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

I rise to speak on this matter of urgency which addresses the government's failure to commit adequate resources and to address the national security crisis of violence against women. It's an issue that the Greens have worked on for many years. It's an issue where for many years the sector have said that they don't have enough funds to help everyone who reaches out to seek their help when they flee violence.

We've had multiple inquiries about this. There have been multiple inquiries in state parliaments about this. Chief amongst the recommendations has always been that frontline services need more funding, which should not come as news to the government. I asked the question earlier today about when the sector will be heard and when the government will finally stump up the money to make sure that there are enough staff in those organisations so that women can be helped when they reach out, so that phone calls don't go unanswered and so that they don't have to say: 'No, the beds are full. We've got nowhere to put you.' Sadly, the response from the Minister for Women was that I was politicising the issue—