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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Women today, who I believe is Senator Wong. At least 28 women have been killed by violence this year, almost twice as many as at this time last year. Men's violence against women is a national emergency, but Labor refuses to provide an emergency response. The women's safety sector has repeatedly called for $1 billion each year for frontline services so that no-one who seeks help has to be turned away, back to violence. You said you'd be a government for women, so will the Albanese government finally recognise men's violence against women as a national emergency and commit $1 billion per year for frontline services in tonight's budget?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Waters. I think all of us in this chamber understand that family and domestic violence destroys lives. All of us in this chamber understand that violence against women is a national crisis. I would hope that all of us in this chamber—rather than partisanship—would be working towards how we diminish and end this scourge which has blighted the lives of so many people for so many decades.

I think you know that the government have been working with the states and territories to end violence in a generation, and we are accelerating efforts to meet that goal. I would hope that you would know that the prevention of violence against women has been a priority of this government since we took office. But we do know there is so much more to do. We need to focus on prevention and we need to focus on perpetrators, and this important work will take time, determination and a relentless focus on preventing violence and helping survivors. None of us can rest until we see a cessation of the violence, which is such a crisis for so many people in this country.

To date, the government has invested in record levels to support the national plan. We've also expanded the single parenting payment. We've invested in housing to help women and children leaving violence. We've acted to make the family law system safer for women and children. We've made major changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to prevent sexual harassment. We've taken long overdue action against sexual assault on campus. We've commenced the ALRC review to strengthen justice responses to sexual violence. We've made new commitments, a new permanent leaving violence payment of $925 million, a billion dollars— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Waters, first supplementary?

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

On that last point, the National Cabinet's announcement simply extended the Morrison era escaping violence payment that has been plagued by maladministration and delays. It will help women reach out to support services, but it will only increase demand on those already stretched services. When will the government properly resource frontline services to meet this increased demand?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, I'll deal with the leaving violence program, which replaces the current trials. I would have thought that victims-survivors having the certainty of knowing a safety net will be there if they need it is a positive step. I would also note that the payment will be indexed annually to ensure it maintains its value and complements other financial supports. It builds on the improvement we made to the escaping violence payment when we came to government. I would also make the point that there is a national plan which has been developed in partnership with victims-survivors. This is driven by our more than $3 billion investment to respond to the needs of women and children experiencing violence but also supporting the critically important work of preventing violence, intervening before it escalates and aiding the recovery of victims-survivors.

We've boosted funding for online services, which included restoring the funding which was due to cease under the former government's— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Waters, second supplementary?

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

On the weekend, Labor reannounced the $1 billion that the Greens procured in HAFF negotiations that had already been announced in MYEFO and pretended that it was new money for crisis accommodation for women and children escaping violence. Retargeting existing money is not new money. When will you stop recycling Morrison-era payments and previous budget commitments and actually commit new money to frontline services and prevention programs?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said at the outset, I would hope that all of us, rather than trying to take a partisan approach to this, might try and work together on this issue, Senator Waters. You would be aware that we are delivering more safe places for women and children experiencing family and domestic violence, which will assist more than 2,800 women and children each year, and an additional 720 new places will be available under the next round. There is no quick fix to this.

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

Not without funding there isn't.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Waters! You have asked your question.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have provided substantial amounts of additional funding under the national plan, but there is no quick fix to this. This is something all of us, men and women, need to work together on, because what we see is a crisis. It's a crisis that all of us need to respond to.