QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms O'NEIL (Hotham—Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities) (14:49): I thank the member for Bullwinkel for her question. She is a brilliant advocate for her local community and brings into this chamber a lifetime of service to our health system and to Australians through her career in nursing. I thank her for the particular focus that she has put on this problem that we face as a nation—domestic violence.
Our country faces a domestic violence crisis. I think every single person in this chamber cares about that and I think every person in this chamber agrees with that. Australian women tell us that one of the main reasons they choose not to leave a violent relationship is they do not have a safe house to go to.
That should not be happening in a country like Australia. Tragically, family and domestic violence remains the leading reason why Australian women and children find themselves homeless in our country. When someone asks 'Why doesn't she leave?', there is a better question for us—that is, 'What home would she go to?' Our government is helping provide an answer to that question.
Today we announced an investment of $308 million for 448 new crisis and transitional homes right across Australia. These homes will provide, through the lifetime of that investment, safe housing for 22,000 Australian women and children at that moment in their lives when they most need and deserve the support of governments. These houses will not just be a roof over people's heads; they will be connected to the support that women and children need, to heal from these completely traumatic experiences they've gone through.
This will connect women and children to the supports. They will regain their independence and have the support they need to rebuild their lives. This is what housing delivery looks like, and it's part of a $1.2 billion record investment that our government is making just in crisis and transitional housing around our country.
It sits alongside 7,200 social and affordable houses that we have already built, most of which have already been tenanted, on the pathway to 55,000 homes. I'm asked about alternative approaches. I think we use similar rhetoric when we talk in this chamber about domestic violence, but we don't see the same level of action.
Over the nine years the coalition were in government, they built just nine crisis and transitional homes around our country. I don't want to politicise an issue like this, but the parliament does need to be accountable. Opposition members interjecting— Ms O'NEIL: I hear the guffaws and I hear the laughter on the other side of the chamber, but you can't hide from these numbers.
Nine crisis homes delivered over a nine-year period in government—that is a disgrace. Under this Labor government and under this Labor Prime Minister, we take a different view. We're delivering real change and we're making a real difference to the safety and security of Australian women and children.
(Time expired)