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

When two young men died, the New South Wales government introduced mandatory sentences for one-punch attacks. When it was terrorism, laws were changed to jail people on the apprehended risk of crimes. But when Australian men kill Australian women the government's national plan is to take 10 years. In the gallery today are advocates here to hold a vigil for the 192 women killed by men since the 2021 March4Justice. We have a crisis of male violence and women's safety. Will you be tough on this domestic terrorism by leading an overhaul of national sentencing laws, including AVOs?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I give the call to the Prime Minister.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Warringah for her question and for raising these issues with me when I visited her electorate of Warringah recently as well. Violence against women is indeed a national crisis. We know that, on average, once every four days a woman is murdered by someone they know, by an intimate partner or a former partner. That is a national crisis. It's a scourge and a stain on our nation, and we need to do better. Governments need to do better, but we as a community need to do better as well, because this is about more than just government action. This is about our whole society and how it functions and about respect for women. We can change it, and we must change it.

Our record investment in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children from 2022—I do disagree with her depiction of the national plan—is a recognition that, tragically, you can't solve this overnight. You need to change behaviour across a whole range of ways. We need to change the way the education system works. One of the things that the royal commission in Victoria in 2016 found was that they needed to get that education about respectful relationships in school, and that has happened. One of the things about the national cabinet meeting I convened was that people talked about replicating best practice, and that included the issue of sentencing.

I note that New South Wales has made a significant announcement, and I support the stronger action for people who have AVOs—stronger action to make sure that people aren't just released into the community who are a threat to a woman. It's very strong action, indeed. I know that premiers of other states and chief ministers as well agreed at that meeting to look at all of their laws, including bail laws, and to return to the national cabinet. They are state laws; they're not national laws, but we can encourage best practice when it comes to that.

We, through that national cabinet meeting, established permanently the leaving violence payment, and tonight's budget will see $925 million for that. Tonight's budget will also see a billion dollars directed towards crisis and transitional accommodation for women and children escaping domestic violence. In addition to that, the Minister for Communications is doing important work to tackle extreme online misogyny, which is a real issue and something that will be a real focus as well.

I pay tribute to the survivors and people who are working so strongly on this. Of course, a focus on prevention must mean a focus on perpetrators as well. We know the work will be hard. There are no overnight solutions, but we're absolutely committed to working—including with the member for Warringah and across this parliament—on all of these issues to make sure that the scourge which is there is dealt with in the best possible way.