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

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It marks the beginning of 16 days of activism against violence. But, for a brave group of victim-survivors who have been leading our public conversation, every day has been a day of activism. Some of them have had a public platform and others have had quiet conversations with friends, but all of them are incredible. I would like to start my remarks by thanking them for their advocacy and their insight. You have had the strength and the generosity to take your own experiences of abuse and trauma and to use them to drive change and to improve the lives of other women and children, and we are so lucky and so grateful to hear from you. We are so lucky and so grateful to hear from you. But the responsibility for change cannot lie solely with the victims of violence. As a community, we have a responsibility to come together and play our part in stopping family, domestic and sexual violence.

It is a national crisis and a national shame that one in four women have experienced family violence, and one in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. Australian police deal with a domestic violence matter every two minutes, with an estimated 657 domestic violence matters, on average, every single day of the year. They are sad statistics. These women are our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, friends, neighbours and colleagues. They all have the right to live their lives safely and free from violence. Violence of this nature does not just have a single victim. We also know how the threat of violence and witnessing violence affects children. It causes trauma that may profoundly affect that child's development. If we want a better, safer future for our daughters and our sons, we need to press for action and take action ourselves.

Yesterday, I was proud to stand with our leader, Anthony Albanese, and announce our plan to fund 500 new community sector workers to support women in crisis, with half of those placed in rural and regional communities. Leaving a violent relationship is the hardest and most dangerous thing that many people will ever do. We know that having a community sector worker standing beside you helps make all the difference. But, right now, women fleeing violence are turned away from services because there are not enough workers to help them. The services I speak to across the country at the front line when it comes to supporting women at this time of great peril tell me how much more they could do with an extra pair of hands.

Last week, I visited the Women's Cottage in Richmond with my colleague from the other place the member for Macquarie, Ms Susan Templeman. Currently, the Women's Cottage has only one part-time domestic violence caseworker. Despite her best efforts, she really cannot meet demand, and the waiting list continues to grow. Based on demand for their services, they say they could easily benefit from two full-time workers. The manager, Maria Losurdo, tells us that ongoing casework resources would mean that their advocacy and support would no longer be limited or short term. They could walk closely with women through the hardest part of their journey after escaping violence and provide them with the support they need to find safety and re-establish their lives. These concrete announcements and commitments matter.

In 2007, Labor came into government determined to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and children. We created the first national plan to reduce violence against women and their children. The first few years of that plan, Julia Gillard, Jenny Macklin, Julie Collins, Kate Ellis, Tanya Plibersek and other Labor women made the most of this opportunity. We saw the creation of a national hotline, 1800RESPECT; a violence prevention body, Our Watch; and the Australian National Research Organisation for Women's Safety, ANROWS. These years represented the most productive and progressive for women's safety. This is the kindest way that I can say this—that enthusiasm and progress did not survive the 2013 change of government. The first minister for women under the coalition government in 2013 was Mr Abbott. That action set the tone for the eight years to follow. It should go without saying that a commitment to end violence is nonpartisan. I appreciate the remarks from colleagues across the chamber today. But, as an opposition, we owe it to our communities to be honest when worthy objectives are not supported by meaningful action.

Yesterday, Labor again committed to national leadership on this issue. We announced that an Albanese Labor government would implement a new family domestic and sexual violence commissioner. This was a recommendation from the House of Representatives inquiry into family domestic and sexual violence to deal with some of the issues of coordination and delivery that we have observed in relation to the national plan. It's part of our ongoing commitment to tackling the scourge of violence. Our focus is on providing women with the housing and the economic support that they need to establish a safe life. On any given day, women's crisis accommodation services across Australia will have to tell women fleeing violence that they have no room to house them or their children. Those women will sleep in a car or will go back to a dangerous situation, because they have no other choice. How is this acceptable? Labor recognise the extent of this problem. It's why we will allocate an additional 4,000 units of social housing to women and children experiencing family violence and to women on lower incomes at risk of homelessness as part of our Housing Australia Future Fund. We will also provide $100 million for crisis and transitional housing for these women. This gives survivors of violence a chance to rebuild their lives.

No woman should have to choose between keeping her job and leaving an abusive situation. We will establish 10 days paid domestic violence leave. We know that employment is enormously protective. A job means social connections with colleagues. It means financial security. It means independence and self-worth.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made it abundantly clear that services will be most successful when they are designed and delivered by First Nations people. They are also calling for a separate national action plan for First Nations people to end violence against women and family violence. Labor supports this call.

These are practical solutions advocated by people who work every day to support women and children at their time of greatest need. Labor is committed to action and to bringing down the rates of violence in our communities. Over the years there have been too many words and too little action, especially from our national leaders. Acting with urgency and ambition is essential if we are to make an impact and decrease the rates of family and domestic violence.

I began my contribution today by reflecting on the impact of the advocacy and insights of victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. The Australian community owes a great deal to these people, who have experienced the most horrible of situations but are relentless in their efforts to improve the lives of other women and other children. We should do everything in our power to avoid adding to their numbers.