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

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That the Albanese government must fully fund frontline women's safety services to at least $1 billion per year as the sector has called for to address the epidemic of men's violence against women in Australia.

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and we've drawn to the attention of the chamber Australia's epidemic of men's violence against women. The Greens are once again calling on the Albanese government to fully fund the frontline services that respond to and support victims-survivors fleeing violence, to at least $1 billion per year. Current Commonwealth funding is only three-quarters of the $1 billion per year that the women's safety sector says it needs to meet existing demand. This is, in effect, condemning one in four women to being turned away, back to violence.

The Greens today launched our election commitment of a $15 billion package to fully fund frontline services, prevention and recovery programs, and we're calling on the government to increase its investment. This is about priorities. If Labor funded just one less nuclear submarine, they would have more than the amount required to fully fund frontline services—and then some. I would hope that the Albanese government could prioritise the lives of women above one nuclear submarine.

As I foreshadowed this morning, and as I've done for years, I'm going to read the names of women killed by violence this year, using records kept by the volunteer organisation Counting Dead Women.

Their lives and their names matter: Vicky Van Aken, aged 51; Shirley So, aged 50; Mavis Stanley, aged 47; Nikkita Azzopardi, aged 35; Cheryl Davidson, age unknown; Isla Bell, aged 19; Christine Mills, aged 58; Natalie Galcsik, aged 46; Debra Hunter, aged 67; Loyla Morgan, aged 39; Jasmine Sloane, aged 35; Suzy Rackemann, aged 61; Xiaoting Wang, aged 21; Frances Crawford, aged 49; Kiesha Thompson, aged 23; Lolene Whitehand, aged 85; Kierra-Lea Jensen, aged 28; Nunia Kurualeba, aged 21; Annette Brennan, aged 67; Sarah Miles, aged 40; Carolyn McCarthy, aged 51; Annette Kiss, aged 53; Natalie Frahm, aged 34; Evette Verney, aged 61; Wanda Dorothy Uhle, aged 78; Jennifer Petelczyc, aged 59, and her daughter, Gretl Petelczyc, aged 18; Joan Drane, aged 78; Erica Hay, aged 30; Emma Bates, aged 49; Molly Ticehurst, aged 28; Yixuan Cheng, aged 27; Pikria Darchia, aged 55; Jade Young, aged 55; Dawn Singleton, aged 25; Ashlee Good, aged 38; Tara Morrison, aged 38; Hannah McGuire, aged 23; Mauwa Kizenga, aged 22; Chaithanya 'Swetha' Madhagani, age unknown; Joanne Perry, aged 53; Samantha Murphy, aged 51; Min Cho, aged 41; Amarjit Kaur Sardar, aged 41; Samira Kammalledine, aged 80; Vyleen White, aged 70; Antoinette Tozer, aged 76; Alana Martin, aged 30; Keira Marshall, aged 29; Nerol Doble, aged 65; Alison Robinson, aged 39; and 14 unnamed women aged 61, 70, 42, 37, 22, 43, 36, 77, 36, 66, in her 60s, 26, in her 60s and 42. We've got to do better by these women and their families. Please fully fund frontline support services and prevention and men's behaviour change work.