Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It feels like with growing frequency we hear a new story about a woman who has been killed as a result of gender based violence. We hear about her dreams and her ambitions and how her life was tragically cut short by a man, often a man that was known to her. To date this year, 31 women have been killed by men.

Gendered violence has been pervasive for too long and has reached alarming levels this year. Unfortunately, we see that deaths are the very worst manifestation of gender based violence in our communities. Too many women in Australia are dying, too many women and Australia are living in fear, and too many men are killing women. Enough is enough. We need investment, research and strong action to really change this. We need to be unflinching in our actions to end male violence against women. We need men to step up to call out gendered violence amongst their mates before it escalates. Gendered violence exists on a spectrum. It's not just in those final very tragic moments where people die that it manifests. It manifests in language that is used to describe women. It manifests in the undermining gender stereotypes that we see. It is the responsibility of all of us to address and confront this and do better, frankly, to combat the toxic views of women that lead to violence.

We need to amplify the voices of victims-survivors, and I'm really pleased that the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children in a generation places the voices of victims-survivors at the heart of our strategy. I really urge people to read the introduction to that plan, which was written by victims-survivors and is an incredibly powerful piece of writing. We need to listen to victims-survivors about what they want, about what they need and about how we can drive structural and systemic change. We cannot look away anymore.

Since we were elected, our government has put gendered violence at the front and centre of our agenda. We have a National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children in a generation, which is ambitious but is necessary, and that is supported by $2.3 billion in funding commitments. We've taken action to improve consent and support respectful relationships education, and we're incorporating all of our community in that work, which is really important. We've improved criminal justice responses to sexual violence. We've reduced trauma for victims-survivors in the criminal justice system by supporting an inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence, informed by a national roundtable and a lived-experience expert advisory group of victims-survivors and their advocates.

We have an action plan addressing gender based violence in higher education, to address the safety of women on campus, and we're establishing a National Student Ombudsman to address sexual violence on campus too. We've invested $104.4 million in Our Watch, Australia's leader in the primary prevention of gender based violence. We've reformed the family law system so it is simpler, safer and more accessible for separating families and their children.

We've acted to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in the workplace by implementing all recommendations in the Respect@Work national inquiry report. As part of that, we've implemented a new positive duty on employers to prevent workplace sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the workplace.

We've invested in access to housing for women and children experiencing family violence and are continuing the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program, increasing crisis and emergency accommodation places for First Nations women and children, for women and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and for women and children with a disability. We've helped ensure women don't have to choose between their work and their safety, by introducing 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. What is really significant about this leave is that it is available for all workers, whether they are in casual work or in permanent work. We've supported migrant and refugee women who've experienced violence by supporting visa holders further to get the support that they need, and we're investing in frontline services for women experiencing family and domestic violence.

Early intervention efforts are being supported through engagement with men and boys to stop violence escalating. We're improving data reporting on domestic, family and sexual violence by establishing a new statistical dashboard to provide more timely reporting on intimate partner homicide; it will be introduced this year. We're investing in many actions to prevent and respond to technology facilitated abuse, but, clearly, there is so much work that needs to be done. We look back through decades, and see that gendered violence has been with us for a very long time. Unfortunately, it sometimes feels like things are not changing or improving in a positive way.

So we need to consider gender equality in all of our policies as government, because, as I've said before, it's not just those very extreme stories of women being murdered that are a manifestation of gender based violence; there are many instances that we experience in our day-to-day lives, and these are tied to gender inequality. So addressing gender inequality is really important in making sure that we eradicate gender based violence from our communities. That's why we've put gender equality at the heart of economic policy and decision-making by introducing gender-responsive budgeting and gender impact assessments as part of the Commonwealth budget process. We want women to earn more money, to be empowered and to be equal. There are many measures that we've taken in regard to that, including provisions for pay increases for workers in feminised industries. We know there's a lot more to do, and there always will be. This is a start, though.

What we're confronting here is intergenerational violence. Unfortunately, violence against women—gender based violence—is not new, but we see that women keep being murdered by men year after year. I want to end here by sharing some of the stories of women over decades in my electorate of Chisholm who've unfortunately been murdered due to gendered violence, because their names and their stories matter.

In 1975, Ailsa Mary Frederick was abducted and murdered by a business associate of her husband. She was abducted from her place of work at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind in Burwood, where she was a teacher. She was a mother to three children and was 58 years old.

In 1992, students Anne Smerdon and Kerryn Henstridge and Anne's brother-in-law Peter Dempsey were murdered at Anne and Kerryn's home in Burwood. They were interviewing for a new flatmate when they were murdered.

In 1993, Phyllis Fielding Hocking was murdered at her home in Box Hill. She was murdered by her grandson at the urging of her son. Before she retired, Phyllis was a science teacher. She was 79 years old.

In 2004, Aneta Pochopien was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. She was murdered in her car outside her home in Chadstone. She'd just finished a night shift in the factory where she worked and was shot through her car window. She was 32 years old.

In 2012 Preetika Sharma and her two children, five-year-old Divesh and three-year-old Divya, were murdered by her husband and the father of her children. She and her children were smothered in their beds in Glen Waverley. Preetika was 35 years old.

In 2013 Sahara Rahimzadegan, known as Mandy, was murdered by her husband in her lounge room in Ashwood. She was strangled and then buried in her backyard, and her husband built a deck on top of the grave. Her family had come from Iran to be with Mandy just five days before she was murdered. She was a mother of two and she volunteered to help asylum seekers.

In 2017 Georgia Karatzas was murdered by her husband in her Mount Waverley home. She was doing laundry when her husband strangled her with an extension cord. She was 68 years old.

In 2019 Qin Wang was murdered by her brother at his Clayton home. Her body was moved to another family home in Burwood East where she was found by police. She was from China and was visiting family in Australia. She was 57 years old.

We need to do better for Ailsa, Anne, Kerryn, Phyllis, Aneta, Preetika, Mandy, Georgia, Qin and for every single woman in our country. I want to acknowledge the work of Sherele Moody and the RED HEART Campaign in telling the stories of these women, murdered across the country, including in my community in Chisholm. Their work to create the Australian femicide and child death map is important in remembering Australian women and children who have lost our lives to violence at the hands of men.

We need to do better and I know that the entire parliament is committed to the really hard work to eliminate gendered violence in a generation.

Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Warringah for bringing this motion. We have heard many, many fine words, with the member for Chisholm sharing some horrid stories just now. There has been genuine sentiment being expressed by the many speakers but we need action. Women are being murdered at almost twice the rate of last year, now four a week. Just recently, the Prime Minister expressed his condolences, again, with very fine words to the families of five women murdered at Bondi Junction. Again recently, the Attorney-General said that, to create lasting change, women could not themselves be expected to solve the violence against them. But the government then released a budget that does nothing to address the epidemic of men's violence against women. That is a betrayal of women.

One in four women have experienced violence since the age of 15. One in two women have experienced sexual harassment. This is absolutely an epidemic. Thirty-one women have been murdered this year. I'm sorry but since I drafted the speech I have had to update that number twice. The government has nothing new to offer those critical front-line services in this war.

The Greens have amplified the women's safety sector's call for $1 billion each year for front-line services for over two years, and we will continue to do so until the sector is funded to do the vital work that it does. This budget was the time for the government to fully fund front-line domestic family and sexual support services but there wasn't a single cent of new money for front-line support services, no new money for prevention programs to stop the epidemic of violence against women, no meaningful increase for JobSeeker, which would help women have the financial security to leave violence, nor was any actual new money for crisis housing.

But there was enough money for wealthy property investors—$174.5 billion—enough money for fossil fuel subsidies—$50 billion. The government has offered almost nothing for women's safety, and the more Labor ignores this national crisis, the more women will die; it's about priorities. What Labor did announce was $925 million to extend and marginally expand the existing leaving violence payment, literally a recycled Morrison government program, one that has been plagued with problems, delays and administration issues. If the Labor government was actually really serious about women's safety, it would commit to an immediate boost of $1 billion in annual funding for front-line services for domestic, family and sexual violence including crisis services, refuges and emergency housing. These are absolutely essential.

If they were actually serious they would commit to an immediate increase in funding to Legal Aid by $484 million and to Women's Legal Services Australia by $25 million to allow more women to access the legal help they desperately need. If they were serious, Labor would commit to establishing a national database to record all those who are convicted of family, domestic and sexual violence offences. And they would fund community education and prevention work consistently, including respectful relationships education, to bring about the culture change that we so desperately need in Australia.

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

I thank the member for Warringah for bringing this motion on gendered violence and acknowledge her longstanding work and advocacy in this area. There are tragic, avoidable headlines every week that confirm that gendered violence is a national crisis. The blunt statistics tell a horrific story that is worth repeating so that our nation can grasp the enormity of the problem. These are non-emotional, empirical facts: 2.3 million Australian women have experienced violence from an intimate partner. They could be your mother, your sister, your daughter, your cousin, your friend, your neighbour or even your work colleague. Yes, we all definitely know a victim-survivor of coercive control, of emotional abuse, of financial abuse, of physical violence or of sexual violence. This touches all of us.

As of mid-May, at least 21 women have been murdered by a current or former partner. That is one women dead every four days, 21 women whose lives were ended by someone they should have been able to trust, 21 families who are left to pick up the pieces of their lives and move forward with grief and loss. And at least another 11 women have allegedly been killed this year in violent acts by men. None of us will forget the scenes from Bondi Junction in April and the horrible realisation that the deranged perpetrator was targeting women. And while the headlines tend to focus on the number of deaths due to intimate-partner violence, let's not forget that in 2021-22 an average of 15 women per day were hospitalised because of gender violence. Deputy Speaker, do you know how much damage is necessary to keep somebody in a hospital bed?

Gendered violence is obviously a scourge on our nation. We have a lot of work to do. We know that gendered violence is not a problem that the Albanese government can solve on its own. It comes down to all of us. So, today I'm going to talk to all of us. We all need to pay closer attention to our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our cousins, our friends and our colleagues for the signs that it might be happening—happening to women, happening to young teenagers, the people we know and love. It's not always obvious by any means, but there are some indications that if a woman has been assaulted once by an intimate partner she is likely to be assaulted again.

The Canadians have come up with a domestic assault risk assessment. It's a questionnaire administered by professionals and used to determine the likelihood that a perpetrator will offend again. Some of the questions rely on police evidence, such as prior criminal convictions for domestic assaults or a prior non-domestic assault conviction. However, many of the indicators are things we would know about the women in our lives—some details revealed in their cry for help, perhaps, be that cry explicit or subconscious. The indicators for us to consider include: Does she have more than one child or does she have a child from a previous partner? Did he assault her when she was pregnant? Has he been violent before? Does he have two or more indicators of substance abuse? Is she worried about future assaults or has her partner threatened to kill her? Is it hard for her to access victim support services? This is part of the chilling checklist used, and the more questions that are answered with 'yes', the more likely he is to do it again and perhaps to escalate.

There are numerous other behavioural indicators that can point to a woman you know experiencing domestic violence. And before people contact my office with 'not all men'-erisms, I assure you that this is by no means an exhaustive list. It's important to be aware that, if she seems afraid of her partner or is anxious to please him, if she doesn't see much of her friends or family or when she is away from him she is continually contacted by him, if her partner puts her down publicly, if he controls her access to money, if she seems frightened or—the obvious one—if she has mysterious bruises, it's not often that the situation goes away. In many cases, the woman does not know where to turn to for help or is too afraid to. We need to be brave in supporting women, which means having those confronting conversations. These are not easy subjects to broach. But respectful and supportive conversations, starting with a question like, 'Is everything okay? I have noticed—' inserting what you've noticed, could be the start of a journey away from control and violence to safety.

Taking a step away from the personal level, we need to focus on government and systems to support both victims-survivors of gendered violence and the urgent action that the nation needs to do on prevention. That's why the recent Labor budget included substantial funding to provide direct support to women and children fleeing violence. Labor has made the Leaving Violence Program permanent, ensuring financial support and support services for up to 12 weeks. The budget included a range of other measures too. We're investing $1 billion in social housing for young people, women and children fleeing violence. We're rolling out an education program on consent and respectful relationships, trying to change that culture. We've convened a rapid review of how best to prevent violence against women. This will be driven by Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Micaela Cronin, and will seek the feedback of experts in the field.

Labor remains focused on our goal to end violence against women and children in one generation. In October 2022, in partnership with state and territory governments, we released the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. A key focus is on addressing the underlying factors that drive violence against women and children. The goals are to prevent violence before it occurs, to intervene early and to prevent escalation.

I would encourage everyone to read Jess Hill and Michael Salter's work Rethinking primary prevention. In this piece, they set out four priorities. The first of these is accountability and consequences for perpetrators. This could include proactive work to locate high-risk and known offenders and ensure DV orders are being implemented. It could also include banks suspending the accounts of men who are financially abusing their intimate partners. Secondly, they outline the effects of intergenerational trauma, child neglect and child abuse, both for potential perpetrators and for potential victims. To quote from their article:

Child abuse and neglect—including growing up with coercive control, being physically or sexually abused, being shamed and/or neglected by parents—are accelerants to adult victimisation and perpetration. Traumatised and abused girls who are not supported to recover and heal are more likely to be targeted by violent and controlling perpetrators throughout their lives.

Their childhood trauma:

… often has the effect of normalising grooming and maltreatment and blinding them to 'red flags' and boundary violations.

And so the cycle repeats.

At the same time, traumatized boys are disproportionately at risk of becoming perpetrators of gender-based violence, and other forms of criminal behaviour—

trapped by their own history. It's obvious we need to work with both victims-survivors and perpetrators and those at risk to break these vicious cycles. Hill and Salter stress the vital importance of supporting women and children economically. Lastly, they highlight the external commercial factors that can lead to gendered violence. This is the role of alcohol, pornography and gambling. All exacerbate gendered violence. Gendered violence is a multifaceted problem.

As I've said, the work needs to be done at a personal as well as a government level. Labor has provided $2.3 billion of funding for programs that focus on consent, respectful relationships and sexual violence prevention. This includes $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. Organisations in the states and territories which support women experiencing violence have benefited from an additional $159 million to deliver their vital frontline services—funding that was due to cease next month. We're addressing the workplace shortages and steadily growing the number of vital frontline workers. Another initiative with an immediate positive impact for women dealing with violence is the ability to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave from their workplaces, whether they're permanent or casual.

Labor is also undertaking ongoing systemic work. We're strengthening the way the criminal justice system responds to sexual assault. The Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry is currently underway on this topic. We're committed to strengthening and harmonising sexual assault and consent laws and improving both the experience and outcomes for victim-survivors in the justice system. I'd like to thank the lived-experience expert advisory group on the inquiry for their bravery and advocacy. Lord knows we've seen too many horror stories with links to this workplace play out in the media lately. We must do better by our brave victim-survivors.

Gendered violence affects women of every age, cultural background, level of education and job, in every community across our country. Ninety-one per cent of Australians recognise that gendered violence is a problem—that's good—but only 47 per cent think it's a problem in their community. It's happening everywhere, and we all need to address it. We all have the responsibility to resolve it.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion brought by the member for Warringah, and I thank the member for bringing this motion which concerns gendered violence. The motion has been brought particularly in light of some of the more heinous events that we've seen recently throughout our country and in my home state of New South Wales, where women who have taken out numerous AVOs, who have done everything we have asked them to do, have still been violently murdered at the hands of an ex-partner. The motion notes that one woman every four days in Australia is murdered by her current or former partner—one woman every four days. It's horrific. The statistics are absolutely horrific. These are, of course, the ones that we know about.

I've had the privilege of being in this place now for two years, and in just those two years we've dealt with many issues of national significance—defence, health, appropriations, how Australians are taxed, the environment, energy, housing, immigration. These are big issues, but I think that domestic violence and how to tackle it is probably the most overwhelming of our national problems. It is a crisis. When I've spoken to colleagues, both male and female, about this, the most commonly uttered word is 'overwhelming'. That's how I feel. I feel overwhelmed by this as well. But if we can't speak in this place about this very important issue then there is no way that we can ever find solutions for it.

In this place we have debates. We have disagreements. We've come here from a range of different backgrounds and a range of different experiences. In having heard many of the speakers on this motion—and I thank all of them for having spoken on it—we've heard about lived experience of domestic violence. We've heard about members whose direct family members have been impacted. Many have been impacted themselves. They may have worked in the community sector. They may, as with the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Cowper, worked as police officers early in their lives, assisting women and children, dealing with the perpetrators and enforcing AVO's. If we have not been directly impacted ourselves, I and I'm sure most of the members in this place have heard horrific stories from our electorates from women desperate for a safe home, desperate for a court to prevent her ex-partner finding her, desperate to ensure the safety of her children, desperate for the violence and the abuse to stop.

We also hear from frontline workers on the ground, running organisations, trying to help pick up the pieces—underresourced, overstretched and overworked. I have many of these excellent community service organisations in my electorate. I'm lucky; I'm in a metropolitan area, and I know that many of these organisations are simply not available in our regional areas.

When I was first elected I met with the two superintendents of the local area commands in my electorate—Sutherland and Liverpool. When asked what the major challenge that they face in their LAC was, they both unhesitatingly said domestic violence. When we say 'domestic violence', we're covering a lot of things. We're covering physical violence, sexual violence, emotional abuse, financial abuse and technology enabled abuse, and they all have different manifestations and different impacts on victims. We talk a lot about victims.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 10:40 to 10:55

This motion talks about providing significantly more money for victims, for example, in a whole range of areas. It also talks about providing more money for education. It talks about better resourcing of frontline workers. All of those measures are supported.

What has been particularly important with this motion is the number of male MPs who have spoken on this. This is not a woman's issue. This is a community issue. It's a whole-of-society issue. It's a problem for all of us in this place. We—men and women—need to work together to come up with solutions. I think it's also very important to remember that these crimes are committed by a small minority of men. Most Australian men do not hit women. They do not abuse women. They find it abhorrent. For years now, since we broke the taboo of silence and the taboo on victims speaking out about domestic violence, we have sought improvements in many spaces.

As I've said before, we've introduced AVOs. We've put significant resources into policing and training police officers in the domestic violence arena. We've done this through the courts. We've done it through welfare agencies and through our education system. But many of the most recent alleged perpetrators, for example, were under the age of 35, so they had in fact already been through an education system that has embedded respectful relationships within its curriculum from preschool.

Many of the victims go and apply for an AVO. An AVO, though, provides no shield against a gun. An AVO provides no shield against a knife. An AVO provides no shield against a perpetrator following his victim, online or otherwise, without her knowledge. An AVO provides no shield against a perpetrator convinced that a woman is his possession, that she has no right to leave him and that she or her children must be punished by violence or even death.

While I do support this motion that speaks about providing more assistance to victims, I think we now also need to have a conversation and look at measures that have worked, both here and overseas, in prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation. We need to consider that the perpetrators in these cases have mental health issues, because it is not normal for people to be violent. It is not normal for men to hit women. We need to look at diversionary programs that address underlying anger-management issues, for example. That is the only way that we are going to break this cycle. We can continue to provide more and more money for victims, and that is important. But until we stop violent men hitting women, this cycle will continue. We will continue to see more women dying, and we'll continue to see more women trying to find safe haven in refuges.

The member for Cowper spoke quite compellingly about the success that he had seen in some areas of his electorate when he was a young police officer in diversionary programs, in male education programs and rehabilitation—to the extent that he actually saw that some of these offenders recognised that their behaviour had been completely unacceptable and had ended up leading classes in diversionary and male re-education programs. We need to take on board comments such as that. We need to take on board the lessons over in California, for example. The criminal justice system set up a domestic violence diversion program similarly aimed at intervention, rehabilitation and education. It has similarly seen some success.

Gender violence is multifaceted. It is a very complex issue. As I said, it feels overwhelming in its scope. I feel confident though that, at least in this place, we are all trying to work together to find solutions for this problem. Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way it has always been done and expecting a different outcome. Now is the time we need to throw everything at this problem. We need to put everything on the table and we need to look at how we can change the behaviour of perpetrators as well as providing adequate support for victims.

Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Warringah for bringing this motion to this House. This year in Australia more than 30 women have been murdered through gender based violence. Half of those women have been in regional parts of our country. Devastatingly, that's an average of two women killed every week. These are truly shocking statistics.

Our region has been deeply affected by the senseless and tragic taking of Molly Ticehurst's life in Forbes recently. One of the things that this motion calls for is more support for the legal services that support women in our communities. As a current member of the New South Wales bar, I've seen—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Proceedings suspended from 11:02 to 11:14

As I was noting before the division, one of the things that the member for Warringah's motion calls for is more support for the legal services that support women in our community, and, as a member of the New South Wales bar, I've seen the devastating impact that domestic violence has on victims and also the real difference that legal support can make to the lives of victims. Legal support can be absolutely crucial in making that difference.

So I want to focus, in the time available to me today, on drawing the attention of the House to the crucial need to bolster legal services for victims of gender based and domestic violence in our communities. I had some correspondence from Jarah Maraschio, who is a family law and violence solicitor from Western Women's Legal Support in Dubbo. The letter that I received from Jarah stated:

Every day, my colleagues and I witness the devastating impact of domestic and sexual violence on women's lives. We meet survivors who have been failed by the very systems designed to protect them—the courts, the police and their partners. The death of Molly Ticehurst serves as a grim reminder of the urgent need for comprehensive legal assistance, safety planning, advocacy, and support for women in rural and regional areas.

However, despite steadfast dedication, Western Women's Legal Support faces significant challenges in fulfilling its mission. With only nine staff numbers, most of whom work part-time, and covering a vast geographic area comparable to the size of Korea, the organisation's resources are stretched thin. It operates on a tight budget, unable to afford essential expansions to office space or additional staff to meet the growing demand for its services.

The funding shortfall we face is not merely a financial issue; it is a matter of life and death.

I was also sent some case studies which highlight the vitally important work that organisations such as Western Women's Legal Support undertake. One of the case studies that I was forwarded involves the case of Ms S, who was referred to the Western Women's Legal Support service through a local primary school in 2019:

Ms S had been married to the offender for 10 years …and they had 2 children together.

They had moved to Australia from overseas. The case study continues:

During Ms S's time in Australia she had been made to stay at home at all times (other than to take the children to school) and instructed not to speak to anyone. Consequently, her English was poor. Parties rented two rooms in a share house of foreign workers. Ms S and the children were confined to the bedroom. She was not permitted to use electricity at the property and spent her days washing clothes by hand and cooking outside on the BBQ.

Ms S was not allowed access to money. She was not permitted to go shopping or anywhere alone. On the rare occasion she was permitted to grocery shop with her husband she was not allowed to touch anything or request anything be purchased for her.

Over the course of numerous appointments with Ms S she disclosed some of the most horrific physical, emotional, mental, sexual, financial and psychological abuse our unit has ever encountered.

Ms S had numerous legal and non-legal issues. With the permission of Ms S we engaged numerous legal services and coordinated Ms S and the children's ultimate removal from the property and away from her husband.

The case study goes on to reveal that Ms S ultimately went to police, with the support of the legal service, and made a statement, and the offender was criminally charged as a result of the abuse. The case study continues:

Our lawyers and caseworkers assisted with housing applications, Centrelink matters, child support exemptions, an additional application for victims support for the sexual abuse (distinct from the DV). We provided assistance with court prep and court support and advised Ms S in relation to family law.

Getting Ms S out of that situation took a lot of planning and a lot of work, and it was no doubt a very harrowing experience for everyone involved in that. The case study goes on to state:

Ms S's story took the dedication and collaboration of legal services, casework services, housing providers, DV refuge staff, Police and various Government agencies all working together. This case, whilst ultimately a positive one, really demonstrates how one service working in isolation cannot wholly support victim survivors and their multiple complex needs.

That is from Western Women's Legal Support.

I've also heard from other organisations in the region—the Central Tablelands and Blue Mountains Community Legal Centre, Yoorana Gunya Family Healing Centre Aboriginal Corporation and Binaal Billa. They have stated that urgent support for frontline legal services, community services and refuges is absolutely vital. Taylor Bliss from Yoorana Gunya Family Healing Centre Aboriginal Corporation and Binaal Billa Family Violence Prevention Legal Services in Forbes expressed the profound impact of such systemic failures, stating: 'The death of Molly in our small town is devastating. The legal system continues to let women down. How many more victims need to die before there is change to the justice system?'

Arlia Fleming, who is a solicitor and chief executive officer of the Central Tablelands and Blue Mountains Community Legal Centre, said: 'As legal service providers for victims-survivors, we often find ourselves grappling with the challenge of ensuring safety. With refuges at full capacity, limited police intervention and insufficient community resources to provide support for women and children or hold perpetrators accountable, the options are severely limited.' Ms Fleming went on to state: 'Without adequate resources we are unable to meet the increasing demand for our services, leaving many disadvantaged individuals and families without the support they desperately need.' She said: 'We already have a consistent three-week waitlist. Without access to our services, victims-survivors may be forced to remain in unsafe environments. Furthermore, without early intervention and support, the long-term social and economic costs of domestic and family violence will continue to escalate.' Importantly, she also stated: 'We implore government stakeholders at all levels to recognise the urgency of this situation and prioritise funding for frontline services like ours.'

They have said it more eloquently than I could, but the message is clear: more resources are needed for those frontline services, including frontline legal services. It can make a real difference to the lives of victims and also their children. We need to act. All over the central west we have seen a huge outpouring of support for immediate action on gender based violence and domestic violence. The message from across Australia could not be clearer. I implore all members of this parliament to do whatever they can to get more funding to the front lines where it's needed and take action so that we can finally put an end to this.

I commend the member for Warringah for bringing this motion to the House. This has to be an ongoing and sustained effort. I implore all members, from whatever party, to take action in their communities and in this place to end gender based violence.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Grieving father Tony Ticehurst told the 2 May funeral for his daughter Molly: 'Every parent would like to see their child change the world, but not at this cost.' Tony always had an inkling that his daughter Molly would be somebody who would change the world. But her death, allegedly at the hands of a partner, on 22 April not only stopped Forbes, the wider central western region of New South Wales and the state but also the nation. It stopped people in their tracks and made them realise that much more needs to be done. It shocked the nation. Molly's funeral, at the local rugby field, was attended by Premier Chris Minns, and I commend him for the fact that he was at the service just a day after his father's death. That's leadership. The funeral was attended by senior police, and I know we have former senior police in this parliament. One sits right behind me—the member for Wide Bay. In my own party, the Nationals, our colleague the member for Cowper was a police officer, as was the opposition leader. Any police officer who has served any given time has been to far too many domestic violence incidents—in fact, attending one domestic violence incident is one too many.

Molly's tragic death at age 28 has brought home to many that enough is enough. There cannot be any more silence about domestic violence. At her funeral, a small card was handed out in lieu of a service booklet, and it had her beautiful picture on it; her date of birth, 12th of the fourth 1996; and the date of her tragic death, 22nd of the fourth 2024. It stated:

Loving mother of Nate, Daughter of Kate and Tony, Adored sister of Hayley, Brooke and Luke, Much loved Aunty, Niece, Cousin and Friend.

We thought of you with love today,

But that is nothing new.

We thought about you yesterday

And days before that, too.

We think of you in silence.

We often speak your name.

Now all we have are memories

And your picture in a frame.

Your memory is our keepsake

With which we'll never part.

God has you in his keeping.

We have you in our heart.

Yes, her friends and family have Molly in their hearts, but we need to, as a parliament and as a nation, have her foremost in our conscience and in our thoughts, and have Molly's memory as a driving force to do better. Men have to be better. Men have to end this gendered violence.

I note that Wagga Wagga recently had a vigil—a rally of sorts, although it was more of a coming together of our community to say, 'We are not going to accept this any longer.' It wasn't a protest by any means, but one of the most passionate speakers at that vigil was Johanna Elms. She heads up the Wagga Women's Health Centre. She spoke with clarity, she spoke eloquently and she spoke with passion. There was fire in her voice because she is very worried about the fact that they are seeing too many women seeking counselling and support.

I am pleased that the government have addressed their 12-month funding gap. The centre was not promised funding of $200,000 through the primary health network, and they were worried. I'm pleased that I, with the government, was able to provide that extended assistance for another 12 months, but it still leaves instability in the future of this vital service, and it doesn't address the three- to six-month waiting list for counselling services. In the long term, increased and ongoing funding is absolutely necessary to ensure that adequate support is available for women and their children in the Riverina when and where they most need it. It's a growing need. The Wagga Women's Health Centre has been going since the 1970s. It has decades of experience in frontline support, counselling and services. When Johanna Elms speaks, our community does—and should always—listen. Similarly, the CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes, which does so much vital and important work throughout the Central West, was unable to access funding through the state government, and I would impress upon anybody who has the ear of the state government that that is a vital service doing vital work and it needs every bit of government support that it can get.

I am pleased with the measures that were announced in the budget, and I acknowledge the government for that. Anything that can help and build on the work that we did as a government is to be applauded, but more needs to be done. I do note that the $925 million of support has been rebadged. The coalition called it 'escaping violence'; Labor is calling it the 'Leaving Violence Program'. I do hope that money is not going to be drained in the areas of rebadging, graphic design et cetera, because name changes mean nothing. It's the action on the ground that we need to see money being spent on.

To that end, I commend and thank CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes and I also applaud the work being done by the Wagga Women's Health Centre. The memory of what happened to Molly Ticehurst and other women who lost their lives far too young is an abomination. The deaths of those women is an abomination on our nation. It should strike a cord in every one of us and lead us to all know that more needs to be done. Funding is absolutely commended and worthwhile, and men can, should and must—must—do better.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned.