Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, marking the start of 16 days of activism against gender based violence. I know, for many years now, my friend and colleague in the other place Sharon Claydon, who is deeply committed to ending violence against women, has read out the names of women killed by violence in the previous year as recorded by Destroy the Joint, as has Senator Waters from this chamber. Ms Claydon is doing that again this year, and I encourage people to go and listen to her speech—a poignant reminder of just how many women's lives have been cut far too short. It's a distressingly long list of names, and the truth is we wouldn't have enough time if we were to add the list of all the women and children who have felt the impacts of violence in their lives.

Since 1989, when this data started to be collected, 1,710 women have been killed by their intimate partners, but we know that that number doesn't show us the whole picture—the too many women who die by suicide after years of violence and abuse; the children who grow up witnessing violence, fearful for their lives or for their mothers' lives, then so often experiencing the enduring impacts of this trauma; the missing and murdered First Nations women who so often don't get the same media coverage as other women across Australia; the women who experience brain injury as a result of gender based violence, which is a consequence that is terrifying and yet we know far too little about it; and the women that live in fear every day, scared to go home, when the person that professes to love them is the greatest threat to their life, being tracked, abused and threatened, all for taking the brave decision to leave a violent relationship, living with the emotional and physical scars of violence.

As Minister for Women, it's an honour to be entrusted with so many women's experiences, from women who talk to me when I'm out and about in communities across Australia, to women who write to me, to women who turn the most horrific experiences into action and advocacy and meet with me at parliament. I'm inspired by all of these women and their supporters, and I say to them that this government is committed to ending this violence. We all want change. For some it's personal; for everyone, though, it matters. We know ending violence requires action and investment. It's why, since coming to government, we have made record investment to end this violence

At every economic update, we've looked at ways to invest to support the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children and its bold but important ambition of a future free from violence.

I want to acknowledge Minister Rishworth, Assistant Minister Eliot and Assistant Minister Thwaites for their leadership in driving action to support this ambition. We've invested $4 billion in this important task, in investments to prevent violence, to intervene where it happens and to respond and support victims-survivors to recover and heal. This is on top of the $3.9 billion for legal assistance announced following the National Cabinet's historic meeting into ending violence against women and children. These investments also include extra funding for housing and specific investments targeted at women escaping violence. There are also our significant investments in women's economic equality, including reforms to Parenting Payment Single so that women can access payments until their children are 14—a significant reform for so many mothers fleeing domestic violence and in need of economic stability.

It's not just about the dollars; it's also around legislative reform like paid family and domestic violence leave so that women don't have to choose between their job or their safety or improving the family law system so that it's safer, fairer and better responds to experiences of family violence. There is always more to do, and until all women and girls are safe, whether at home, online or in their communities, we cannot take our foot off the accelerator. So we press on, guided by our deep determination and optimism that we can achieve a community free from gender based violence.

On this day and every day, I think of the lives of women and girls across the country. I reiterate my commitment and the commitment of everyone across the Albanese government to an Australia free from gender based violence, because a safer and more equal Australia for women is a better country for all of us.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition also acknowledges that today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is held on 25 November each year. It signifies the 16 Days of Activism to end gender based violence across Australia. Addressing violence against women remains at the forefront of women's issues around the world and here at home, for as long as women are subject to gender based violence, there can be no genuine gender equality.

This year alone, more than 50 women have allegedly been murdered by a man. As of 16 November, that number was 56. That averages out to be more than one woman per week. But that statistic doesn't paint the full picture because, for every woman murdered, there have been so many more who have lived through violent situations or are currently living through them.

When I delivered this speech last year, I named some of the women whose stories have stuck with me. I hoped that this year would be different, that by some miracle we wouldn't need to mention them. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I still think of Hannah Clarke, Shirley Kidd and Kylie Griffiths. Now I also think of Nikkita Azzopardi, the 35-year-old from South Morang in Victoria. I think of Hannah McGuire, the 23-year-old from Ballarat, and Lilie James, the 21-year-old from Sydney. Unfortunately, there are many more names across our country.

Too many women have been killed as a result of violence, and many more have been assaulted. The numbers are going in the wrong direction, and immediate action is required. These names remind us that, despite our progress as a society, there is still so much more to be done. Family and domestic violence is a plague, and improving the safety of women and girls is above politics. The data shows the urgent need. Reported FDV incidents have risen by 20 per cent nationwide. In my home state, police are called to a family violence incident every five minutes. In the 12 months to November 2024, there were 99,000 family violence reports. Western Australia is forecast to have its highest number ever of family and domestic violence offences on record this year and has a restraining order breached every 44 minutes.

We can and must do better in the interest of the future of all women and all children. We know that the health of Australian women and girls is absolutely critical to their overall wellbeing and ability to fully participate in society. Women should feel safe at home, and when matters of domestic violence arise, they should feel safe and supported in their decision-making, including when leaving a violent relationship. We must ensure policies are announced, implemented and delivered to keep our women and children safe, which requires all levels of government to continue to work together. From bail laws to federally funded support programs, the policy levers span across Commonwealth and state lines.

Ending violence against women and children was a key priority for the coalition government, and in the 2021-22 Women's Budget Statement we invested $1.1 billion to address violence against women and children. This brought the coalition's total investment in family and domestic violence to more than $2 billion since 2013. We supported programs that focused on: prevention; early intervention; response and recovery; funding initiatives like Our Watch, Stop it at the Start, and the Respectful Relationships education online platform; expanding DV alert training; the Escaping Violence payment that was championed by my colleague Senator Ruston; maintaining protection against cross-examinations by family violence perpetrators; and many more vital programs. The coalition will continue in its work with government and the sector to combat the scourge and help women and children escape the violence they are facing. We will demand greater action and hold the government to account for their commitments. The front-line family and domestic violence sector need action, and for government to deliver on the promises that have been made. Australians deserve better and we must do better.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is an important day to recognise. We recognise that the Albanese government promised 500 front-line workers at the 2022 election, and 352 by 30 June 2024, but it has delivered only 336 by 31 October. More needs to be done. This day allows us to shine a light on the issues that millions of women face daily in Australia and around the world. In a country like ours, we can and must do better to tackle violence against women. The coalition, whether in government or in opposition, will work with all parties and parliamentarians to do better against this scourge.

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

Today is the first day of the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, and I'm really proud that our parliament is honouring that day and that we'll hear some powerful speeches across the chamber today. What saddens me is that there are barely any blokes in this chamber and there aren't many on the speakers' list, either. We know this is a problem for men to fix. We know that 95 per cent of perpetrators are men. What a real shame that we don't see more engagement on this issue from the parliamentarians who are not with us in the chamber this morning. We know that sexism and gender equality and rigid gender stereotypes are driving the rates of violence against women, and we know that we are all part of changing those cultural and behavioural attitudes, and that needs men, too. So, where are they?

Violence against women is at epidemic proportions globally, and here in Australia. Every week in Australia women and children suffer at the hands of men, and this year more than one woman a week has been killed, mostly by men's violence. According to the volunteer organisation Counting Dead Women, 66 women have been killed so far this year. Now, this number is not a record that's kept by government—as it should be—but by volunteer organisations. I salute their dedication, but this figure should be collected and promoted by government, just like the road toll is, to serve to increase awareness and to have that preventive effect. I've asked for that for years and will continue to call for that.

The rate of violence is getting worse. It used to be one woman a week, but it's only November and we're already at 66 killed this year. Men's violence against women is an epidemic—it's a national crisis—and we have a collective responsibility to act. We need to do that deep prevention work, and that is all of us. We need fully funded front-line services, including crisis housing and long-term affordable housing, so that everyone who reaches out for help is able to get it. We acknowledge that there have been some funding improvements under the current government, and that's very welcome, but it's still a rate where those organisations are having to turn women and children away when they reach out for help, because they don't have the money to help everyone. We should cancel all of the submarines, but at the very least we should cancel one of them and fully fund front-line response services so that women and children can be saved and can live and get free from violence.

We need to keep women in their homes and oust the perpetrators of violence, not the survivors, where it's safe for them to stay at home.

We need to stop the victim blaming and shift the emphasis to where it belongs. We need to fund healing and recovery. There's only one centre that does that wraparound trauma support nationally. That should be fixed. Safety is a fundamental human right, but the reality is that most women in Australia are not safe. They are not safe in their homes, their workplaces or their communities. This must change, and it requires a commitment from every single one of us. We must also confront the uncomfortable truths that First Nations women, migrant women and women with disabilities experience disproportionately higher rates of violence and often face systemic barriers to support. There have been 12 First Nations women killed just since June. Eight of those were in the Northern Territory. Their lives and their names matter, and yet there was barely any media coverage of those murders.

This is all the more reason why the government must urgently respond to the recommendations from the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children, which my colleague instigated. The government is already late in responding to it. Sexual violence is increasing at an alarming rate, and workplace harassment remains pervasive. These realities demand that we all—governments, communities, workplaces and individuals—do everything in our power to change the systemic culture of gendered violence to one that prioritises women's safety.

Successive Australian governments have underfunded frontline services that could save lives. And, as I mentioned, while this government has made some progress, neither of the two big parties has ever committed to fully funding frontline services to help everyone who seeks help. The Greens are committed to doing that and to ensuring that survivors receive the resources and the support they need. We also urge continued investment in perpetrator accountability programs and long- and short-term strategies that address the root cause of violence. Violence is not inevitable. It is preventable, but prevention requires all of us. As I've done for years, I will be reading out the names of women and children killed by violence. I'll flag that, in the matter of public urgency I'll be bringing to the chamber later today, that's what I'll be using my time to do.

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very honoured to represent the Nationals on this significant issue. The Nationals acknowledge the devastation caused by domestic violence, and we also acknowledge, as Senator Waters said, the need for men to be part of the solution. That is why our shadow assistant minister for the prevention of family violence, the former police officer and police prosecutor, Pat Conaghan, is very, very dedicated to this significant issue.

Domestic violence does not discriminate. It is not limited to one particular ethnicity, religious sector or income level. It is not limited to physical violence. It can take the form of mental abuse and coercive control, and it is not limited to geography. In fact, domestic violence is more prevalent in rural, regional and remote areas than in urban Australia. One of the most common things I hear from people who've never known domestic abuse or a controlling relationship is, 'Why don't they just leave?' Oh, if only it were so simple. The answer is often that they can't. They may have no financial independence. They may have no support networks. In regional areas, they may be isolated, and there may be nowhere to go. Just last week, it was reported that the Young Crisis Accommodation Centre in southern New South Wales was handing out tents because there was no room at the inn, so to speak. In fact, in most New South Wales regional shelters, they're operating at or above capacity. Why is domestic violence more prevalent in regional areas? Some published literature attributes this to the higher Indigenous population, but that is not true. Data from New South Wales, for example, shows that the top 10 localities for domestic violence incidents include some predominantly white agricultural areas.

There is still stigma around domestic violence, particularly in regional areas. When everyone knows everyone else's business, the less said about domestic violence the better. But that is not true. The solution to countering domestic violence is not a cure; it is prevention.

Unfortunately, our current federal budget is heavily skewed towards the three Rs—response, recovery and research—for domestic violence. That gets 83 per cent of the budget, where preventative measures and intervention measures are just 17 per cent of the budget. Men's support and behavioural change services get less than one per cent of the budget. We need to ensure that our community is aware of the warning signs and is prepared to call out problem behaviour. We need to start addressing it young. We need to educate our young men and women on what domestic abuse looks like and why it is not acceptable.

I get my free-to-air television through the VAST network with Imparja Television services. I have to acknowledge their powerful set of ads that show a young girl playing an absolute ripper of an AFL game with her boyfriend watching on. There are two versions of the ad. In one, his disparaging comments about her game go unchecked, and it ends with a clearly toxic relationship. In the other, his mates tell him it's not appropriate. He rethinks what he's just said, and everyone has a really good day. That's what needs to happen. It may be oversimplified for a short television ad, but wouldn't it be good if sometimes it were that simple? If you don't call it out, you won't address it. If we don't talk about it and raise awareness, we won't prevent it. It was once said to me that the first punch is the hardest because once that has happened, a taboo has been broken. We need to discuss and address domestic violence before that first punch is thrown.

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I'm very supportive of the Senate acknowledging this day, but I'm sad that we even need to acknowledge it at all. Yet here we are. As much as this makes me angry and sad, I know we must talk about domestic and family violence—that is, violence against women, children and partners—because sweeping violence under the carpet allows a violent culture to continue. The United Nations tells us that violence against women and girls goes unreported in so many cases because of fear, stigma and shame. As hard as it is to talk about violence, the more we do it, the more that stigma is reduced.

Violence against women and girls can be physical, sexual and psychological. It's more than the images our minds replay when we think about family and domestic violence. Earlier this year I spent valuable time with a beautiful group of women in Hobart who are part of the Be Hers mentoring program. Be Hers runs events and online campaigns to raise awareness about human trafficking. When I spoke with these women from Be Hers, they shared horrific stories about how they and their children had been subjected to violence. It was really confronting to hear, but I was so pleased to see that they had survived and were using their experiences to fight for the freedom of vulnerable women and children being trafficked.

These and other violent acts are happening around us daily. Crime statistics for Tasmania make sobering reading. In 2022-23 Tasmania Police recorded 3,906 assaults, a number that is 14 per cent higher than the year before and an increase on the previous five-year average. Violence is on the rise in my state. Tassie's police stats also show that, in 74 per cent of cases, the person committing the assault was known to the victim and that women were the victims in just over half—54 per cent of cases. These women are more than numbers in a crime report. They're your neighbour, your friend, you sister or even you. It's so important that victims of gender based violence know they are supported and know where to go to get the help. They need to stay out of danger.

One of the most important ways to help victims-survivors of domestic and family violence is to properly fund community legal services and legal aid. In the last round of estimates, I asked about funding for legal services in Tasmania to see how my state's funding stacked up after the Australian government announced $3.9 billion in funding over five years as part of the new National Access to Justice Partnership.

When the case management pathway for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia was introduced, as part of this partnership, it came with additional funding, known as costs consequences. Costs consequences funding was allocated to legal services to account for the additional legal assistance costs that came with the new system, which made sense, considering the increased workload, but that funding has stopped. It wouldn't be so bad if demand for family law services had dropped, but demand hasn't dropped at all. Tasmania Legal Aid has had no choice but to reduce frontline services, and that means Tasmanians experiencing family and domestic violence will have to wait longer for legal services, if they can access these important services at all.

Funding for legal services is only part of the solution to eliminating violence against women. We need action to help those committing violence, too. There are programs to change the behaviour of those who use violence, including the Men's Referral Service, which provides telephone counselling, information and referrals for men in Victoria, New South Wales and Tassie. Men's Referral Service also helps people who want to change the abusive behaviour of their male partners or family members, all with the aim of reducing the risk of violent behaviour. We haven't collected enough data on these programs, so, as well as making sure we are working to change violent behaviour, we must evaluate how effective they are. We need to know what works to change violent behaviour and what doesn't.

The culture and behaviour around domestic and family violence needs to shift. Most of all, we need to keep this conversation going. Everyone has to take responsibility for fixing this crisis, because everyone has a right to feel safe and live free from violence. Australia needs behavioural and cultural change around violence towards women and other victims-survivors. This will happen when those who are escaping violence and those who are committing violence can access the support they need when they need it. When we see these changes, we'll know we're getting somewhere. It has to happen sooner rather than later. Eliminating family and domestic violence is a priority every day, not just today.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to 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.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I want to call out this government for actively fuelling and funding the culture of violence against women, girls, queers, my sistergirls and brotherboys. I want to start with the words of Dr Amy McQuire, a proud Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman, who writes about the First Nations femicide in this country:

Violence is one of the key stories told of Aboriginal communities, and yet Aboriginal women are silenced in these conversations, seen as without agency or as bodies on which acts of violence are perpetrated. In this way, the active resistances of Aboriginal women … are disappeared. To speak is to speak an end to an unsafe space in which these violences are continually weaponised against whole communities, leading to unsafe policy outcomes like more police, more jailing and draconian racist policy responses … which only reproduce the violence, leading to further pain, wounding and harm.

This year Sherele Moody Femicide Watch, which does incredible work tracking the number of murders of women in this country, found that 86 women had been killed. They're just the ones we know of. This violence is no accident and it is far from random. It is deeply embedded in how this government and society, as an extension, operate—a continuation of the violent processes of colonisation, which have never ended. Violence is their tool to keep people in fear, to maintain control and to protect wealth and power.

How can we talk about ending violence against women when this government provides diplomatic, financial and military support to those who bomb, rape and pillage the homes of families overseas, all the while locking up First Nations mothers and children here at home—even handcuffing them while they're giving birth? This is a government that thrives on manufacturing hate and division. It creates enemies and profits from wars, shaping its economy to benefit from human suffering.

Governments that bomb villages in the Middle East and call it liberation have no right to preach about safety in our homes. Research from many, including Joanna Bourke, highlights how the violence we export overseas, whether through wars or imperial domination, inevitably comes home, embedding itself into our culture, shaping institutions and perpetrating harm within our own communities. Like Malcolm X says, that violence will come home to roost. Violence at home fuels violence abroad and vice versa.

The media plays a powerful role in sustaining a culture of violence through selective reporting, sensationalism and biased narratives. It shapes public opinion to dehumanise victims while protecting those in power. It sounds familiar, doesn't it? It allows governments to justify bigger police budgets, more surveillance and more prisons. We're seeing a move towards this in a bill being introduced this week, which will crack down further on those in immigration detention.

All of this happens under a pretence that violence is necessary to bring peace, security and stability, while refusing to acknowledge that it is governments who have always perpetrated chaos and destruction. It's really about control. Those same tools are turned back on us, especially black and brown women. To the politicians who are funding war crimes, who wring their hands over violent porn while defunding public housing, leaving women and children with nowhere to escape: your hypocrisy is violent. To those who pass laws blaming sex workers for society's ills, while ignoring the gendered, racialised and economic violence that governs our lives: you are the problem.

True safety comes from liberation, not domination. It means dismantling the systems that keep us in fear—the endless war machine, the cages called prisons and the unchecked power of police. It means listening to First Nations women, to migrant women, to trans women, to sex workers—to all whose lives and labour erased are exploited. It means housing is a right and health care is a right.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been more than 60 women killed in violence this year. We know that even more women live with near-death experiences every single day. Today's findings, expected to be handed down in the Northern Territory coroner's inquiry into the deaths of four Aboriginal women, will no doubt highlight many issues. It will sadly tell us what we already know. Each of those four women died at the hands of partners who were known to police and had a history of violence. In other words, those tragedies could have been prevented. Sadly, people who love them stayed silent, felt hopeless and helpless or didn't even know it was happening. This means most cases of family and domestic violence go unreported.

As we mark White Ribbon Day and the start of 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the severity of family and domestic violence in Australia cannot be underestimated or understated. Every four minutes in Australia, a call is made to police for help. In some parts of the nation, a restraining order is breached every 44 minutes. The numbers are worse everywhere. The Northern Territory has one of the worst rates of family and domestic violence. Eight Territory women have allegedly been killed at the hands of their partners since 1 June—four in the Big Rivers region around Katherine.

Western Australia is on track for 2024 to be the worst year for family and domestic violence offences on record, Senator Cash. In my home state of South Australia, police data shows a 15 per cent increase in family and domestic violence offences in the year to August. Caught in this growing epidemic are children who will carry the scars for a lifetime. Reduced social skills, poor school performance, impaired language ability, a higher likelihood of criminal offending and negative physical and mental health outcomes are among the many outcomes for children who experience any type of neglect or abuse.

Family violence is the most common contributor to children entering the child protection system. It affected more than half of the 45,000-plus children in out-of-home care on 30 June last year. They are all too often the forgotten voice in the family and domestic violence response. For the taxpayer, out-of-home care is a heavy burden, with the cost of residential care up to $1.1 million per child per year. This government's so-called independent review of the removal of the cashless debit card did not give a single voice to a child about what has happened to them since the card was removed. In 2015-16, it was estimated the cost was two per cent of the national GDP. In 2024 terms, that's an estimated $32 billion a year lost to family and domestic violence. However, the issue is not isolated to one state or one territory.

Let's start with the countless hours I've spent in this place calling out the failed rollout of the 500-worker initiative. The government's election promise was for 352 workers on the ground by 30 June. At 31 October, there were just 336—far short of the 500 promised as part of that election commitment. Crucial funding the sector badly needs is now being delayed until after the federal election, probably to protect Labor's bottom line. Frontline services want help now, not from 1 July. Community legal services want help now so that they can stop turning away 1,000 people per day. The sector knows where the money is needed, the sector knows how to use the money for better outcomes and the sector knows they need the money. Prevention must be given greater focus, and the solution must, of course, include men. State and territory governments must step up instead of stepping back and expecting the federal government to do the work.

The 16 Days of Activism should spark conversations within communities, around dining tables, on social media and in the workplace. I urge the government to act on its rapid review with rapid action in finalising its federal funding agreements and getting money to services that need it now, not after the next federal election. We are on a unity ticket about responding to violence, but that's not at the expense of calling out inaction, doubletalk, and, of course, underdelivery by the Albanese Labor government.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is from Full Stop Australia's CEO, Karen Bevan, in the last number of days:

We know that for every woman who has been murdered, there are many, many more women who today, tomorrow and yesterday, who were living in situations where they were afraid, where they were subject to violence, where they were scared for their children, and where their children were scared.

The 16 Days of Activism, uniting for a future free from violence, is a critical time for us to think and rethink about our responsibility as both a community and a parliament. Family and domestic violence affects people of every age, from every cultural background and with different jobs and levels of education or income—people living in different areas and leading very different lives. It destroys lives, and, of course, one life lost is one life way too many. This has to come to an end.

Just this week, we heard the terrible story of 19-year-old Isla Bell murdered in Melbourne. I pass on my sincerest condolences to her family and the community. As we know, even from discussions with senators on this very important day, there is no silver bullet to fix the societal problems. Amanda Rishworth said that the 2024 theme 'Every 10 Minutes, a Woman is Killed. #NoExcuse. UNiTE to End Violence against Women' is an important reminder that ending gender based violence is the responsibility of all Australians:

A whole of society response is needed and ending gender-based violence requires genuine, ongoing effort from everyone, everywhere.

The challenges for the entire community are critical. I recall, from my previous life as a union official, representing 97 per cent male dominated industries; going to employers and negotiating some of the first White Ribbon gender based violence agreements within workplaces; finding largely, again, male employers who had an open mind to those discussions; and having people talk through the necessity that all of their workplace be safe and secure for everybody's family life and personal life.

It is important that all of us take a deep responsibility about the change that's necessary. Part of that deep responsibility also sits with government. I think we should certainly clear the air, because it is important to make sure all Australians are aware that there is substantial work that's being done in this space. Whilst there's more work that needs to be done, we've put $4.4 billion of new funding on the table to respond to the government initiated Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches. That includes commitments that were reached at two separate National Cabinet meetings on gender based violence, including government investments of $3.9 billion in support for frontline legal assistance services. The federal government is also investing $351 million over five years for a five-year national partnership agreement, and this will be matched by additional funding from the states and territories. As part of that commitment to the community—and to make sure that people know this is an important issue that all of us are putting our mind and substantial energy to—in addition to those billions of dollars, we've also allocated $169 million in targeted initiatives to support the national plan and $1 billion, through the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, for housing for women and children impacted by violence.

I also want to say there's an obligation for us all, especially men, to take responsibility for our actions and to hold our mates and community to a higher standard.

I know that many men, as I've mentioned before, in male dominated workplaces are taking on that responsibility. I give credit to those workers and credit to those employers for taking a more thoughtful and appropriate approach to make sure it's a societal response in workplaces and across the community. But we need changes and further changes to attitudes. Young men and boys are getting fed misogynistic views through algorithms on social media, and this needs to be addressed through a regulatory response. We also need to support parents to start a conversation with their teenage children. I'd also say to call 1800RESPECT—

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

Thank you, Senator Sheldon. That concludes the time the chamber has for these statements.