Media Releases

STATEMENT: Having formally acknowledged the asks, it's now time to deliver

17 May 2024

Last night I moved a motion, unanimously passed in the House of Representatives, calling for a range of urgent measures to be implemented to tackle the domestic and family violence crisis. This included the need to urgently increase funding for legal aid, frontline services and community education work, as well as undertaking a national review of sentencing laws, establishing a national database of offenders and a mechanism to track family, domestic and sexual violence deaths to identify risk factors.

Now, with the government formally acknowledging the asks, it’s time to get to work on delivering these emergency measures.

I, together with the Member for Goldstein who seconded my motion and many other members of the crossbench who have been pushing for this much needed step-change, will not let this go until more funding is allocated so that more women and children can be kept safe.

Ends

Details of motion passed:

That the House:

(1)   notes that:

  • currently in Australia, one woman every 4 days is murdered by her current or former partner and 2.3 million Australian women have experienced violence from an intimate partner;
  • as of 16 May 2024, at least 21 women have been allegedly murdered by a current or former intimate partner and at least another 11 women allegedly killed in violent acts by male perpetrators in Australia this year;
  • the rate of women killed by a by a current or former intimate partner in Australia increased by 28% in 2022-23, compared to the previous year; and

(2)   notes that some in the women’s safety sector have called for immediate action and urgent investment increases in the following areas to keep women safe now and achieve the 10 year goal of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. They include:

  • frontline services for domestic, family and sexual violence, including crisis services, refuges, emergency housing and perpetrator interventions;
  • Legal Aid and Women’s Legal Services Australia to allow more women to access the legal help they require;
  • undertake an immediate national review of sentencing laws, with a special focus on strengthening state and territory level responses with use of AVOs, electronic monitoring of domestic violence and sexual assault offenders, and removal of character references during sentencing in domestic violence cases;
  • establish a national database to record all those convicted of family, domestic and sexual violence offences;
  • establish a national mechanism to track family, domestic and sexual violence deaths across all states and territories to identify red flags and risk factors.
  • community education and prevention work including respectful relationships education to bring about culture change.