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

Today is the first day of the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, and I'm really proud that our parliament is honouring that day and that we'll hear some powerful speeches across the chamber today. What saddens me is that there are barely any blokes in this chamber and there aren't many on the speakers' list, either. We know this is a problem for men to fix. We know that 95 per cent of perpetrators are men. What a real shame that we don't see more engagement on this issue from the parliamentarians who are not with us in the chamber this morning. We know that sexism and gender equality and rigid gender stereotypes are driving the rates of violence against women, and we know that we are all part of changing those cultural and behavioural attitudes, and that needs men, too. So, where are they?

Violence against women is at epidemic proportions globally, and here in Australia. Every week in Australia women and children suffer at the hands of men, and this year more than one woman a week has been killed, mostly by men's violence. According to the volunteer organisation Counting Dead Women, 66 women have been killed so far this year. Now, this number is not a record that's kept by government—as it should be—but by volunteer organisations. I salute their dedication, but this figure should be collected and promoted by government, just like the road toll is, to serve to increase awareness and to have that preventive effect. I've asked for that for years and will continue to call for that.

The rate of violence is getting worse. It used to be one woman a week, but it's only November and we're already at 66 killed this year. Men's violence against women is an epidemic—it's a national crisis—and we have a collective responsibility to act. We need to do that deep prevention work, and that is all of us. We need fully funded front-line services, including crisis housing and long-term affordable housing, so that everyone who reaches out for help is able to get it. We acknowledge that there have been some funding improvements under the current government, and that's very welcome, but it's still a rate where those organisations are having to turn women and children away when they reach out for help, because they don't have the money to help everyone. We should cancel all of the submarines, but at the very least we should cancel one of them and fully fund front-line response services so that women and children can be saved and can live and get free from violence.

We need to keep women in their homes and oust the perpetrators of violence, not the survivors, where it's safe for them to stay at home.

We need to stop the victim blaming and shift the emphasis to where it belongs. We need to fund healing and recovery. There's only one centre that does that wraparound trauma support nationally. That should be fixed. Safety is a fundamental human right, but the reality is that most women in Australia are not safe. They are not safe in their homes, their workplaces or their communities. This must change, and it requires a commitment from every single one of us. We must also confront the uncomfortable truths that First Nations women, migrant women and women with disabilities experience disproportionately higher rates of violence and often face systemic barriers to support. There have been 12 First Nations women killed just since June. Eight of those were in the Northern Territory. Their lives and their names matter, and yet there was barely any media coverage of those murders.

This is all the more reason why the government must urgently respond to the recommendations from the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children, which my colleague instigated. The government is already late in responding to it. Sexual violence is increasing at an alarming rate, and workplace harassment remains pervasive. These realities demand that we all—governments, communities, workplaces and individuals—do everything in our power to change the systemic culture of gendered violence to one that prioritises women's safety.

Successive Australian governments have underfunded frontline services that could save lives. And, as I mentioned, while this government has made some progress, neither of the two big parties has ever committed to fully funding frontline services to help everyone who seeks help. The Greens are committed to doing that and to ensuring that survivors receive the resources and the support they need. We also urge continued investment in perpetrator accountability programs and long- and short-term strategies that address the root cause of violence. Violence is not inevitable. It is preventable, but prevention requires all of us. As I've done for years, I will be reading out the names of women and children killed by violence. I'll flag that, in the matter of public urgency I'll be bringing to the chamber later today, that's what I'll be using my time to do.