Tuesday, 7 May 2024

Gendered violence

Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) (14:21): One woman in Australia is killed every four days by men’s violence – every four days this year alone. As a woman standing in this place, that makes me absolutely furious, and it also makes me terrified. Women around the country are furious and they are terrified, because this is a national emergency, yet what have we seen from politicians in the last few weeks? Hardly anything – hardly anything new to tackle this emergency. Politicians are not treating this like an emergency.

As women we are in an impossible situation. We cannot go walking alone at night – we might be killed. We cannot go running during the day, because we might be killed. We cannot stay in our own homes, because that is the place we are most likely to be killed. We are told, ‘Don’t stay in a violent or coercive relationship because you might be killed’ but also, ‘Don’t leave, because that’s when you’re at the highest risk of being killed.’ What will it take for politicians to stand up and not just say this is unacceptable but act like it is unacceptable? Actually fund violence services properly. Actually fund public housing so that women fleeing family violence do not have to choose between violent relationships at home and living in their cars. Actually raise the rate of income support so women fleeing family violence can survive. This is an emergency, and we need to do something about it.