MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms STEGGALL (Warringah) (16:07): I'd like to start by thanking the member for Clark for this very important topic and acknowledging and remembering the many women and children whose lives were cut short and taken far too soon or who were impacted and live with the scars, as well as their families and the many advocates who passionately advocate for change and will simply never let this issue rest until it is dealt with appropriately.
Today the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission tabled its 2026 yearly report to parliament, and, seriously, the statistics in that report should shame all of us in this place. The evidence is devastating. Almost 40,000 victims of sexual assault were recorded by police just in 2025.
Eighty per cent were female, and more than half were children. Hospitalisations of First Nations women and children following family violence have increased. Breaches of domestic violence orders have increased.
Persistent homelessness amongst women and children affected by violence has increased. It is a national crisis. Too often women and children are having to choose between homelessness and violence.
It's a national crisis, yet the Albanese government is not responding with the urgency, funding or accountability it demands. With respect, I acknowledge that the minister and the assistant minister are working hard on this, and I've heard many members talk about the record amount of investment this government has made compared to previous ones. But just because the previous funding was too low doesn't mean continuing low funding is enough to meet the crisis.
The government points to more than $4.4 billion that has been allocated in family, domestic and sexual violence since it came to office. That's over four years. Yes, it is more than governments before you, but is it enough to address this crisis?
Funding announcements are not outcomes, and it is important to put those numbers in context, because it highlights priorities. KPMG has estimated that violence against women and children costs Australia some $22 billion in a single year. Meanwhile, frontline organisations are still being forced to operate on short-term funding agreements, sometimes receiving decisions about renewals at the last minute.
That means uncertainty for workers, it means experienced staff are leaving services, and it means less certainty for women and children who depend on them. Refuges are still turning women away, and, incredibly, governments cannot provide a single consolidated and transparent picture of how much is actually being invested across Australia and get some accountability.
I want to raise priorities because the government's priorities matter when we think about this crisis. Today the government announced $2.4 billion for one air missile defence capability. Defence funding for this year is $63.4 billion, and it is projected to reach $112.1 billion a year by 2035-36.
In contrast, domestic violence receives roughly $1 billion annually for frontline services and preventive measures—$63.4 billion to $1 billion, and half the population is at risk. I would argue defence is important, but surely national security also means women and children being safe in their homes in Australia. Proportionality of investment matters.
It is not good enough to say you are investing more than previous governments, if what you're investing is still so far from what is actually needed. If the government can mobilise billions—and it seems to do so without much pause every time something is needed in the defence budget, once it determines something is of a national priority—why can't it properly fund the services that are keeping women and children alive?
I ask the government to think of its priorities. Surely our national security includes the safety of women and children. Then we have the report that we received today, where we still have a lack of measures to identify whether the national plan is working.
We don't even collect the data yet. We urgently need so many recommendations to be implemented. Whilst I know there is goodwill in this place, there has to be more urgency.
How can it be that so many of the recommendations of the report of the rapid review that this government got in 2024 have not yet been implemented? So please let's get on to some action and have fewer words in this place. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): The time for this debate has concluded.