Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Katy Gallagher is an absolute trailblazer and fierce advocate for women, and I am incredibly proud to be in this chamber with a woman of her calibre. It doesn't feel like it was all that long ago that I was working in child protection with children and women who were survivors of sexual abuse, and I got to see firsthand the impacts of those assaults and violence on children and women, which are long lasting and devastating. They leave a profound impact on survivors. It's certainly easy to forget in this place how powerful words are when they are used so irresponsibly by those opposite. They're used without any care for anybody outside this place. We have a responsibility in here to tread with care.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey released in March this year, an estimated eight million Australians—41 per cent—aged 18 years and over have experienced physical or sexual violence. One in five women—that's 22 per cent, or 2.2 million women—have experienced sexual violence. One in 16 men—that's 6.1 per cent, or 582,400 men—have experienced sexual violence. The rates of family and domestic or sexual violence are higher for Indigenous women. We know that. They are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised than non-Indigenous women. While those opposite want to try to turn the torch on Labor for political gain about who knew what and when, there are people out in the community who hear every word that we say in here. It is echoed out into the community, and what they hear is that you don't care about their trauma and that you don't care about their resilience or the strength of survivors at all.

It would be easy to forget, with the disgraceful comments thrown around over the last couple of weeks, that the Me Too movement ever happened. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the Set the standard report was never written or that the #LetHerSpeak campaign never happened. You'd be forgiven for thinking that those events didn't happen, because it's certainly fallen on deaf ears over there. It's like those opposite learned nothing. To be so irresponsible is frigging outrageous.

We know that half of the women who've experienced sexual assault did not seek advice or support after the most recent incident of sexual assault perpetrated by a male. The events that have unfolded in this place certainly won't give them any confidence in seeking support in the near future. It should go without saying that every person in this place should be able to live free from violence, to be safe in their communities.

The discussion today again serves as a stark reminder of the work that we need to do not just in this place but as a country. We are certainly under some great leadership with our Minister for Women in Katy Gallagher. We need to place survivors at the heart of conversations that we have about them, because that's what this conversation is about. We need to acknowledge the tenacity and strength of all those who have experienced it and survived, because they are the true heroes here.

To those listening I say I'm sorry if you're feeling retraumatised because of the conduct of the people in this place. I'm sorry for what you've had to hear in this place. I'm sorry for what you've had to see through the media and on your TV screens that has retriggered you over the last couple of weeks. I'm sorry if you're in pain from the conversations that have happened in this place. I want to say that we absolutely need to do better. We need to do better for you.