Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. As I was saying, the minister has come into this chamber and wiped her hands of any negotiation. This government has failed to show any leadership. When it comes to domestic violence, if you have spoken to anyone who has been a victim then you would know how difficult it is for those women to speak up, to seek out help. It is extremely difficult. So here we have a government who is negotiating with its own employees, and the minister says it is nothing to do with her when she has a perfect opportunity to lead the nation—not leave it to private enterprise. It is like when they want to outsource everything to do with the work force in aged care—the minister told us in estimates it was not her responsibility. This is a serious issue that all Australians should be concerned about, and I believe most are. We need leadership from the government. The Labor opposition, through Mr Shorten, has already outlined the plan for an incoming Labor government to invest $70 million in measures to assist people in family violence situations.

If we want to find a solution, as Senator Williams said, to this serious issue then we need leadership—we need to start with the government leading the way with its own employees. The Prime Minister has the ability to direct that in the bargaining framework policy they adopt the same policy that we have set out to ensure that those people who need it get five days paid leave a year. It is easy to come in here and talk the talk but it is a lot more difficult to go out in the community and walk the walk. We saw last year when Ms Batty was the Australian of the Year how it put domestic violence back on the political agenda. But once we are in government we have the responsibility to lead—it is not for a minister to wash her hands of it and put it back onto someone else and use the opportunity to again attack unions. These are real people who work in government departments and work in private enterprise. All of us and our families deserve to have support and know that we can reach out and when needed can have some extra leave available to us. Senator Williams is quite right—it is not just women who experience the trauma of domestic violence. We cannot forget that there are children in those families and those circumstances who not only are affected on a daily basis but also can be impaired for the rest of their lives.

This is not an issue that should come in and out of vogue. This is an issue that should be on our agenda every single day. We will not sit here in this chamber and be lectured by Senator Cash and have her attack unions when we have a union that is trying to represent the best interests of government employees. The minister is going to sit back and allow that to continue without setting the agenda and intervening. Before the election Mr Abbott promised one thing and did another, and this is another example of Prime Minister Turnbull not showing leadership. After the performance here in the chamber at question time, if I were him I would be calling the minister in and asking when she is going to ensure that those provisions are included. That is what I would be doing if I were Prime Minister. I am calling on him to show some leadership and take some action, because it is unacceptable for a minister of the Crown to come in here and just wash her hands of such a serious issue. (Time expired)