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

I thank Senator Waters for her question and for her ongoing interest in this really vital area of Australian policy. The coalition government, under which I am the Minister for Women's Safety, is absolutely committed to putting in place a range of measures to make sure we support women who are making that extraordinarily brave decision to leave a violent relationship. Obviously part of that package has to make sure that there is a safe place for them to go. So far, in both the 2021-22 budget and in the Fourth Action Plan, we have provided support to the states and territories, particularly in rural and regional Australia, including a program called Safe Places, which has provided accommodation for 6½ thousand women and children escaping violence every year so that they have a safe place to go.

In addition to that, we are also working with the states and territories around a program called Keeping Women Safe in their Homes because we need to change the dial here. Instead of making the victim-survivors the ones who suffer the pain, we need to make sure that the perpetrators are held to account, and the best way to hold a perpetrator to account, when it is safe to do so, is to make him leave the home so she and the children can stay there with the support mechanisms of their family, friends and their school and so they don't have to leave with nothing. But only when it's safe to do so.

We also announced as part of the 2021-22 budget the escaping violence payment. It's a two-year program that we're trialling to make sure we get it right. That $164 million-plus program provides $5,000 to women who are leaving a violent relationship so that they can have the necessities to be able to set up a safe new home for themselves and, when they have children, their children. One of the things we have heard very clearly is the fact that putting down a bond on a new place to be able to rent sometimes is the most important thing that women are requiring that assistance for. We will continue to work with you, Senator Waters, and everybody else to end violence against women and their children. (Time expired)