often experience multiple incidents of violence across their lifetime; and

(g) the men who abuse, violate and murder women are not so-called 'good blokes' and any such notion must be called out each and every time a woman faces violence at the hands of a male partner or male they know; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) urgently convene a crisis National Cabinet meeting of federal, state and territory ministers to:

(i) ensure the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 is bringing about the required action and policies to prevent violence against women and children across Australia;

(ii) commission, a review of all state criminal sentencing provisions and the use of character references for domestic violence and gender-based abuse to ensure they are fit-for-purpose in holding perpetrators of violence against women to account;

(iii) increase the capacity of specialist services to assist women fleeing domestic violence to stay alive, such crisis support, appropriate accommodation, leave advice and advocacy and income support and ensure they are properly funded;

(iv) fully fund proven programs that save lives, such as 'Staying Home Leaving Violence', which been shown by research to be an effective contributor to the long-term safety and housing stability of women and children who have left a violent and abusive relationship; and

(v) agree on further concrete, measurable and streamlined efforts at all levels of government based on sound evidence to bring down the horrific number of cases of domestic violence against women and children from this year.

Domestic and intimate partner violence is a national crisis. Whilst impacting all genders, the casualties are overwhelmingly women. Sixty-four women were allegedly killed as a result of domestic violence in Australia in 2023. That means that, on average, one woman per week is murdered by her current or former partner. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are three times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women, 11 times more likely to die due to assault and 34 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of that violence. Despite successive governments' well-meaning efforts, little progress has been made in 30 years.

When I submitted this motion last week, as of 4 February, six women had already allegedly been murdered by their male partner in Australia. As of 10 February, that number is now eight. In the year 2021-22, 5,606 women were hospitalised due to family and domestic violence—an average of 15 women per day. If people were being killed by any other means at this rate in this country, it would spark national outrage and be deemed a crisis and an emergency. We have seen government react in such a way to a recent High Court ruling on immigration detention, to needles in strawberries and to one-punch attacks. We see state and federal governments act with urgency when they feel that the situation requires it. Domestic and intimate partner violence is such a crisis. We need a crisis response: action, mobilisation of resources and urgent legislation.

When another woman becomes a domestic violence statistic, we witness sympathy in this place and hand-wringing but not much more. Mere condolences won't suffice. We need tangible action. In Warringah, the Northern Beaches Women's Shelter is currently turning away approximately 25 women a month because they're full. They need more affordable housing and more transitional and emergency accommodation. Women and Children First, in northern Sydney, are funded to help 208 women a year. Last year they helped 836. There are fewer than 350 police domestic violence reports, yet the services are telling us more than double that number are seeking help. Our bureaucratic systems are not set up to protect women. A few weeks ago, I relayed these resourcing issues directly to the state Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Jodie Harrison. I wrote to the Prime Minister just last week, seeking to discuss this national catastrophe and ask him to take more urgent action.

Today, through this motion, I call on the Albanese government to urgently convene a crisis National Cabinet meeting of federal, state and territory ministers to ensure that the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children is bringing about the required action. That is because this plan spans a 10-year period, and we simply cannot wait till 2032 to realise whether or not it is working. We must have clear KPIs, clear progress, change and increased action when required. Policies to prevent violence against women and children across Australia must be assessed against clear metrics of whether or not they are working. Time is of the essence.

I call on the government to commission a review of all state criminal sentencing provisions and the use of character references for domestic violence and gender based abuse so that we can ensure they are fit for purpose in holding perpetrators of violence against women to account. In the judicial system, our sentencing laws are meant to be a deterrent. They are clearly not a deterrent at the moment, given the current rate of offending. We cannot have any more of the 'good bloke defence'. You know the one. It's the one that says: 'He's really just a normal guy. He's really a nice guy. I don't quite understand how this happened.' Enough with the 'good bloke defence'!

We need to increase the capacity of specialist services to assist women fleeing domestic violence to stay alive: crisis support, appropriate accommodation, leave advice, advocacy and income support. In New South Wales, the Staying Home Leaving Violence program is a proven way to assist women, yet it is not funded and delivered across all local government areas.

There are many concrete actions the government can take. I call on the Albanese government to continue to act with urgency on the crisis of domestic violence.

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

Is the motion seconded?

Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is, and I reserve my right to speak.

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

I rise to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Warringah. Last week at the UN International Women's Day parliamentary breakfast, the Prime Minister said:

One death from family violence is one too many. One death a week is an epidemic.

This scourge must end, and the Albanese government is committed to our goal of ending violence against women and children, and we want to do so in one generation.

Despite the truly horrifying figure referenced by the Prime Minister, and the fact that, in the year 2021-22, an average of 15 women per day were hospitalised due to family violence, violence against Australian women and children is not inevitable. We are working to combat this horrendous statistic. In October 2022, in partnership with the state and territory governments, we released the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. A key part of this national strategy is addressing the underlying factors that drive violence against women and children. The goal is to prevent violence before it occurs and to intervene early and prevent escalation, and, when it does happen, to respond appropriately and in a trauma-informed way, putting the victim-survivors at the centre of the recovery and healing process. This approach has led to $2.3 billion of funding for programs that focus on consent, respectful relationships and sexual violence prevention, including $100 million over five years for the crucial work of Our Watch, the leading body for the primary prevention of violence against women and children in Australia.

The name 'Our Watch' is instructive, because making this large social and cultural change is not just the work of the government, or of women or men or children. It is the work of all of us. So I agreed with Prime Minister Albanese when he said:

Men have to be prepared to take responsibility for our actions and our attitudes.

To educate our sons, to talk to our mates.

It is worth reflecting on the progress made by the Albanese government in addressing violence against women and children. In the first year since the launch of that national plan, we've driven state and territory agreement on implementation. In addition to establishing this framework for success, we've focused on frontline supports and made practical improvements that make a real difference, such as providing financial support for women seeking to escape domestic violence. These women can access the escaping violence payment via trusted community partners—and I know the ones in my electorate do a great job. We've streamlined the application process, reducing the time it takes to receive assistance. We've also increased the amount of financial support that a temporary visa holder experiencing violence can access, from $3,000 up to $5,000.

State and territory organisations that support women experiencing violence have benefited from an additional $159 million, to deliver their vital frontline services. As the member for Warringah pointed out, we do need to increase this even more, unfortunately. But it's worth noting that that funding was due to cease on 30 June under the Morrison government. The work these organisations are doing has also been bolstered by the Albanese government, addressing workplace shortages. As a result, we're steadily growing the number of frontline workers in this important community sector.

Another initiative with immediate positive impact for women dealing with violence is the ability to access 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave from their workplaces, irrespective of whether they're permanent or casual. It's also now easier for women to contact 1800RESPECT, so that anyone experiencing family or sexual violence can receive specialist support services, such as counselling, via text message. The Albanese government is also investing in crisis and temporary accommodation for women and children, via the Housing Australia Future Fund, and delivering 720 new safe places for First Nations and CALD women and children.

These measurable and practical supports directly benefit victim-survivors and are underpinned by ongoing, extensive systemic work. The Albanese government is strengthening the way the criminal justice system responds to sexual assault. An important Australian law reform inquiry is currently underway, and I look forward to Attorney-General Dreyfus's response. It's being supported by a lived-experience expert advisory group, and we deeply respect and honour their voices. Labor is committed to strengthening and harmonising sexual assault and consent laws and to improving outcomes and experiences for victim-survivors in the justice system.

Family violence affects women of every age, every cultural background, every level of education and in every career, in vastly different communities across the country. Yet, while 91 per cent of Australians recognise that violence against women is a problem in our country, only 47 per cent think that it's a problem in the streets where they live. We need to change these attitudes and put a spotlight on domestic and family violence.

Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion put forward by the member for Warringah. Domestic and intimate partner violence in Australia is a national crisis. Every year nearly 8,000 women return to dangerous environments after fleeing violence, because they have nowhere else to go, while another 9,000 become homeless. Crisis-response services are overburdened, and emergency shelters are overflowing. These are just the stories we know of—stories of people who have found a way to leave—with the reality being there are thousands more trapped in violence silently. The words of one North Sydney mother who lost everything after fleeing her violent partner with her three young children push me every day to do better in this place. I share them now in the hope that it will push others. She simply said: 'Surely you can do something at a national policy level. I can't be the only one going through this. It's just too big.'

The truth is she's right. Something must be done at the national policy level, yet, like her, I can't help but question the urgency in which we are responding to this crisis as a parliament. We know we can move with speed when we feel there is a crisis that needs to be addressed. We saw this late last year when this government rushed through laws to deal with immigration detainees in what it perceived to be an immigration crisis. I ask this government today: how many more women need to die before we respond to Australia's domestic violence crisis with the same urgency?

To our shame, programs that have been proven to be effective in offering greater protection and more stability for children are not being rolled out nationwide, with the Staying Home Leaving Violence program being just one example. This program, originally piloted 12 years ago, fundamentally flips the experience of victim and perpetrator, in that it re-empowers the victim to stay in the primary residence. As our current system stands, in the immediate aftermath of violence it is the victim who is largely punished. They routinely lose their home. Their financial circumstances are routinely poor. The children are often uprooted. Yet the perpetrator stays where the violence occurred. The Staying Home Leaving Violence program flips that dynamic and forces the perpetrator out. The program, therefore, stops women from becoming homeless. Shockingly, in the state where it was conceived, New South Wales, it only operates in 91 of 128 local government areas. None of those areas are in Sydney's North Shore. The federal government has an opportunity in the upcoming budget to end this, to stop this inequity, by committing to funding proven domestic violence services right across our country.

We not only have a moral responsibility to take this crisis seriously but also have a responsibility under international human rights laws, with a failure to act seeing us blatantly flout basic human rights like the right to life, liberty and security; the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing; the right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment; and the right to not be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, marital or relationship status or pregnancy. Australian women and families are depending on us to ensure these rights are protected. I want to acknowledge the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children and the respective action plans that are currently in place, as well as the large number of ministers, commissioners and advocates working towards change. But we do not have a generation to stop this; we must address it now. Change is not coming fast enough, and, as the leading federal body in this discussion, we must be focused on enabling everyone to work better together.

I thank the member for Warringah for bringing this important motion forward, and I echo her calls to convene a National Cabinet crisis meeting of federal, state and territory ministers to ensure everyone understands the role they are playing in addressing this crisis. As a federal parliament, we can do three things: we can lead, we can coordinate, and we can provide stimulus, be that financial, human or intellectual capital. It is past time that all of those things were brought to this crisis. I have to say it's particularly shocking during this past week, where we have seen evidence of billions of dollars invested in maintaining an offshore detention centre system which supposedly is in place to protect our community, that those billions of dollars could be far better spent if they were directed to the onshore services that we need to support women and children escaping domestic violence. We choose what we prioritise as a parliament, and it's time we chose to tackle this crisis. Women and children right across the country have nowhere else to turn. It's time we turned to them.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Warringah for moving this important motion. Family and domestic violence is a national crisis. Day after day, the horrific accounts continue. The women and children injured or killed by people—usually men—closest to them: the men they should have been able to trust. Sometimes these stories shock us enough that they make the front pages and our social media feeds for a few days. Sometimes they prompt a moment of collective uncomfortableness where we make comments like, 'He seemed like such a guy,' or, 'They were just a normal family,' but more often this violence happens without any attention, in houses and communities across our country. For too long we have all looked away, and I am pleased to say that this is not the approach of our government. We are determined to end this national tragedy, to do the work to address the underlying causes of this violence, to support early intervention and to help women and children to leave unsafe situations.

It is fair to say that, when our government came to office, we did have to reset this work. I think tonight's Nemesis is going to give us a reminder of how the previous prime minister, the member for Cook, really did struggle to understand issues affecting women in this country. I won't run through it all—we can watch it for ourselves tonight—but, of course, there was the time he told women they were lucky they weren't living somewhere they could be marching to parliament and asking for women to be safe. I note in tonight's Nemesis the member for Cook seems to have tried to explain his track record by saying, 'Suburban dads can be a bit clumsy when it comes to language.'

So there was a lot of work to be done, and our government has got on with it. In 2023 our government released the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, which has the goal of ending violence against women and children in one generation. Through the plan, we are addressing the underlying drivers of gender based violence to prevent it before it occurs. We're supporting early intervention and prevention. We're responding appropriately when violence is used and ensuring that victim-survivors are supported in their recovery and healing, putting them at the centre of this work. We have backed up with this plan with tangible investments. We've invested $2.3 billion to support the implementation of the national plan. This does include the first action plan, a dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander action plant and plan—it is so important that we are addressing that issue in itself and not just as part of the broader issue—and six ambitious targets. We have taken immediate steps to support those impacted by family and domestic violence. We have changed the escaping violence payment to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes victim-survivors to access support. We're providing $159 million to fund the states and territories to deliver frontline services and get more frontline workers where they're needed. We've legislated 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave for all employees, including casuals. As I said, we're rolling out new frontline and community sector workers to support victim survivors and ensure they get the support they need when they need it.

Our government is also directing funding to address the drivers of violence, and this is crucial. This is where we will need to get real change, not just in this parliament, not just in what governments do but in our community. We're providing $100 million over five years to Our Watch to support their critical work. We've launched the consent policy framework to ensure young people are receiving consistent messaging about consent. We're working to address the unacceptably high rates of sexual assaults on university campuses. We want the next generations not to have this experience, not to see statistics at the levels that we currently do. We've got to change this across our society, amongst young people, amongst all of our communities.

Another critical component of our plan is ensuring that women and children have a roof over their heads. Through the Housing Australia Future Fund, our government has created a channel of $1.6 billion from the fund's returns to be directed towards social and affordable housing for women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness. The fund will also provide $100 million for crisis and transitional housing options for those fleeing violence. We know, without a stable roof over their heads, it is so hard for women and children to get back on track and get their lives back together.

This work our government is doing—and what I've outlined is only part of it—does reflect the need for a continuing and wide-ranging national effort to end domestic and family violence. We do know that with all this work we are not seeing it. There is much more to do, but I am confident we are on the right path, and we are committed to getting it done.

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

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