Page 1331 - Week 04 - Thursday, 12 April 2018
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that affects all of us and is a community concern that we all need to address. Collaboration and coordination are key and ensure that we put the needs of victims and survivors at the centre of everything that we do. I am appreciative of our community partners, who have continued to work so persistently with the government to address the issue of domestic and family violence, and I look forward to continuing the work across government and the ACT community sector to address this critical issue.
I present the following papers:
ACT Prevention of Violence against Women and Children Strategy 2011-2017—2nd Implementation Plan 2015-2017—Ministerial statement, 12 April 2018.
Our responsibility: Ending violence against women and children—ACT Prevention of Violence against Women and Children Strategy 2011-2017—2nd Implementation Plan 2015-2017, dated March 2018.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the papers.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (10.14): I rise today to welcome the minister’s statement on the second implementation plan for the ACT prevention of violence strategy against women and children.
It is clear that there has been a new and greater focus on the issue of domestic and family violence, not just since the ACT strategy was developed but particularly after there were four domestic violence homicides in the ACT in 2014, followed by Rosie Batty being recognised as Australian of Year in 2015. It was these tragic events that really drove the change of attitude we needed from government.
I appreciate that much has been done over the past six years, but there is still much more work to be done. I look forward to the further development of the family safety hub and hope that it results in victims of violence getting the supports they need, as well as providing assistance to those who use violence in the home.
We must not forget the children who are affected. Last week’s extraordinary meeting of the Domestic Violence Prevention Council was a step in the right direction to ensure that children, who are often forgotten victims of violence, get the support they need. I regret that I could not attend, but I was in Melbourne on another committee business, the inquiry into end of life choices.
I would like use this opportunity here in the chamber to emphasise that there needs to be a greater focus on sexual violence and acknowledge that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse will bring some of this focus. However, the prevalence of sexual violence in our community is still under-recognised. The #MeToo campaign and the focus on sexual violence on university campuses, combined with the global focus on these issues, should ensure that the ACT government also gives the issue of sexual violence the focus it needs. I note that
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