Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table the explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Fair Work Amendment (Ten Days Paid Domestic and Family Violence Leave) Bill 2020 will amend the Fair Work Act 2009 to improve the existing entitlement in the National Employment Standards from five days unpaid domestic and family violence leave to ten days paid domestic and family violence leave.

It's a needed much reform. Every week in Australia, one woman is killed by her current or former partner. One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of fifteen. The majority of women who have experienced intimate partner violence are employed, with 1 in 10 taking time off work to due to violence from a current partner, and 1 in 5 from a former partner.

Businesses have reported on the impact of family and domestic violence on their employees. In 2016, the National Retail Association estimated that for the period 2014/15, almost 45,000 women working in the retail industry experienced some form of family or domestic violence, costing the industry approximately $62.5 million per annum in lost productivity, absenteeism, and staff turnover, with a direct cost to employers of $1,404 for each instance.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions estimated that it costs $18,000 and 141 hours to leave a violent relationship. Many working women resign or are terminated from their employment because they need to take the time to deal with issues that arise as a consequence of domestic abuse: finding housing, attending court and doctor's appointments, and ensuring their children have the support they need.

This situation puts women fleeing violence in a precarious position: many face the unacceptable choice between fleeing to safety or staying in a job. No woman should be forced to make this decision.

Given the prevalence of family and domestic violence in Australia – and its impact on employment and the economy – there is an urgent need to support working women to flee violence and keep themselves and their children safe.

On 13 September 2018, the Government introduced Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2018to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 to include an entitlement to five days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave in the National Employment Standards.

Five days unpaid leave is simply not adequate in supporting women to flee violence. For women employed full-time, leave entitlements are used quickly, and for the 2 million Australian workers who are employed casually, over half of whom are women, there are no paid leave entitlements to rely on at all.

This bill allows victim-survivors of family and domestic violence to access ten days of paid leave so that they do not have to stop working, thereby ensuring their economic independence and job security which will support them to leave violence.

The existing domestic and family violence leave entitlement will be improved by providing paid leave and doubling the period that can be taken in a 12-month period of employment. This will strengthen the existing entitlement and align the NES with the practices of many Australian employers, that already provide paid leave to employees who are experiencing domestic and family violence and need to respond within the ordinary hours of work.

Paid domestic violence leave has the support of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Law Reform Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission and frontline family and domestic violence services.

Paid domestic violence leave will contribute to a cultural and attitudinal change to family and domestic violence that is urgently needed to eliminate it from our community.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.