Thursday, 30 May 2024

Ministers statements: gendered violence

Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Jobs and Industry, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Women) (14:21): Every woman should be able to live safely in their community without fear of violence. One woman is killed by an intimate partner nearly every week, one in three women have experienced physical violence by the age of 15, one in five women have experienced sexual violence by the age of 15 and one in two women have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime. And this is an absolute disgrace. Thirty women have been killed in Australia just this year, six of those here in Victoria, and their deaths have placed a spotlight on an epidemic of family and gender-based violence that women are experiencing in this country. Incidents of sexual violence reported to Victoria Police have increased by 64 per cent and Aboriginal women are over 45 times more likely to experience family violence, and it must stop.

We are working hard to end family violence, but we know we have more work to do. Today’s package that was announced by the Premier includes a new justice navigation pilot for victim-survivors of sexual assault, and we are providing additional support for at-risk communities – like First Nations women, like refugee women, like migrant women – helping victim-survivors at every stage of their recovery, with a boost for targeted legal services. We are also establishing a working women’s centre to provide for women experiencing gender violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, where quite often these behaviours start. This is not just a women’s issue but ultimately a matter of stopping men’s violence towards women. This government is doing everything it can to keep all women safe.