Wednesday, 1 November 2023

 Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (10:37): I rise to make a contribution today on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s 2023–24 budget estimates report, and in particular chapter 7, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing chapter, which refers to family violence and housing and the interrelationship between those, and it makes a number of recommendations.

Family violence is the main reason why women and children leave their homes in Australia, and I think family violence should be front of mind at the moment. Upstairs, as we speak, is a Respect Victoria function. If I may, I will read to the house the vision of Respect Victoria, because I think it is something that we need to remember. Its vision is:

… a Victorian community where all people are safe, equal and respected, and live free from family violence and violence against women.

Putting in that context that family violence is the main reason why women and children leave their homes, this also should be front of mind: in the last 10 days it is absolutely appalling that five women have lost their lives to alleged family violence, and that includes here in Victoria. I have spoken to many, many victims of family violence, and there is a lot to be done to move this ship forward and change the direction. We really need to get those numbers down, but it is a really hard task to do, and it is fraught with many challenges.

Over the last 12 months I have visited many Orange Doors, and I have seen them in various states – some have been operating for a number of years and some have just come on board – and heard of some of the issues and the teething problems that they have. But one of the things that I guess really stands out for me is some of the blockages in the system and the backlogs. One Orange Door service mentioned to me that when they ring the 20 motels in their area the phone will only get picked up by five of those, because the others either do not want to have anything to do with it or have already got their fair share. It is fair to say that the backlogs mean that women and children are not moved through the system. If there is a blockage in a refuge, it means that somebody ends up in a hotel beforehand. There are blockages in refuges because people cannot find appropriate accommodation. There are a lot of challenges with the exit pathways from the refuge and crisis accommodation into this stable, secure and long-term accommodation, particularly for those on low incomes. One of the things that is really important is that when families move they lose their connectedness to communities. Children lose their connectedness to their friends and to their school and have to start again, and if they have to have that repeated movement it can really do a lot of damage.

In the 2023–24 state budget it tells us that the refuges offer a short-term safety response to those at highest risk of injury or death, but at the same time the length of stays in refuges is much longer than people would think, and it depends on a variety of factors, including assessed risk, safety needs and suitable exit options. The average length of stay for women and children in a refuge in 2022–23 was 51 nights and 55 nights, so women and then women with children, which might be a little bit lower, but it is still a huge concern that you have got somebody for a couple of months being in a refuge, which is really supposed to be a short-term, move-them-on type of thing.

In the last five years the number of women who have accessed emergency accommodation through specialist family violence services averages around 2500. That is the women, but for women with children it was 1000 to 1200, and this, as I said, is for the last five years, so from 2018 to 2023. So there is a lot of work that we still need to do in this space.

A lot of talk is about educating younger children in terms of respect. That is all good, but at the same time our education system is pushing children more and more to using the internet and tablets. I think that is a real risk, because they are looking at content that is for adult eyes only and often they are getting the wrong end of the stick. So we are trying to do one thing at one end, but at the same time our education system is working against that, and we need to look at that to change.