Thursday, 30 July 2026

 Katie HALL (Footscray) (17:30): (1758) Words matter. My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, and the action I seek is for the minister to outline the work that this government is taking to change a culture of disrespect towards women. I am also seeking for the minister to advise what action can be taken in response to the member for Brighton making continual references to attacks with baseball bats. His words have mattered to a constituent of mine who is a survivor of family violence. The victim contacted me regarding the member for Brighton’s shameful, ongoing use of this terminology, and I would like to read an excerpt from the email from this constituent, whose permission I have sought to raise this in the house this evening. The email reads:

[QUOTE AWAITING VERIFICATION]

The issue that may seem small to many in Parliament but struck me last week was a report in the Herald Sun about the Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury. The article advised that he had been found to have engaged in parliamentary misconduct by directing violent language to another MP in a social media post. I believe it was the then Premier. The article read like he had leaked the report to the Herald Sun to double down on violent comments.

I then caught some of question time yesterday, where he used a reference to baseball bats again. Members of the government briefly asked him to reflect on the language used, but it was really startling to me that he would do that. Violent language directed at colleagues in the workplace is never okay. Violent language directed at a woman at any time is not okay. Letting these things slide or go essentially unnoticed contributes to a culture where violence in our communities and violence against women is tolerated.

I have experienced domestic violence myself, and it is these seemingly small cultural levers that continue to contribute to endorsing and trivialising harm against women. I really expect better from our politicians, and I expect that when they fall short of community expectations they are not glossed over and that they are given the time and attention required to generate debate and conversation to shift the dial. It is my hope that by contacting you, you do exactly that. Parliament should not be a race to the bottom, it should be a place where leaders model behaviours and demonstrate that strong debate can be had without resorting to this type of behaviour.

If the member will not have the decency to model behaviour that is not harmful towards victim-survivors and if the Leader of the Opposition does not have the decency to sanction him, I seek that the minister provide advice to reassure my constituent that our government is committed to protecting women from violence.