Tuesday, 18 March 2025

 Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Government Services, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women) (14:17): I rise to update the house on how this government, the Allan Labor government, is working so hard to protect women and children experiencing family violence so they can stay safely in their homes.

Last Friday I launched the Safe at Home pilot in Geelong alongside the member for Lara and the member for Bellarine. Partnering with McAuley Community Services for Women and Meli, this initiative aims to change the outcomes and trajectory for women. I got to meet and hear from Diana Connell, who is a victim-survivor, who helped co-design this program. She was forced to live in her car with her son, who was at the time in year 12, after escaping violence. Like her, many women experiencing family violence are often forced to leave their homes to escape the violence and face the loss of their connection to community, to their schools and to their workplaces. But the Safe at Home program aims to shift that outcome. It will provide 54 families in the Geelong–Barwon region with wraparound services. Families will be provided with access to counselling, legal advice, financial advice and security measures at their homes, and perpetrators will have intense case management to stop the violence.

We know that gendered violence does not only happen at home, it happens at work too. Women face disproportionate levels of harassment, discrimination, abuse and underpayment in their careers. That is why we have launched our $5.5 million Safe Workplaces for Women initiative, which will change culture and attitudes. Working with our partners the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and the Victorian Trades Hall Council, this initiative will drive action to make sure people understand their rights and their legal obligations, because every woman in Victoria deserves to be safe in the home, the workplace and their community.