Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased that Senator Wong has put forward this matter of public importance. It's a real honour to speak but it's also an honour to have sat here and listened to the really extraordinary speeches from the senators who have contributed to this debate. While domestic and family violence affects everyone, we know that women are disproportionately impacted.

Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it is appropriate for us to talk about how violence against women stops women from achieving equality, development and peace. As everyone in this chamber would know, family violence is a deeply personal issue for me and my family, but my family is one of so many that have experienced family violence and have had to navigate their way through the very many steps from the moment a woman decides to leave to the day she finally feels free. As Senator McCarthy said, that journey can often take decades. Today is the start of 16 days of activism against gender based violence. I want to talk about how the government can help make that passage, that journey, from deciding to leave to being fully free of violence and harassment easier.

This government can make it easier for women to escape violent and abusive relationships. First, it can begin by making the financial independence of women a crucial part of its plan to address violence against women. It can do more by improving access to social security and payments through the social security system. Women fleeing domestic violence are often faced with financial hardship if they formerly relied on their partner's income. A 2018 report by the National Social Security Rights Network found that some women trying to leave violent relationships were denied income support, forcing them to stay in the same home as the abuser. For those who are granted income support, they can expect to receive just $40 a day from Newstart. Starting a new life on just $40 a day is challenging for anyone, let alone highly vulnerable women. This government should genuinely start the discussion about raising Newstart, because it is a fundamental link to the financial independence of women.

The government can also provide more safe places for women and their children to stay and enough funding to ensure that they have the essential services that they need to start afresh. This includes providing adequate social housing. In Far North Queensland, remote and Indigenous communities are still waiting for $105 million, promised by the government before the last election. It is hard to leave if you haven't got a place to go. It is even harder in regional and remote areas. Although funding has been provided for various programs, the question is: is it enough? In Cairns, an Indigenous women's shelter needs help to pay a fee to store furniture that it is gifted by the community. This generosity from the community is fantastic, but they don't have anywhere to put the donations. This is just an example of the bare-bones funding that they have to do such crucial work.

The government can also ensure that our National Employment Standards provide the flexibility and support for women to leave violent relationships, including a commitment to paid domestic violence leave. Currently women are entitled to five days unpaid leave through the National Employment Standards, and this is not enough. Paid domestic violence leave is important because financial security is crucial to women fleeing a violent partner. I know this firsthand because I worked with the Working Women's Legal Service in Queensland. It was a service that provided employment legal advice, but often the people that came and sought out that service were fleeing domestic violence relationships. That service was shut down by this government and Minister Cash.

In concluding, I want to say that I've been the kid packing up the boxes and sleeping in the caravan park, seeing her mum go off to her third job just to make ends meet. It's really bloody tough to leave, so we need to change the culture that creates family violence and turns a blind eye to family violence and we need to make it not just possible to leave and survive but possible to leave and thrive.