Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, marking the start of 16 days of activism against gender based violence. I know, for many years now, my friend and colleague in the other place Sharon Claydon, who is deeply committed to ending violence against women, has read out the names of women killed by violence in the previous year as recorded by Destroy the Joint, as has Senator Waters from this chamber. Ms Claydon is doing that again this year, and I encourage people to go and listen to her speech—a poignant reminder of just how many women's lives have been cut far too short. It's a distressingly long list of names, and the truth is we wouldn't have enough time if we were to add the list of all the women and children who have felt the impacts of violence in their lives.

Since 1989, when this data started to be collected, 1,710 women have been killed by their intimate partners, but we know that that number doesn't show us the whole picture—the too many women who die by suicide after years of violence and abuse; the children who grow up witnessing violence, fearful for their lives or for their mothers' lives, then so often experiencing the enduring impacts of this trauma; the missing and murdered First Nations women who so often don't get the same media coverage as other women across Australia; the women who experience brain injury as a result of gender based violence, which is a consequence that is terrifying and yet we know far too little about it; and the women that live in fear every day, scared to go home, when the person that professes to love them is the greatest threat to their life, being tracked, abused and threatened, all for taking the brave decision to leave a violent relationship, living with the emotional and physical scars of violence.

As Minister for Women, it's an honour to be entrusted with so many women's experiences, from women who talk to me when I'm out and about in communities across Australia, to women who write to me, to women who turn the most horrific experiences into action and advocacy and meet with me at parliament. I'm inspired by all of these women and their supporters, and I say to them that this government is committed to ending this violence. We all want change. For some it's personal; for everyone, though, it matters. We know ending violence requires action and investment. It's why, since coming to government, we have made record investment to end this violence

At every economic update, we've looked at ways to invest to support the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children and its bold but important ambition of a future free from violence.

I want to acknowledge Minister Rishworth, Assistant Minister Eliot and Assistant Minister Thwaites for their leadership in driving action to support this ambition. We've invested $4 billion in this important task, in investments to prevent violence, to intervene where it happens and to respond and support victims-survivors to recover and heal. This is on top of the $3.9 billion for legal assistance announced following the National Cabinet's historic meeting into ending violence against women and children. These investments also include extra funding for housing and specific investments targeted at women escaping violence. There are also our significant investments in women's economic equality, including reforms to Parenting Payment Single so that women can access payments until their children are 14—a significant reform for so many mothers fleeing domestic violence and in need of economic stability.

It's not just about the dollars; it's also around legislative reform like paid family and domestic violence leave so that women don't have to choose between their job or their safety or improving the family law system so that it's safer, fairer and better responds to experiences of family violence. There is always more to do, and until all women and girls are safe, whether at home, online or in their communities, we cannot take our foot off the accelerator. So we press on, guided by our deep determination and optimism that we can achieve a community free from gender based violence.

On this day and every day, I think of the lives of women and girls across the country. I reiterate my commitment and the commitment of everyone across the Albanese government to an Australia free from gender based violence, because a safer and more equal Australia for women is a better country for all of us.