The call comes as shocking events in Queensland and Victoria have once again highlighted the need for urgent and meaningful action to tackle the scourge of family violence in Australia.
In March, Labor called on the Prime Minister to hold a National Crisis Summit, bringing together Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, law enforcement, service providers, experts and survivors, to urgently agree and implement judicial and service reforms to tackle family violence.
Labor has previously committed to holding such a Summit within 100 days of being elected to form Government.
The events of the past week have made it clear that our nation cannot wait.
Labor is ready and willing to work with the Government in a bipartisan way to make progress on practical proposals to eliminate family violence.
A National Crisis Summit will ensure the voices of survivors, victims and their families, as well as services, law enforcement and experts are heard before the COAG meeting in November.
An Australia where every woman is safe at home, secure in the community and supported by our system would be a significant achievement in Australia’s national interest.
Labor will seek to address the following policy challenges through the National Crisis Summit:
- Ensuring no victim of family violence has to go to court alone to ask for protection for herself and her children;
- Building the capacity of the judicial system to deal with family violence;
- Enabling women and their children experiencing family violence to remain safely in their current home;
- Imposing greater perpetrator accountability;
- Addressing fragmented responses to family violence; and
- Preventing family violence in the first place through attitudinal change and gender inequality.
Putting an end to the current ‘postcode lottery’ of inconsistent support and care must be a national priority.
Labor has already announced a package of interim measures which will deliver more than $70 million over three years in targeted funding to ensure those suffering from family violence can access the support they need as well as measures to prevent violence from occuring.
Labor will commit almost $50 million to frontline legal services, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services to ensure women suffering from family violence get the right legal support. The aim of this is to ensure, at the very least, that women have access to appropriate legal services, so they do not run the gauntlet in our courts on their own.
We will also make an initial investment of $15 million in Safe at Home grants to help people affected by family violence stay safe in their own home. No woman driven from her home by family violence should be paying the perpetrator’s mortgage.
In addition, Labor will invest $8 million in perpetrator mapping to look at the interactions across family violence, law enforcement, justice, child protection and related systems to help identify opportunities to prevent violence through information sharing.
Family violence is one of the most distressing and clear illustrations of the continuing unequal treatment of women in our society.
As long as family violence affects any one of us, it affects all of us.
It is time for Australia to act.
SUNDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: LEADER’S OFFICE MEDIA UNIT 02 6277 4053
*If you cover this story, or any story regarding violence against women and children, please include the following tagline:
“If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000”
