MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms KEARNEY (Cooper—Assistant Minister for Social Services and Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence) (15:17): I thank the member for Clark for raising this matter of public importance. We need men leading by example, speaking up about family, domestic and sexual violence and joining our government in raising this as a national priority, because, whether it be today or any other day of the year, there could be no issue more important than keeping women and children safe.
Let me be clear from the outset: any death, any attack and any violence against women and children is completely unacceptable. Having men like the member for Clark as part of this conversation is important, and I know this is an issue he and many others from across the political divide in this parliament have worked together on, so thank you. It matters even more, as, last week, the Leader of the Nationals demonised this nation's hardworking teachers for teaching kids about respect and care, blaming them for the so-called feminisation of the curriculum.
I have to tell you that is completely wrong. It is not feminisation of the curriculum, to start with. It is teaching boys and girls about respect and care, and it is absolutely trying to deal with prevention and early intervention, as the member raised, as important issues around misogynistic behaviour that we are seeing in young men.
The Leader of the Nationals completely ignored the dangerous impact of the manosphere and its horrible players. Today, thanks to people who get the issue, like the member for Clark and our government, we are focused on what actually matters—confronting the attitudes that contribute towards violence against women and girls. I begin today by acknowledging all victims-survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence.
They are and must always remain at the heart of our collective efforts to end gender based violence in Australia. With sadness, we also remember the women and children who are not with us, those whose lives have been taken through acts of violence that continue to have a devastating impact across our country. I also think of the families, friends and communities carrying the profound grief of that loss.
The consequences of violence extend far beyond the individual victim, leaving lasting impacts on everyone who loved and cared for them. I also hold in my thoughts the many victims-survivors who continue to live with the effects of trauma. Many have generously shared their lived experience and trusted me with their stories.
Their courage helps guide the work of this government and strengthens our resolve to build a safer future. I think of a woman who is leading a service in Melbourne for children and young people who have experienced violence. She wrote to me recently and disclosed her own lived experience both as a child and, later, as an adult.
She is remarkable both for her advocacy and her commitment to building a future free from violence and for using the most horrific trauma to improve and save the lives of others. I hold her story with me today and every day, and I thank her for trusting me with it. I acknowledge, too, the frontline workers, advocates and organisations who work tirelessly to support victims-survivors, prevent violence and make our communities safer.
One of those workers who I've worked closely with over the past year is the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Micaela Cronin, who today tabled her yearly report. The minister spoke to that today here in this House. I acknowledge her dedicated leadership and the tireless efforts of the commission's entire team for the work they do.
The report today reminds us that while we've made significant strides, there is more work to be done, and it has been one of the honours of my life to work with all those mentioned to help keep women safe. Ending gender based violence is a national priority for this government and something every single one of us in this House has a role to play in. The Albanese Labor government has invested more than any Australian government ever—more than $4.4 billion—to take action to end family, domestic and sexual violence.
This includes funding for 1,400 organisations that have directly helped almost half a million people across Australia experiencing violence. This government has also made significant investments, including making the leaving violence payment permanent—$5,000 in financial help—as well as safety planning support for women leaving violence; launching Australia's first ever standalone plan to address family, domestic and sexual violence for First Nations women and children, backed by a $218 million investment; boosting funding for the 500 Workers Initiative by more than 70 per cent to support the essential frontline services that support women and children every day; legislating to make sure our social security system can't be weaponised by perpetrators of abuse; providing $1.2 billion for emergency and transitional accommodation to ensure women can reach safety; and legislating 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave so workplaces can support women to stay financially secure and connected.
We've committed to world-leading action to address the impact of online harms, including the social media ban and restricting access to predatory technologies like nudify apps and undetectable stalking tools. The recently announced digital duty of care will protect under-18s from harmful content that promotes harmful ideas about women, gender equality and pornography.
I thank the member for Lilley for her world-leading work on this and the member for Grayndler for the courage and leadership he's showing as prime minister to lead a global reckoning with big tech because, while the internet didn't invent misogyny, it's platforming, spreading and exacerbating it. It's providing new ways to perpetrate harm and new audiences to reach, and it is evolving before our eyes.
We're seeing good progress in our collective efforts to address violence against women and children, but too many women and children continue to be killed, and too many people continue to live with violence. We know that one in four women have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15, and sexual violence remains concerningly prevalent, even though we know how underreported it is.
Recent headlines of allegations of sexual violence in our schools, our homes and our sporting clubs and out in the community have horrified us all. Sadly, this is a reality too many women and girls live with every day. Rates of sexual violence are trending in the wrong direction and, most concerningly, the fastest growing rates of sexual violence are being perpetrated by teenage boys.
For the first time in history, teenage boys have overtaken adult men as the most likely perpetrators of sexual violence. So there is so much more work to do for everyone in this place, for women, for men, for boys and for our society and culture as a whole. Where our work and attention should be focused has been recently explored in a series of consultations for the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children.
It will drive our collective efforts for the next five years. We've held over 163 roundtables with over 1,100 people, from Broome to Brisbane and Darwin to Devonport. I know many members of this place have contributed, and I thank the member for Greenway, the member for Sydney and Senator Gallagher for their leadership in driving these consultations.
Together, we've heard firsthand stories from organisations, advocates, victims-survivors, frontline workers and community groups. We heard their stories firsthand, and it's these stories and these people and their lived experiences that will drive our actions and policy for the remaining years of the national plan. While we continue to focus on supporting victims-survivors to navigate systems designed to work for them rather than against them and to improve accountability across state and territory justice systems, prevention, early intervention and working with people who use violence will be a focus of that, along with young people, system coordination and workforce issues.
We have to hold on to working with men and boys. I want to be clear that this is not in place of accountability. It is not instead of supporting victims-survivors to heal and recover.
It is about supporting men and boys to be the best versions of themselves and stopping violence before it starts. That's why the member for Hunter and I have joined forces to embark on the Healthy Men Community Conversations project. We have been right around the country hearing about the experiences of men and boys and the perceptions, pressures and stereotypes that they are exposed to.
I thank the member for Hunter, who's here in the chamber today, for the incredible hard work that he has done standing up with me, talking to men and boys right across the country, because those conversations will absolutely play an important part in how we prevent and find early intervention mechanisms that absolutely work to prevent violence against women and children.
Research shows that when young boys internalise restrictive masculine norms, they are more likely to hold harmful attitudes and engage in abusive behaviours. We need to do better in this space. We need to do better for men.
We need to do better for boys, for women, for girls, for victims-survivors and for our future generations. I hope that, from today, those at home can understand that there is a lot of work being done and that our government believes victims-survivors. We know there is more work to do, but we are absolutely committed to doing it.