Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the important funding announcement made by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Women last week to address gender based violence. The Albanese government will invest a total of $4.7 billion in new funding to combat gender based violence and implement the recommendations from the Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches. This includes investing in frontline services and initiatives aimed at preventing violence.

This will have a significant impact on my community of Dunkley. Shockingly, the rate of family violence incidents in the Frankston local government area rose by 17.1 per cent in 2023. The family violence rate per 100,000 was the highest it's been in five years. And—no surprise—it was women who were disproportionately affected by the violence. I have spent the last 15 years of my career working for and with women and children fleeing domestic and family violence. I have seen firsthand the devastating impact of domestic violence. That is why I established the Women's Spirit Project—to support these women in my community of Dunkley to recover and prevent them from returning to abusive relationships.

This government knows gender based violence is a scourge on our community. This funding will take important steps to prevent violence. There will be $3.9 billion invested in frontline legal assistance services through a national access to justice partnership with states and territories, addressing the funding shortfall left by the previous government. This will result in an essential increase of nearly $800 million over five years, starting in 2025-26. It will focus on supporting legal services that support women fleeing gender based violence, such as Peninsula Community Legal Centre and the team led by Jackie Galloway, who deliver crucial services in my electorate of Dunkley.

The funding also covers indexation and supports pay parity in the sector. A total of $351 million will be provided over five years from 2025 for a renewed national partnership agreement on family, domestic and sexual violence responses which will fund frontline services. This amount will be matched by contributions from states and territories. Importantly, this will be coordinated with the states and territories to ensure we have a national approach. As the Prime Minister said, a nationally coordinated approach is required to address this national crisis. There is always more work to do, but this is an important step.