Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

By leave—The murders of Hannah Clarke and her children, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey, have shaken us all to the core. Like many, I couldn't read the reports when they first came in, because they were too distressing. Like many, I think we held our children closer. The reports, the news—what happened was devastatingly awful. It was tragic, incomprehensible. We ask ourselves: why does this keep happening? But it does. As Senator Cormann said, a woman a week in this country is murdered by a current or former partner. One in three are experiencing physical violence from the time they're 15. One in five are experiencing sexual violence.

This was a horrific event, and we grieve for Hannah Clarke and her three children. We join with people across the nation in expressing our grief and sorrow and our support for the family, and we extend this to many other victims and survivors of family violence in Australia. But actually it shouldn't be a shock to us that this has happened to yet another woman and her family. We shouldn't be shocked there's been another murder. In the early hours of Saturday morning a woman in Townsville was stabbed to death in her home. Again, a case of family violence. We can't continue to simply be shocked. We ought to resolve to act. We ought to resolve to end the national emergency of family violence.

Let this event, this tragic, senseless murder of a woman and her children, be a catalyst for change—changes in approach from governments but also changes in attitudes in our communities. As Our Watch said in response to the Camp Hill tragedy, 'No one individual, community, organisation or government alone can prevent violence against women.' They said:

In order to prevent violence against women, we need a shared, consistent and mutually reinforcing approach, where all levels of government, business and the community contribute to creating a safer Australia built upon respect and equality.

The right of women and children to live safely in their homes, in their communities, without fear mustn't be compromised.

In this place, all of us, individually and collectively, have a responsibility to lead and to work together to provide support to women escaping violent and abusive relationships. I support Anthony Albanese's call for a national summit because we need to come together to listen to survivors and experts. We need to listen and to act and we all have a role to play. On this day, why don't we commit to doing more than being shocked? Why don't we commit to really working together for change? We mourn, but let's do more than mourn. Let us all act together to eliminate violence against women. This is what the memory of this family and so many others deserves.