Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I too add my congratulations on your appointment to the auspicious role of President of this amazing place.

I thank Senator Chandler for her question, a question that is so incredibly important to all Australians. It's about ending violence against women and their children. Sadly, we know that one in six women, from the age of 15, will experience violence at the hands of a partner. It is an absolute blight on our society, and I can assure everybody in this chamber that this government is committed to doing something about it.

We must aim to prevent violence before it happens, but unfortunately when it does happen we also need to be there to support women and their children, to help them rebuild their lives. That's why today I was pleased to announce the escaping violence payment, which is a $144.8 million initiative that is part of the $1.1 billion investment in women's safety in the budget. The payment aims to help 12,000 women—however, it is a demand-driven payment—to make sure that we provide them with the necessary supports so that they are able to overcome the financial barriers to leaving violent relationships and, in doing so, alleviate one of the main reasons why women stay in violent relationships or potentially go back to violent relationships.

The flagship investment will give women more security when they make that extraordinarily brave decision to leave a violent relationship and all of the forms of domestic, family and sexual violence, including physical violence, coercive control and financial abuse. The escaping violence payment is up to $5,000 to help women rebuild their lives free of violence. Fifteen hundred dollars of this will be in cash, perhaps for something as simple buying as the kids a new lunchbox. The other $3½ thousand can go towards things like paying for rental bonds, whitegoods, school fees et cetera. It's not taxable, it's not reportable and it doesn't impact on other payments. I look forward to continuing to update the Senate on this initiative.