Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier in the debate I moved these amendments and I indicated that the amendment proposed, amendment (2), replicates the private senator's bill that I earlier introduced in this chamber and seeks to establish 10 days paid domestic violence leave as part of the National Employment Standards. Essentially, what this amendment would do is improve the existing entitlement in the National Employment Standards from five days unpaid domestic and family violence leave to 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave, and that is a much-needed reform.

Businesses tell us that there is a very significant impact of family and domestic violence on their employees. In 2016, the National Retail Association estimated that in a single year almost 45,000 women working in the retail industry experienced some form of family and domestic violence. The Australian Council of Trade Unions estimate 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 a court or a doctor's appointment, and ensuring that children have the support that they need. It puts women fleeing violence in a precarious position. Many face the unacceptable choice of fleeing to safety or keeping their job. No-one should be forced to make that decision.

Given the prevalence of family and domestic violence in Australia and its impact on employment and the economy, there is a need to support women to flee violence and keep themselves safe. The current arrangements are simply inadequate. The experience of businesses who have already introduced paid leave is that, on average, women do not take the entire 10 days that are available to them but instead use part of that entitlement modestly, carefully to make the changes that they need.

Australian women want to keep working. They value their working lives. This amendment seeks to provide the choices—the real choices—that would deliver real equality for Australian women who are presently confronted by violence in their households.