Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This year already 54 women have been killed by violence, and in just this month of November, in one week, we have seen six women killed—five of them by men they knew. It's clear that men's violence against women and children is an epidemic, and it's past time that government policies reflected this urgency to tackle violence against women and their children. First Nations women, women from culturally diverse backgrounds, women in regional areas, older women, LGBTIQ+ women and women with a disability are even more likely to experience violence.

Saturday 25 November was International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and we're now on day 3 of 16 days of activism on this issue. Every year on that day we all recommit to ending sexual and physical violence against women around the world, but frontline support services are still underfunded and women and children are still being turned away as a result of that underfunding. Enough with the empty promises. Enough with ignoring the impact of financial insecurity and housing stress on women's capacity to leave. Enough with underfunding the services that women reach out to you in a crisis.

The government has said it wants to end violence against women within a generation, but it's not stumping up the money to do that. The total federal funding commitment over the next five years is $2.23 billion. That sounds good until you realise it's less than half of what the women's safety sector have said they need to meet current demand and help everyone who is currently seeking their help, let alone anyone who seeks help in the future.

Labor speaks about difficult choices in the budget. They're spending $313 billion on tax cuts for the very wealthy, but no, they're too poor to afford $1 billion a year for women escaping violence. It's worse than disappointing; it's a betrayal. The housing crisis is felt even more acutely by women and children experiencing family and domestic violence, and women are being forced to choose between abuse and homelessness. Women on low wages or income support are especially vulnerable, yet this government persists in refusing to increase JobSeeker to above the poverty line. You need to not just say the words; you've got to cough up the dough and help fix this.

Question agreed to.