CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr MATT SMITH (Leichhardt) (09:50): Continuing the tradition of me reading the speeches provided to me by the work experience kids, we've got our Raise Our Voice campaign, and this speech was written by Ava and she is 11 years old. She wrote: My fellow Australians, We can't call ourselves a fair society when most of the country lives under fear of discrimination, and a lot of disadvantages.

Women face domestic violence, transforming their own homes and public spaces into areas of danger. From young ages, girls are the target of online harassment and objectification. At work, people make sure women are paid less, and not chosen for promotions.

When they retire, women face higher rates of poverty and homelessness due to a lifetime of financial discrimination. First, they must make violence against women a national emergency and massively increase funding for crisis services, and emergency housing. Second, the government must enforce strict legal penalties for gender discrimination and cyber-harassment.

They must reform the legal system to ensure survivors of assault receive justice. This is not minor; it is a human rights crisis. The government needs to stop ignoring the statistics and use its full power to protect its people.

Ava's 11. When I was 11, I'm pretty sure I wanted to be Batman. I certainly wasn't writing to politicians and I certainly wasn't putting words that powerful onto a sheet of paper to be read out in this place.

This is what we talk about in here a lot—the scourge of domestic violence, the hurt and fear that a lot of women fear and feel in our society. The fact that a child not out of primary school has felt so compelled to write this, to send this to me to have it read out here, tells us everything that we need to know, tells us that the work that we're doing still needs more and more until young girls like Ava don't have to write like this, feel safe in their own home and feel safe in public places and until she can decide that she wants to be Wonder Woman rather than writing to me.

I hope that Ava sees the bipartisan approach that we're taking to women and family violence. I hope that she sees men in this place standing up to try to make a difference. I hope that she understands that we hear her and that we're all working together to stop this, because, Ava, you don't deserve to have to write these letters to me.

Ava, you deserve to have a childhood in which you don't have to think about this. Every day, I know that there are people in this place committed, absolutely committed, to providing the role models and to showing the way to make sure that young girls in Australia will grow up with hope and safety.