MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Dr TRISH COOK (Bullwinkel) (16:02): Ending gender based violence is a national priority for this Albanese Labor government, and it is a responsibility shared by every single member in this place. As you know, before I entered parliament, I was working as a nurse and midwife in mostly remote and regional communities. I saw firsthand the physical and emotional scars of family violence.

I sat with women who felt trapped, paralysed by fear, worried for their children, worried for their pets and were wondering where on earth they were going to sleep that night if they did dare to leave. I recall one woman—it was decades ago—who came to me with her jaw hanging in her hands, and that was just one of her many injuries. She couldn't talk.

She couldn't eat. She could barely breathe. She had no money, nowhere to go and no safe space.

I helped her as best I could and sent her into town for surgery, away from her family support. Then, of course, she had to come back to that community, and I often wonder about how she continued her life. My electorate, as you know, is named after Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, who was the sole survivor of a horrific 1942 Bangka Island massacre of 21 unarmed nurses who were assaulted and murdered.

This violence is not new. What we can take from Vivian's legacy is her courage. Throughout her life, she continued to fight for those women and for them to be remembered.

Vivien showed extraordinary courage, and that's the same courage that we expect women to have when they are confronted with domestic violence. But courage alone is not enough. They need to know that they will be safe and that there is dignity in their care and real support if they do go to the other side of their domestic violence situation.

The sobering reality is that one in four Australian women and one in 14 men have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15—one in four women and one in 14 men. Too many lives continue to be stolen, and too many families live in terror. Our government are not turning away from this.

Today Minister Plibersek tabled the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission's yearly report to parliament. It measures our national progress, and we welcome the commissioner's eight recommendations based on early intervention, sexual violence and predator accountability. We need to put our money where we want the solution.

Our record investment of more than $4.4 billion in this area is the largest commitment by any Australian government, and I'm proud to be associated with that. We, of course, have the $5,000 leaving violence payment. We have made that permanent.

Labor has made 10 days of paid domestic violence leave available. We have put $1.2 billion into housing, including emergency and transitional accommodation—with 'transitional' meaning up to six months after a woman has left her home. I'll leave you with this quote, which I recently received as an email.

It was about a newly built social home in Bullwinkel that a lady and her two young children had escaped to. She says: This new home has provided us with safe refuge. It could not have come at a better time as my ex was just charged with stalking, and we've had to move four times in the last two years.

Thanks to you and the Australian Government, we are able to build a life of dignity and freedom. This is why we do what we do. There is so much more to be done, and we're committed to doing that.