MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

Ms FRANCE (Dickson) (10:43): I rise to speak on the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission's yearly report to this parliament, and in support of Minister Plibersek's response to the report. I also acknowledge victim-survivors and those we have lost—133 lives taken in 2025 as a result of domestic and family violence. An estimated 42 women and 17 children have been lost in 2026 alone—women and children killed, too often by men who claimed to love them.

We remember them and we owe it to them to do everything we can to end violence. The report is actually a really devastating read because, despite record funding by this government and many efforts by previous governments, more than $4.4 billion from this government to end family and domestic and sexual violence, there's still a lot of progress to be done in many areas.

Overall, progress is too slow. Reports of sexual violence are now at their highest levels since national recording began 30 years ago. One in four women and one in 14 men have experienced violence by an intimate partner.

Too many women and children are killed, and too many live with violence every day. We are also seeing a significant increase in sexual assaults occurring outside of family and intimate partner relationships. We know the rise in access to online pornography has distorted what our young people see as a healthy relationship, with increased reporting of strangulation at our hospitals.

What our young people consume online is truly horrific. The rise of the manosphere is promoting hostile attitudes towards women, framing society as for women and against men and selling control and aggression as self-defence rather than harm. Teachers tell us that manosphere content is a problem in their classrooms and that there's been an uptick of gendered violence in our schools.

This is not a fringe problem. Misogyny is now one of the strongest predictors of a young person's willingness to use violence. It's obvious that governments can only do so much.

We cannot legislate our way through this. We need our parents, communities, families, schools and all education settings, workplaces, sporting clubs and, in particular, our men to step up and demand safety and respect. We all need to be dramatically more proactive in tackling domestic and family violence.

I agree with Commissioner Cronin's vision for the future. We all need to be working towards a future where family, domestic and sexual violence is rare, brief and non-reoccurring—rare because we prevent it before it happens; brief because, when someone is in danger, we recognise it early and act immediately; and non-recurring because victims-survivors get the support to heal and perpetrators are held to account so they cannot keep harming people.

The next phase of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children to 2032 must shift our response to the environments that allow misogyny, control and violence to take root. We must recognise the signs early, intervene early, get family support before they are in crisis, invest in behaviour change, hold perpetrators accountable and focus on sexual violence.

We've invested more than $4.4 billion since coming to government in pursuit of these goals including funding the 1,400 organisations that have directly helped almost half a million Australians experiencing violence. We've made the $5,000 leaving violence payment permanent. We've launched the first standalone First Nations plan to address domestic and sexual violence, with $218 million in funding.

We've boosted funding for 1800RESPECT by 40 per cent and increased funding to the 500 workers program by more than 70 per cent. We are building more safe homes for women and children leaving violence, with $1.2 billion for more crisis accommodation and social and affordable homes. We recently held consultations to shape the next phase of the national plan, with 163 roundtables, 1,300 survey responses and 535 submissions.

We are not shying away from the new frontiers of this violence. Online harm is changing the real world faster than our systems can keep pace with. That is why we introduced the social media age restriction for under-16s.

It's not a perfect fix, but it's a lifeline for parents fighting an unequal battle against the infinite scroll. It is why we are bringing in age assurance for pornography. It is why we've just released our digital duty of care legislation, which will force social media companies to embed safety by design and finally consider the wellbeing of the children and young people that use their platforms.

I have sat with many women in my electorate of Dickson—and I am sure every member in this place has done the very same—who have, through tears, described the violence, trauma and terror in their homes and the hard and long road of trying to get out, often with nothing but their kids, trying to survive and rebuild. It is haunting. In just the past three days, three women have contacted my office in Dickson with heartbreakingly similar stories.

These women and their kids deserve to have everything thrown at this crisis, and this government is determined to deliver. We also see hope—stories demonstrating that some of our investment is working. I received a letter from 47-year-old Marie, who moved to my electorate of Dickson with her primary school age daughter after leaving a violent relationship.

To escape her controlling and violent partner, Marie was forced to move interstate to a place she had never heard of and never been to and where she knew no-one—to be safe, to seek refuge. She was offered a new home, a new life, as a direct result of our Housing Australia Future Fund and Bric Housing in my electorate of Dickson. Marie said she and her daughter now, for the first time in over a decade, feel safe, at peace and stable.

She said her daughter is now thriving at school, a student leader with aspirations to study at university. Ending gender based violence is a national priority for the government so that women like Marie and her daughter are safe and supported and can rebuild. It is a priority that we get to a place beyond reactionary measures, to a place where violence is rare, brief and non-recurring.

Every one of us in this place and everyone outside of this place has a role to play in preventing and reducing family, domestic and sexual violence.