Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, and on behalf of, Senators O'Neill, Urquhart, Lines, Gallagher, Singh, Bilyk, McCarthy, Collins, Polley, Wong, Pratt, Brown, Moore, Kitching, Hinch, Rice, Siewert, Hanson-Young, Rhiannon and Lambie, move:

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges that:

  (i) victims and survivors of sexual and family violence should be able to gain access to the highest standard of professional counselling support,

  (ii) 1800 RESPECT, a national telephone and online counselling service for people living with sexual assault and family violence, is an important part of the national response to family and domestic violence,

  (iii) since the establishment of the 1800 RESPECT service, Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia has provided specialist sexual assault and domestic violence trauma counselling for the service, and

  (iv) Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia, which has operated for almost 50 years, has achieved international recognition for its expertise in its field;

(b) notes that:

  (i) Medibank Health Solutions (MHS), a for-profit company, receives public funds to administer 1800 RESPECT,

  (ii) MHS recently announced that the service previously provided by Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia would now be provided by four organisations, three of which have not previously provided trauma counselling for the 1800 RESPECT service,

  (iii) the consequence of this decision is a 75 per cent reduction in the public funding provided to Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia via MHS for the provision of the 1800 RESPECT service, as that organisation becomes one of four providers, rather than the sole provider, and

  (iv) in those circumstances, the Board of Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia has decided not to accept the proposed Medibank Health Solutions contract, which the Board states does not provide sufficient funding to enable Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia to provide the service, and imposes obligations which the Board considers unethical; and

(c) calls upon the Prime Minister to ensure that victims and survivors of family and domestic violence continue to have access to best practice specialist sexual assault and family violence trauma counselling services, as previously provided by Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia.