Ms RISHWORTH (Kingston—Minister for Social Services) (09:12): Today I rise to acknowledge the ongoing impacts that family and domestic violence have right across this country. Violence against women and children in any form is unacceptable. This year alone, we've already seen too many lives lost to family and domestic violence. Of course, one life lost is one too many. These are women of every age, from every cultural background, with different jobs and levels of education or income, living in different areas and leading different lives, but they're all lives that have been cut too short at the hands of a current or former intimate partner. They are aunties, sisters, daughters and friends. They are women we have loved and women we have lost too soon. But, of course, we know that it's not just women and children losing their lives to violence. It's also women and children living every day in fear because of the violence they are experiencing; women who are in their backyard and look up to see a drone flying overhead, knowing that their ex-partner has found them; women who find tracking devices in their children's toys; women who field abusive calls at their workplace every day; women who wake up to hundreds of abusive messages on their phones; women who make the brave choice to leave, and they have to couch surf because they have nowhere to go; women like Sadie—not her real name—an Aboriginal woman who left her abusive partner, but, because he wouldn't move out of their home, she was sleeping on friends' couches and had to make the heartbreaking choice to leave her daughter with high needs in the same house as the man who had been terrorising her. It's something that does occupy my mind signficantly. I know that it is something that a lot of people in this place are absolutely committed to ending. Thinking about how we can end violence against women and children is something that we must all do. It must change. There must be zero tolerance for the violence in our communities. No-one should be living in terror each day or living in fear of the person who professes to love them. I think it's important to acknowledge here that's it's happening everywhere around us. It isn't a problem in the suburb next to the suburb you live in or in another city to where you live; it is happening to people we all know and love. This week I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Cathy in an event here at Parliament House to mark the beginning of paid family and domestic violence leave for all businesses. She told me, in a really emotional way, about the practical difference it would have made for her, and the practical difference it will now make for women escaping family and domestic violence—not having to choose between one's job and having time off work to deal with family and domestic violence. I am so pleased that we have seen businesses, both big and small, embracing the start of paid domestic and family violence leave, because this leave will save lives and it is an important step towards our goal to end violence against women and children. Of course, everyone has a role to play in ending violence against women and children, whether it is employers, sporting organisations, media, education institutions, service providers or community organisations. Of course, governments too have a critical role to play. The scale of violence against women and children is shocking. You may have heard these statistics before—a lot of people have heard the statistics—but I think it's worth repeating. One in four women have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. One in four women have experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner since the age of 15. One in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. One in six women and one in nine men have experienced physical or sexual abuse before the age of 15. A key piece in ending violence against women and children is addressing the attitudes in our community that support it. These include attitudes that deny gender equality, that seek to limit women's autonomy in relationships and that objectify women and disregard consent. We know that too many people still hold attitudes that are out of step with the reality of family and domestic violence—attitudes which entrench gender inequality and discrimination. The 2021 national community attitudes survey found that while most Australians, 91 per cent, recognise that violence against women is a problem in Australia, only 47 per cent recognise that this is a problem in their own suburb or town. It also highlighted that one in 10 people still think that men should take control in a relationship and be the head of the household. Almost one in 10 still believe that men make more capable bosses than women in the workplace. One in 10 agree with the statement that on the whole men make better political leaders than women. These insights show that we still have a way to go in shifting attitudes and beliefs towards violence against women and children if we are going to actually address gender inequality and achieve a future free from violence. I am really pleased that I have, as minister, been working very closely with all state and territory governments, who have a shared commitment of ending violence against women and children in one generation. I have acknowledged many times that this is ambitious, but I truly believe that if we all work together, if we all pull in the same direction, this can be achieved. The National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032 does provide us with a blueprint for a whole-of-society, all-levels-of-government approach to end violence against women and children in one generation. I am really pleased that, over two successive budgets, our government has made a record investment of $2.3 billion for a range of initiatives to end violence against women and children. These range from investments in prevention, because we know prevention is key for generational change. It's investments in early intervention, so important to actually stop violence from occurring and escalating, and investments in response, so critical that women have a place to go, that they have support when they need to leave a violent situation. And the other area which we are investing in which is so critically important is healing and recovery, because healing and recovery investment leads to breaking the cycle of ongoing violence and potentially women going back to violent circumstances. Of course, as identified in our national plan, it is not just addressing the acute effects of violence, but also about tackling gender inequality. That's why so many of these areas the government is taking action in are so linked. We are implementing all recommendations from the Respect@Work report because it's crucial that Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces and, indeed, all workplaces in Australia are safe, respectful and reflect best practice in the prevention of sexual harassment and sexual assault. We've legislated for a positive duty on employers to provide workplaces free of harassment, and we are investing in consent and respectful relationships education in schools, as well as broadly across the population. We're also implementing improvements to offer support to 1800RESPECT, meeting the needs of those people who experience workplace sexual harassment. We're implementing investment into the cross-cutting principle of ensuring perpetrators are accountable for their actions, ensuring that perpetrators do have the interventions to ensure that we do break the cycle of violence against women and children. Leaving a violent intimate-partner relationship can be one of the most dangerous times for a victim-survivor and their children. In addition to the safety implications, women face multiple and systemic barriers when leaving a violent relationship, which can lead to homelessness, economic insecurity, social isolation and the loss of employment, income, assets and support networks. So there is a lot of work being done across all jurisdictions about how we appropriately respond and make that the supports are in place. In particular, I'm pleased that we've been working to improve the escaping domestic violence payment so that this is quick and responsive and provides support to victims-survivors when they need it. Finally, I would like to acknowledge all those victims-survivors that have raised their voice to tell government, to tell community, to tell institutions how they can do better. I think elevating the voice of victims-survivors has been a key priority. We must connect and embed the voices of victims-survivors into the solutions while also making sure that all the burden isn't left with victims-survivors and that we do place accountability where accountability lies, and that is with the perpetrators. I would like to thank all of those victims-survivors that contributed to our national plan, that contribute to continuing to giving advice to government, but I particularly acknowledge the lived experience advisory group that is being established by the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission. This will be a critical way to get ongoing voices of victims-survivors embedded into our policy response. The Albanese government is committed to a country free of gender based violence, where all people live free from fear and violence and are safe at home, at work, at school, in the community and, of course, online. We acknowledge the lives lost to gender based violence. We commit to working to create an Australia where women and children can live their lives free and safely in all settings. We must all commit to the view that violence against women and children is not inevitable. The national plan opens with a statement from victims-survivors, which I urge everyone to read. I'll end my remarks by sharing some of this statement: Abuse and violence is a problem for victims, but it is not the victims' problem. Genuine change begins with a willingness to listen. We must stop protecting perpetrators with our silence, and through inaction. We must be willing to sit in discomfort. It is time to be brave.