Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise, as Senator Shoebridge said, to support this motion that has been brought by Senator Thorpe here today and echo my colleagues' comments. Family violence prevention legal services do an important job, as we have heard during the course of the inquiry into the missing and murdered First Nations women and children. For 25 years these organisations have been going—since 1988. The reason they were put together is that the victims and victims-survivors of violence needed a specialised and culturally safe place and the support that was necessary on the back of the Aboriginal legal services being in place, because there was a perceived conflict of interest, or a professional conflict of interest, that women, particularly victims-survivors, who needed that support were up against alleged offenders in the justice system.

These essential services are a beacon, as Senator Shoebridge and others in this chamber here tonight have already said. These services are essential. And what we heard in the course of this inquiry was that it isn't just about family violence; it is about housing and it is about child protection. It comes with a whole raft of issues and experiences that these women have had. We tell these women: 'Come forward. Come to services. Come and disclose.' To who, when these services are not funded to the adequate level? The Mundy review goes right to the heart of that—the $215 million that Senator Shoebridge just talked about. We ask them to come forward, and then we criminalise those women. We criminalise them through the systemic failures that have been in place under the family violence and child protection regime in this country.

The National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum said they need an urgent injection of $100 million in the sector. Some of these services do work that is outside of the contracts that the Commonwealth currently provide. They are providing, in a huge gap, essential services that are missing in our communities. They have got wraparound for their victims-survivors, and it's not just immediate. They've got long-term clients who have lost family members due to homicides. That's what we heard during the inquiry. These families need ongoing help. These are families that are coming interstate to seek out services because services are not funded in some states and territories. Services are not operating, and they're not willing or able to support our women and children. This destroys the heart of what's happening in our communities.