Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak on the plague of domestic violence in Australia, a national disgrace and a black mark on this country.

Last Saturday, I was invited to address a community rally against domestic violence in Launceston. I would like to thank Barbara-Anne O'Bryne for organising the rally and those who attended in wet weather for their efforts and their commitment to keeping the spotlight on domestic violence. Barbara-Anne O'Bryne organised the rally in response to an incredibly heartbreaking and distressing personal experience with domestic violence and I thank her for her work in raising awareness to eliminate domestic violence. I would also like to commend Kirsten Ritchie, a domestic violence survivor, for her passionate and moving speech. In 2015 in Tasmania, over 2½ thousand reports were made by those who had been affected by domestic violence from their loved ones or partners. Too many Australian women and children experience violence every single day. The emotional, physical and social cost is enormous. And we know that there has been an increase in elder abuse as well in this country.

Violence against women and children has reached a shameful epidemic and we should not be judging those who do not have a voice who cannot speak out. What we should be doing is condemning any form of domestic violence in this country. We need to say it is not acceptable We have reached a point where too often the public warning signs that a woman or child is in danger is a report in the newspaper of horrific injuries or death. We have reached a point where too often we have become familiar with the names of women and children we do not even know because of the horrific and tragic way in which they have been treated. As I said, this is totally unacceptable.

I would like to take this opportunity to place on record my thanks to Rosie Batty for her outstanding service as the 2015 Australian of the Year. Rosie is a remarkable and inspiring woman who has given a voice to so many who suffer in silence. Thank you, Rosie, for shining a bright light on the crisis of family violence and for putting it firmly on the national agenda. We must honour Rosie for what she has done, but it has to continue. We have to build on that public awareness and we have a responsibility in this chamber and elsewhere to eliminate family violence, once and for all. Moving forward, we have to say that enough is enough, that this is a national disgrace and that we all have a responsibility to ensure that we do everything we can to ensure that women, children and our elderly are safe in their homes and with their loved ones.

Labor have shown significant leadership on this. Our first costed policy, announced 18 months before the election is due, was about family violence. We have committed that, in government, we will introduce a package of over $70 million in measures to assist people in family violence situations. We have also announced that, in government, Labor will make domestic and family violence leave a universal workplace right by including an additional five days paid domestic violence leave in the National Employment Standards.

We, on this side of the chamber, are committed to doing all we can to eliminate domestic and family violence in this country, but it needs all of us to take a leadership role. It is not just up to us here in this chamber and in the other place. It is in every state, it is in every business, it is in every workforce and it is in every workplace that we need, as individuals, to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough.' We have to ensure it is instilled in our young boys that violence against women is unacceptable, that you are not a man if you use violence against women; a man would walk away. We have seen, only too often over the Christmas and New Year break, king hits in our communities that have cost the lives of inspiring young people. We have to take leadership. We must continue the work that Rosie Batty and others like Barbara-Anne O'Byrne and Kirsten Ritchie have done in our country and make sure that we say, 'Enough is enough.'