Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 563 by, sadly, amending the number of women killed from 16 to 17, as mentioned in the first paragraph of the motion.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) 17 women have been killed by violence since the start of 2020, as reported by Counting Dead Women Australia from Destroy The Joint,

  (ii) there is no national government reporting program to record the ongoing toll of women killed by violence in real time and ensure that these horrifying statistics receive ongoing public attention,

  (iii) on average, one woman is murdered every week by her current or former partner,

  (iv) according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2016:

(A) more than 370,000 Australian women are subjected to violence from men each year,

(B) 1 in 3 Australian women has experienced physical violence,

(C) 1 in 5 Australian women has experienced sexual violence,

(D) 1 in 6 Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner,

(E) 1 in 4 Australian women has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner,

(F) Australian women are nearly three times more likely than men to experience violence from an intimate partner, and

(G) Australian women are 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalised for assault injuries arising from family and domestic violence than men, with hospitalisation rates rising by 23% since 2014-2015;

  (v) in 2017, young women aged 15-34 accounted for more than half of reported sexual assaults;

  (vi) there is growing evidence that women with disabilities are more likely to experience violence;

  (vii) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women report experiencing violence at 3.1 times the rate of non-Indigenous women;

  (viii) in 2016-2017, Indigenous women were 32 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family violence as non-Indigenous women;

  (ix) the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 states that the overall prevalence of violence against women will only start to decrease in the very long term as gender roles change,

  (x) the Fourth Action Plan recognises that demand for domestic and family violence services has increased, and will continue to increase, and

  (xi) the COVID-19 crisis has put more women and children at risk of abuse and increased both the demand for domestic and family violence services and the complexity of the models for delivering these services, and

(b) calls on the Government to:

  (i) recognise violence against women as a national security crisis,

  (ii) adequately fund frontline domestic, family and sexual violence and crisis housing services to ensure that all women seeking safety can access these services when and where they need them,

  (iii) legislate for 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave so that women don't have to choose between paying the bills and seeking safety,

  (iv) ensure that all government funded counselling services for domestic and family violence are delivered by expert family violence service providers in accordance with the National Outcome Standards for Perpetrator Interventions,

  (v) implement all 25 recommendations of the 2015 Senate inquiry into domestic violence in Australia, and

  (vi) maintain and publish an official real-time national toll of women killed by violence in Australia.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Morrison government is committed to preventing, addressing and ultimately ending family domestic and sexual violence in Australia. This government has made the largest ever Commonwealth investment, of $340 million, to support the fourth action plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children, which is focused on prevention and early intervention. An additional $150 million has been provided to prepare for and respond to any increase in domestic, family and sexual violence as a consequence of COVID-19. Delivery of frontline, domestic and family violence services is a matter for the state and territory governments.

Question agreed to.