Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2018. What a long time coming this bill has been. The sector has been pleading for such a long time for more support for women and children seeking to escape family and domestic violence. Finally the Fair Work Commission looked into this and, earlier this year, issued a remarkable finding that, in my view, flew in the face of the evidence and said that, no, women shouldn't be entitled to be paid while they get themselves and their children safe from violence and possible death. No, they shouldn't be allowed to be paid. They can have some time off work but they can't actually get paid for it. So I think that was a wrong decision by the commission.

Whilst I am supportive of the fact that the government has at least taken this small step, I think it's a huge missed opportunity to actually protect women and children from what is now an epidemic of violence against them in their homes. We know the statistics. One in three Australian women will experience violence by a partner or a former partner at some time in their life and more than one woman a week now is being killed. The very least a government could do would be to say that, yes, you should be entitled to be paid while you take the time to make the logistical arrangements—to seek the legal advice, to ring up the removalist truck, to change your kids' schools. The very least you should be able to do is to be paid while you take the time to keep yourself and your family alive. But no, that's too much of an impost on business for this government. We can't keep women safe. We can't actually pay them while they escape violence and try to start a new life and keep themselves and their family alive. It's a huge missed opportunity.

I am grateful the Labor Party have come on board with this notion of 10 days paid leave and I look forward to us working together in the new parliament, where it looks like this government will be on the opposition benches, where I believe they belong and deserve to be. I look forward to getting this done and to actually giving women and children 10 days of paid leave. What this government fails to understand is many ordinary Australians are on the breadline. They cannot afford to go without pay for a week, certainly not when they've got additional expenses to get themselves safe like getting to legal advice appointments, like emergency accommodation and shelter, like a removal truck, new school fees, new uniforms. Many people can't afford those additional expenses and certainly can't afford them if they've had to go without pay for a week. I think, whilst the government is trying to do something that makes it look like they understand women, it's pretty clear they don't and it's pretty clear what is actually needed is 10 days of paid leave. I look forward to being able to achieve that once this government is on the opposition benches and we can work with a fresh government.

On that point, I want to mention some of the statistics. The ACTU has said that it costs, on average, $18,000 and takes 141 hours for a woman to escape a violent relationship. So, again, how on earth is any ordinary person meant to be able to afford that when they've just had a week of pay docked? There was another statistic that was quoted in the inquiry into this bill that says one in four Australian households have less than $1,000 in cash savings, and I can certainly believe that. People don't just have money lying around and certainly not women who are in controlling relationships where often they lack financial security and independence precisely because they're in a relationship about power and control.

I want to put on record that I think it's incredibly damning that the Prime Minister has tweeted about sport and launched a war on strawberries and a war on sharks but has said absolutely nothing about family and domestic violence—the single biggest issue that women in this country are facing. It's an indictment on this government, and it really signifies their view of women. It's no surprise, really, that we've heard nothing from the Prime Minister on this most pressing issue because, in fact, he's said nothing at all about the issues women face generally. The Women's Economic Security Statement that was released by the minister a couple of weeks ago was equally laughable in the lowness of its ambitions. Unfortunately, it's par for the course for this government. So, whilst we will be supporting this bill today because it is a microstep forward, it falls so far short of what everybody knows is needed, and that is to actually pay women while they take leave so that they can get themselves and their family safe.

That is obviously the morally right thing to do, but even the economics of it support that approach. In the inquiry into this bill, we heard from many, many businesses that said: 'We understand it will actually cost us more if we have to lose staff, retrain new staff and deal with the upheaval and the loss of skills and the loss of knowledge. We understand it is an investment in our people, and we are happy to pay two weeks of leave in order to keep our staff cohesion and to keep that knowledge to keep our business ticking over.' As the former speaker, Senator Cameron, said, many businesses are now voluntarily providing this. What a shame we don't see the government leading on this and saying, 'We think this is a great idea to keep women safe, and we want to mandate it.' Naturally, they can't lead on this issue or any other issue for that matter.

I want to flag that we had amendments to this bill to improve it—to make the leave paid, to make it 10 days and to expand the definition of who could seek to apply to use this leave. But, if we agreed to not move those amendments, this bill could pass. So I want to put that on record—that that was the government's price. We can get this done today, and we can make this important but small step forward as long as we don't try to improve it and actually do what needs to be done. I want to place on record that we very much look forward to fixing and improving this and delivering for Australian workers what they deserve and what they need, and that is paid domestic and family violence leave for 10 days. I cannot wait for the opportunity to do that, and I cannot wait to see this government, with its absolute lack of understanding and lack of care about issues confronting women, consigned to the opposition benches.