Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Violence against women and children is not inevitable. It does not have to be the standard we set for ourselves as a nation. It does not have to take the toll that it does on women and children our world. Too many women and children experience gender-based violence. I have experienced it as a child, and I know the lifelong psychological damage that it can do. We know that one woman dies every 10 days at the hands of her former or current partner. Thirty per cent of women have experienced violence by a partner, another known person or a stranger since the age of 15. We all know it needs to stop.

I note that we need to talk deeply about these issues. People say it is a crime—yes, it is a crime, but not every child will want to send their father to jail, for example. It's really important that we know how to stop this abuse while supporting families, whether they choose to stay together or separate through that journey in a way that keeps everybody safe. Every Australian should have the right to live a life free from violence. I'm proud of what our government is doing in partnership with state and territory governments, and that is indeed about addressing underlying factors that drive gender-based violence—underlying factors that we can change, and that relate to cultural and gender norms. We know that men experience gender-based violence, too. They can experience family and domestic violence, but it doesn't happen at the same rate as it does to women. One in 13 men has experienced this, according to the data. I recognise that there may be more men in this context. But it does not detract from the fact that it is often gender norms that underlie the nature of gender based domestic violence and are part of generating that violence to start with. When we have debates in this chamber where we talk about violence against men being under-recognised, but do it in a way that exacerbates restrictive gender norms and continues to put people in very, very narrow boxes, we're not going to fix anyone's domestic or gender based violence issues.

In that context of addressing these issues of family and domestic violence, we can talk about ending violence against women and children, but that is not to make it as if we are deprioritising men. When we value people's ability to live freely, to express their gender identity, to exhibit feminine characteristics without being seen as weak—we know, for example, that men don't speak up about violence because it can be seen as a weakness. When we liberate ourselves from restrictive notions of gender and who is safe and who is not and how and why, we can recognise where gender based violence comes from. We know, of course, that women and children are more likely to experience domestic violence, and that is because of the shape of those gender norms that can make men victims too.

In this context, it's really important we have a strong national plan that unpacks cultural factors as well as practical ones: housing to flee violence, new frontline workers, positive duties on employers— (Time expired)