Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has declared that domestic violence is a national crisis. A woman is being murdered every four days. Thirty-five women have been murdered so far this year. I think Australians are expecting that the PM will step up and give frontline services the funding they actually need because it is, as he says, a crisis. But this chickenfeed, bandaid budget in most cases doesn't do more than keep the lights on. Community legal centres turned away a thousand people a day last year. The Tasmanian women's legal service are turning a woman away every day because they just do not have enough lawyers because they do not have the funding. The funding announced in the budget only provides for CPI and adjustments to under 20 per cent of their funding base. Like I said, it's chickenfeed.

The Prime Minister has said over and over again that he wants to change attitudes. But there are programs for men, for perpetrators of domestic violence—they want to get help and they want to change, but they are being turned away because the programs don't have the funding so there is no availability. And, if you really want to break the cycle, we need to be working on the next generation. Where was the money in this budget for programs to address the issues coming up for our kids—programs like the veteran mentors who work to put kids back on the right path?

My worry is that this budget isn't about fixing the domestic violence crisis, it isn't about lifting the 3.3 million Australians out of poverty, it isn't about helping our kids get mental health support and it isn't about dealing with youth crime. It isn't about giving our seniors the opportunity to work more hours not just to top up their pensions but also because it's great for their mental health and wellbeing. Do you know what this budget is about, Australians? Do you know what it's about? Same stuff, different day. It's about the Labor Party looking after their donors and putting their own careers before the national interest. It's not a budget for Australians; it's a budget to soften up voters for an early election, and that's all it is.