Thursday, 16 November 2023

Family violence

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (09:52): I am about to read five names into Hansard. They are important names. They deserve to be heard, and they deserve to be remembered: Thi Thuy Huong Nguyen; Krystal Marshall; Lilie James; Analyn, or ‘Logee’, Osias; Alice Rose McShera. These are the names of five women killed in Australia in allegedly family violence situations at the end of October. These women, these five names, who had lived and contributed and loved and were loved, are dead at the hands, allegedly, of partners, of former partners, of people who exerted coercive control over them in the most tragic of circumstances. Sixteen days of activism against family violence is not simply something to tick off in our diaries and on our calendars – not simply part of our to-do lists. Family violence remains a scourge on the lives of women and children. Victims and survivors of family violence deserve more, and their names deserve to be recorded. Do not forget their names. Commit to act this year and every year.