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

This week marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and 16 days of activism to help prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls. Family violence occurs across all social groups. It does not respect class, education or social status. Women and children are most commonly its victims. It often goes unreported. Physical violence is its most visible form, but other forms of violence and abuse can be equally harmful. These issues are intergenerational, and they hurt us all.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

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In the year ended March 2024 over a thousand family violence incidents were reported in the City of Boroondara, the largest local government area in Kooyong. Half of those involved violence between partners, and a third were witnessed by children. I thank the staff of the organisations who support women and children affected by family violence in Kooyong. They include 1800RESPECT, White Ribbon, the South East Centre Against Sexual Assault, Eastern Community Legal Centre, Djirra, The Orange Door, the Women's Legal Service Victoria, and Rainbow Door.

I also thank the first responders called out to deal with family violence—the police and ambulances who see people at their worst and deal with them with compassion and respect. Your work can be heartbreaking, and I hope you know how much it is appreciated by our community.

In recent months the federal government has invested $4 billion into preventing violence against women and another $4 billion into legal services. It's a good start, but it's just a start. We still need a significant uplift in frontline services to support girls and women fleeing domestic violence. The first step in that process has to be housing support.

Last night in Australia 7½ thousand women and children were couch surfing, and 2½ thousand slept in their cars or slept rough. We know that almost half the women and girls who are seeking homelessness assistance do so because of family and domestic violence. We know that a lack of access to safe housing prevents many women from escaping violence and pushes them back into violent homes.

At what could well be the end of this parliamentary term, we are still awaiting the government's overdue national housing and homelessness agreement. We need it urgently, and it needs to include increased support for the homeless; more investment in safe-at-home programs; an increase in youth allowance payments and Commonwealth rental assistance; and more social housing.

All of us here need to do what we can to keep women and children safer in this community.