Page 699 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 17 March 2015
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unacceptable figures. They are outrageous figures. And we have seen similar tragic events unfold here in the ACT.
According to Access Economics, about 1.6 million Australian women have experienced domestic violence in some form. In Australia one in three women has experienced physical violence and almost one in five has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. It can happen to anyone, and that is the point. It can be physical, it can be psychological and it can be sexual. There are many forms of this violence.
As I said, we are looking for a bipartisan approach. I certainly have had some discussions with the minister’s office with regard to this, and I do not think that is new in this place. The minister quoted the previous Liberal Attorney-General. There has been a bipartisan approach in this community for a long time.
Madam Deputy Speaker, as you are aware—or you may not be aware; certainly I have advised the minister’s office—we will be moving a motion tomorrow calling for support for a roundtable. I hope to get support from the government for that roundtable, just as we are providing them with support today. There are members of the community involved in domestic violence prevention that I have spoken to—John Hinchey, the Victims of Crime Commissioner; Marcia Williams, the Chairperson of the ACT Domestic Violence Prevention Council—who support that call, and there are others that I have spoken to.
That is not to say that is the start of the conversation, nor is it the finish of that conversation. But there is no doubt that the situation right now is such that the community needs to get together in anticipation of, I hope, some significant steps forward at COAG, because there is a lot happening in this space. There is a lot that has happened since the previous roundtables that the government conducted. There have been the funding cuts that we are all disappointed by, and that the Attorney-General has alluded to. We need to fully understand the consequence of those in the community. There are legislative changes afoot in other jurisdictions—in New South Wales and in Tasmania. If I get time I will discuss some of those in more detail.
There is the significant increase in public awareness that has come about because of recent tragic events both here and interstate. And there is the increase in demand that we have seen, and that we need to anticipate. We need to fully understand the implications of that demand.
I will be moving that motion tomorrow and I hope that it will have support. I am not suggesting that it is a panacea. It is not a silver bullet. But there is nothing lost by getting people in the community to get involved in this space and to say, “Where are we at right now?” With all those changes happening and with this increased demand, with legislative changes, with it being on the COAG agenda, let us make sure that we take a really strong response to COAG so that, working together with the other states and with the federal government, we can make sure that we are taking the steps that are needed to address this particular issue.
Funding is an important part of that. There is no doubt that we have seen funding issues as pressures are imposed on all governments. We certainly do not support the
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