David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The level of men's violence against women in Australia this year is a national crisis. Research by Counting Dead Women and Destroy the Joint shows 64 women were murdered last year. We've already surpassed that number this year, with 66 women murdered.

I want to acknowledge the work of advocates standing out on the front lawn of parliament to honour these women's lives. On their behalf, I want to restate a plea for change, for a true step up in funding for frontline services. I acknowledge and commend the increased investment from the Labor government, but it clearly has to go further. We need to see the Commonwealth government and state and territory governments step up when it comes to funding, and the way that we fund, frontline service providers. I hear too often about the short-term funding cycles which mean it's hard to retain staff and hard to plan for the future. This is unacceptable and inexcusable, given the work that these organisations do and the community sentiment around this. Australians want elected representatives to be stepping up and doing all we can. We need to see a magnitude of investment that will start to genuinely turn the tide, to bring the number of murdered women down, rather than see it continue to go up. That's one of the things that we can do here in this place to make a difference.

We can fund frontline service organisations and we can ensure that there's funding for men's behaviour change programs. I've spoken to many organisations that would love to do more in this space—to start working with more men, particularly young men, on their attitudes towards women, and to draw young people, particularly young men, into the conversation, not in a polarising way that makes them feel they're not heard but in a way that shows them how in our culture they are missing out in not being able to connect with, and find ways to regulate, their feelings and emotions.

State and territory governments also need to step up. We can't have the situation where the Commonwealth tips in money and states and territories say: 'You beauty! We'll cut back on ours.' This is going to take every level of government stepping up, and this is well worth the Senate spending more time on.