CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Ms THWAITES (Jagajaga) (09:56): As a lifelong Melburnian, I am acutely aware of just how central the AFL is to our city and our culture. I took my kids to a game just last weekend, and we were just one of many families there cheering on our team and having a kick at half-time. I've been devastated, reading the reports about Victoria Police investigating a report of alleged sexual assault in a Melbourne hotel.

Obviously, that investigation is ongoing, and I won't go into details of it, but I do want to add my voice to those making the point that there is a woman at the centre of these allegations. There is a woman's life and a woman's pain and anxiety. How the AFL responds to this matters, and how those who build our footy culture respond matters.

I want my young son and daughter and other young people to see that this institution, which is woven into the heart of our city and our culture, understands that men do not have an entitlement to women's bodies. The reality is that violence against women and children in this country remains at a crisis level, and it is going to take all of us—our sporting institutions, our governments, our business leaders and our communities—to change that.

I do want to acknowledge the huge efforts of my good friend and colleague the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, Ged Kearney, as well as the minister, Tanya Plibersek, for the work they've been doing in travelling the country and consulting on our second action plan to end violence against women and children. We have invested more than any government before to end gender based violence, but it is clear there is so much more to do.

I've been in discussions with women in my community who've shared their experiences of gendered violence and of systems that have failed them, and I've fed this into the work our government is doing. As I said, there is still a mountain of work to go, and it will take every level of government and every level of society to do this. Our commitment as a government to ending violence against women and children remains steadfast.

I do also want to highlight an area where we are making women's lives more secure. Women's economic security is advancing under this government. New data shows our gender pay gap is at a record low of 11.3 per cent.

When we came to government, that was 14.1 per cent. Women working full time are now earning, on average, $325.50 more per week than they were in May 2022. We didn't get here by accident.

It's been deliberate policy design, including pay rises for minimum workers, boosted wages in early childhood education and aged care, expanded paid parental leave and superannuation on paid parental leave, and further tax cuts for working Australians. Again, we know we're not done yet, but we are steadily increasing women's economic security, and that is a good thing for Australian women, for Australian families and for our communities.