Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Australia, one in three women has experienced physical violence and one in five has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. Such violence against women is experienced at all ages and stages of life and in every location across Australia. In a modern society such as ours, this is simply unacceptable. With so many women experiencing violence at the hands of men, often fatally, it shows just how far we are from reaching gender equity in our country.

We must do more, and I'm proud to say that the Albanese Labor government is taking action. Last week, following National Cabinet, the government committed an additional $4.4 billion in new funding under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 to address the scourge of gender based violence. This is on top of the $3.4 billion that we have already invested in this plan since coming to government. Of the additional $4.4 billion announced last week, $3.9 billion will support frontline legal assistance services through a new national access for justice partnership with the states and territories. This includes a critical increase of $800 million in funding over five years to the legal assistance sector, with a focus on legal services responding to gender based violence.

Other investments announced last week include $351 million over five years to fund a renewed national partnership agreement on family, domestic and sexual violence responses and frontline services to be matched by states and territories and $169 million in targeted initiatives to support the national plan and address gender based violence. Despite these significant investments, we know that the job is not yet done and that there is more work to do.

Addressing gender based violence is an absolute priority of the Albanese government, and we will continue to show leadership through action on this for as long as it takes.