MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS
Ms AMBIHAIPAHAR (Barton) (10:57): I rise to speak on the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission's yearly report to parliament, and I want to begin with a number of the drivers of violence outlined on page 34 of the report. The first is the condoning of violence against women. The second is men's control of decision-making and the limits placed on women's independence in public and private life.
The third is rigid gender stereotyping and dominant forms of masculinity. And the fourth is the male peer relations and cultures of masculinity that emphasise aggression, dominance and control. Now, Deputy Speaker Sharkie, I ask you to keep these drivers in mind as I read a tweet posted by Senator Ralph Babet on 4 September, which said: Women are on average more susceptible to prevailing cultural trends.
That trait can be valuable in raising children and maintaining group cohesion, but destructive when a culture itself becomes diseased. The deeper failure however lies with men who have abandoned their evolutionary, biblical and biological duty to lead. Women are the instruments of the West's decline, but the rot begins with weak low testosterone men not fulfilling their masculine responsibilities.
And before some idiot says "not all women" obviously not all. We're talking about broad patterns, not every individual. On my count, this tweet displays pretty much a lot of those gendered drivers of violence, and we wonder why young men consuming this content are displaying more and more hatred towards women.
This hyped up, angry and violent view of what it means to be a man does not have to be the only model available to young men. I think of my uncle Thiru. He raised me.
He was kind of like my mum and dad. He bought me my first period products, he taught me how to change the washer on a tap and he made me very safe in the community that I was raised in. He placed the utmost importance on education so that I can learn to advocate for myself and now for others.
He was strong, he was kind and he showed me that strength is not diminished by care, patience or tenderness. He's exactly the kind of man that all men should aspire to be. Too often when we raise the issue of violence against women in places like this, the conversation descends into all-out gender wars like the one invited by the tweet I quoted.
I want to emphasise this is not about fighting. It is about stopping violence. It is about helping sons and brothers become the best fathers and grandfathers they can be, because we need you.
We need good men in our lives, in our families and in our communities. I want to recognise some of those men from our local community: Mark Stead, Stephen So, Paul Dunstan, Dr Ashish Diwan, Robert Naumoski, Tony Baddour, Geremy Crithary, Joel Joselin, Garry Lockwood, Craig Epton, Dr George Foster, Mark Lever, Louay Moustapha, John Nour and Ken Dunlop. There are so many more community leaders who help our hospitals, our schools, our churches and our community groups function and who serve the St George area with kindness, intelligence and strength.
These are the people our young men should look up to, not those chasing influence in the manosphere. I now turn to some of the local organisations that will be essential to helping our government implement the national plan's findings and commitments. At Alawa Aboriginal Corporation, Shaylee Matthews and Sharlene Mackenzie are strong women doing frontline work to support vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in my community and beyond.
St George Family Support Services, based in Carlton, was established in 1987 in response to the needs of local families and children. The St George Police Area Command and specialist domestic violence support services also play a very critical role in responding to people in crisis and connecting them with ongoing assistance. St Vincent de Paul, Vinnies, provides support for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence across the homelessness and housing space.
Its services include a rapid and responsive domestic violence response enhancement service, crisis and medium-term housing pathways and support to sustain tenancies. This breadth of services and infrastructure allows for targeted and flexible responses to women and children facing an existing or emerging crisis. There's Salvation Army in Hurstville and Earlwood providing another important point of support for people experiencing hardship and crisis in the local community.
We must properly fund and support these grassroots services so that they can serve communities like mine. Barton is home to many diaspora communities, and reaching women who are isolated from established support networks can be particularly difficult. Barton is extraordinarily diverse and home to people of many cultures, languages and faiths.
Members of diaspora communities can experience profound isolation, particularly when they are still learning English or do not have established support networks. That isolation can leave women without the relationships they need to seek help, solidarity or safety. That isolation can also leave women vulnerable to specific forms of abuse.
The national plan identifies migration related abuse, dowry abuse, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and trafficking. These are among the most horrific abuses that can be inflicted on a person. They reduce women to financial pawns or to the sum of their reproductive capabilities.
Moreover, the report finds that women from culturally and linguistically diverse communities face a greater risk of online abuse. This can range from vile race based comments that appear on my own comment sections to stalking, surveillance, tracking, threats, harassment and the nonconsensual sharing of intimate images. Then, when these women try to access support, the legal system itself can be difficult to navigate.
Its forms, processes and family law structures can appear hostile and foreign, particularly to someone confronting language barriers, financial insecurity or uncertainty about their visa status. Children who suffer this abuse are also too often overlooked or insidiously used as pawns in the family law system itself. That is why it's so important that the national plan includes dedicated sections on culturally and linguistically diverse communities while also elevating the voices of children and young people as victims-survivors in their own right.
As the report says, we must build the capacity of both services and communities to identify and support women and children at heightened risk of gender based violence and intervene before violence escalates. We need safe housing for women and children escaping abuse. We need culturally appropriate and accessible services.
We need a justice system that people can navigate and trust. I hope that during my time in this place I can help advance this work. As I said in my first speech, I see my duty as one of service.
Serving the women, men and children of Barton and helping deliver the safety, security and support every family deserves is an obligation I carry with me every single day. I will continue to listen to survivors, work alongside local services and advocate for the resources that you need.