Michael Sukkar MP

A Clear Message: Violence Against Women and Children is Unacceptable

The Coalition Government has reaffirmed its strong commitment to making Australia a safe place for every woman and child, the Federal Member for Deakin, Michael Sukkar, said today.

The Launch of the Second Action Plan at Parliament House sent a clear message that violence against women and children is utterly reprehensible and will not be tolerated.

Mr Sukkar said each and every person who lives in Deakin has the right to feel safe in their homes and in their community.

“I support the Second Action Plan and the Government’s efforts to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, violence against women and their children,” he said.

The 2012 Personal Safety Survey found that around one in three Australian women had experienced physical violence and one in five women had experienced sexual assault.

These statistics only represent those who have reported their experience – not those who may suffer in silence.

Fulfilling a key election commitment, the Coalition Government demonstrated its commitment to the continued implementation of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 (the National Plan), with the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Tony Abbott MP, launching the Second Action Plan under the National Plan in June.

The National Plan is a 12-year strategy which brings together Commonwealth, State and Territory Government efforts, civil society, the business sector and the community more broadly to make a sustained reduction in the levels of violence against women and their children.

The Second Action Plan contains 26 practical actions that all governments around Australia agree are critical to focus on if we are to move ahead in reducing violence against women and their children.

The Second Action Plan specifically focuses on improving how systems and services work together to protect and support women; improving perpetrator interventions; and continuing to build the evidence base on violence against women and their children.

There is also a focus on understanding the diverse experiences of violence, including how it particularly affects women with disability, indigenous women and culturally and linguistically diverse women.

To support initiatives under the Second Action Plan, the Commonwealth Government has allocated more than $100 million over the next four years.

The Government is funding new initiatives to support the Second Action Plan including:

• $3.3 million for CrimTrac to develop and test a prototype for a National Domestic Violence Order (DVO) Scheme, to strengthen the identification and enforcement of DVOs across state and territory borders.
• $1.7 million to take the next steps in developing a national data collection and reporting framework by building a more consistent basis from which to gather, analyse and use data on all aspects of violence against women and their children. This includes $300,000 for the Australian Bureau of Statistics to augment data sets on victims and offenders.
• More than $1 million for 1800RESPECT, Australia’s first national professional telephone and online counselling service, to expand its service. The new funding for 1800RESPECT is in addition to the Government’s investment of $28 million over the next four years to support existing services.