Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak today on this very important topic, particularly with today, 25 November, being the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. I'd like to echo the final sentiments of the previous speaker in saying that today, and always, our thoughts are with those people, but particularly women and children, who have been subjected to violence within the home. I want to speak shortly about what we, the Morrison coalition government, are doing here in Australia to reduce and eliminate violence against women, because we all know that there is so much work to do to stop violence against women. As we heard earlier, the statistic of one woman a week dying as a result of family violence is one woman a week too many.

Given it is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women—the international day—it's worthwhile focusing some attention on how this scourge presents itself on a global basis. In 2019, there are still many countries around the world where women are not permitted to vote. They're not permitted to drive. They're not allowed to receive an education of any form, much less attend university, as I have. There are countries where it's illegal for women to go out in public without their husbands. And it's quite sickening to think that, as we approach the third decade of the 21st century, there are still places on this planet where women who've been raped are punished by authorities on the grounds of adultery; where girls as young as 10 or 12 are forced into arranged marriages—and I heard a number of speakers earlier today allude to those statistics as well; and where young girls are subjected to the horrific practice of female genital mutilation. While we have a lot of work to do in reducing family violence in Australia—and I will speak in just a moment about our efforts here—we shouldn't use that as an excuse to forget about some of the truly appalling violence perpetrated on women around the world. I did just want to put on record in the Senate today my consideration of those issues in other countries because, as I said, this is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The Morrison coalition government has zero tolerance for violence against women and their children. Women have the right to be safe in their homes, in their workplaces, online and in their local communities. Coming from a state like Tasmania, where we have a number of smaller, tight-knit, very regional and rural communities, I have seen just some of the work that these communities are putting in place because they understand the significant impact that family violence can have. Obviously, family violence has an impact wherever it occurs, but we know in these regional and rural areas, in these smaller communities where everyone knows each other and perhaps everyone's business is a little bit more known by others, that people who are subjected to family violence feel even more constrained in their ability to talk about what they're going through, to report what they're going through, because in these smaller communities they fear the impact that it might have more broadly on those people that they know.

I've visited and spoken with a number of people in some of my local communities in Tasmania that run support services not just to support people who have been subjected to family violence but also to help the broader community recognise the warning signs of when domestic violence might occur or might be at risk of occurring. I think it's really important that we consider today all of the hard work of these groups, which do try and do everything that they can to stop violence occurring in the first place. It's very important work, and we need to be constantly vigilant of all of the signs and signals around us that someone we know might be experiencing family violence. As we've heard today, this is a widely occurring issue, and therefore we all need to be aware of the warning signs of when this could be occurring to someone that we know.

Today, 25 November, is also a very important day in terms of the government's efforts to prevent family violence, because today we have launched the national implementation plan of the fourth action plan into family, domestic and sexual violence. The national implementation plan shows the collective efforts across all levels of government that will contribute to a safer Australia for women and their children, and it sets out in a practical way how the Commonwealth, state and territory governments will move forward in implementing their actions under the fourth action plan. In a few minutes I, too, will be heading along to the event run by Our Watch, which is highlighting that organisation's own efforts in this space, and we will be discussing the national implementation plan there.

I do want to speak just briefly about the work that Our Watch does. It's an organisation which was established to drive a nationwide change in the culture, the behaviours and the power imbalances that lead to violence against women and children. It goes back to what I was saying previously: that we need to be constantly vigilant to ensure that we're doing everything that we can to heed the warning signs and, hopefully, detect the potential of domestic violence occurring and prevent it occurring if at all possible. The vision of Our Watch is an Australia where women and children are free from all forms of violence. I'm sure that everybody in this chamber can agree that that is a truly noble goal and a goal that we would all like to see come to fruition. That's why the national implementation plan is so important.

The plan that the Morrison coalition government have released today has a strong focus on implementing and measuring outcomes, which I think is particularly important given that we are coming to the final stage of the fourth action plan. The implementation plan gives greater accountability and transparency in terms of how the Australian government and each of the states and territories are working to support women and children who experience violence. It sets out the details for each initiative, including funding, key milestones and intended outcomes and how they're linked to the 20 actions and five national priorities of the fourth action plan. I think it's very exciting that we're seeing such collaborative efforts across federal, state and territory governments to tackle this issue. As many of the speakers today have alluded to, preventing domestic and family violence is everyone's responsibility. It's a responsibility that we as the Commonwealth government certainly take seriously. But we understand the role that our state counterparts will play in assisting us in that prevention and that treatment, and having the implementation plan will ensure that those accountabilities and responsibilities are very well defined.

As I said, the Morrison coalition government have a zero-tolerance policy to violence against women. In the 2019-20 budget, we had a number of initiatives within the action plan to combat violence against women and children. Those included $82.2 million to improve and build on frontline services to keep women and children safe; $68.3 million for prevention strategies to help eradicate domestic and family violence in our homes, workplaces and communities; $78.4 million to provide safe places for people impacted by domestic and family violence; and $64 million for 1800RESPECT, the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. I think that that's a really important one to just pause and reflect on for a moment, not just because of the great work that that hotline does but also, I hope, to promote that hotline to those people out in the community who feel that they can't report domestic or family violence to their friends or other family members: there is a hotline out there that you can contact to share that information.

In summary, the Morrison coalition government take this issue very seriously, for the reasons that I've outlined today, and, of course, for the many other reasons that other speakers, particularly Senator Henderson, have alluded to today. I only hope that our efforts will see a reduction in that statistic of one woman dying each week, and will eradicate violence against women and children.