STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BLEYER (Tasmania) (13:55): 'Rare, brief and non-recurring'—those are the words used by the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner to describe her vision for rates of gender based violence in this country. In my home state of Tasmania as many as 95,600 women have experienced violence since the age of 15. That is 43 per cent of the population.

And 28.1 per cent of women in Tasmania have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. Those rates increase further for members of marginalised groups. Disabled women are between four and 10 times more likely to experience domestic and family violence than women without disability.

That is not rare, and these are only the cases being reported. In my first speech in the Senate I spoke about the violence I experienced as a child at the hands of my father. That was not brief and that was not non-recurring.

I am proud to support my party leader, Senator Waters, with her tireless advocacy for the women and children experiencing domestic and family violence. Yesterday she told this chamber that the crisis response sector is at breaking point, that services urgently need funding and that systems need reform to repair the deficiencies that prevent women from coming forward and reporting violence against them.

I agree. Every week, we wake up and see reports that another woman has been killed at the hands of her partner. How much longer will we let this happen?

How much longer until we bring rates of violence against women and children to an acceptable level? That level is zero.