OPINION - NEWCASTLE HERALD
While many of us debate whether Grace Tame should have smiled nicely at the Prime Minister on Australia Day, we might also consider the contents of the draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.
The 2021 Australian of the Year sparked a national conversation about the treatment of women in Australia, and the draft National Plan is the Morrison Government’s key framework to end this national scourge.
It encompasses laws, policing, social services, health services, education, and prevention and support strategies.
And while it is comprehensive, it will mean nothing if it is not delivered with political will and proper funding.
How can we trust the Morrison Government to deliver either?
Under this Government, the position of Australian women has slipped to 50th in the world for gender equality, which is the primary driver of violence against women.
In my submission to the draft plan (these are due by February 22), I draw attention to two main shortcomings: there is no commitment to more social housing, and there is no commitment to domestic violence leave, and both are crucial.
According to the draft plan, violence against women and children is a leading cause of homelessness.
In 2020-21, 42% of people seeking special homelessness services had experienced domestic violence.
Yet the plan does not address the need for more social housing.
Also, according to the draft plan, 48% of women who experienced violence say it had reduced their attendance at work, and KPMG estimated this costs Australia $26 billion a year, with victims and survivors bearing half of that cost.
And yet the plan is silent on domestic violence leave.
In my submission, I also remind the Government that women who survive domestic violence, and their children, rely on government services to support them, to keep them safe and to help them rebuild their lives.
How can we trust the Morrison Government to deliver government services that adequately support women and children?
This is the Government that gave us Robodebt, the Government that got rid of the Family Court, the Government that is undermining the NDIS.
For Australia to truly tackle domestic violence, the Government must not just boost services aimed specifically at domestic and family violence but must address other areas that impact women and children – social security, the NDIS, family law and workplace relations.
While many domestic violence services are run by the states, it is the Commonwealth that holds the purse strings, and the Commonwealth that can lead.
It is well documented that Covid-19 increased the intensity and severity of domestic violence, yet Scott Morrison’ handling of the pandemic has been disgraceful.
According to the draft plan, two-thirds of women who experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former co-habiting partner since the start of the pandemic said the violence had started or escalated since the pandemic began.
Social restrictions exacerbated isolation and increased risk factors such as financial stress, job loss, poor mental health, and alcohol consumption.
Consider the added pressure of the Scott Morrison’s vaccine “strollout” and the daily “RAT race” for rapid antigen tests.
It is not just in its national plan that the Morrison Government can make a difference for women and children experiencing and surviving domestic violence.
In every policy, there is an opportunity to consider the way poverty, disadvantage, race and disability impact vulnerable women and children.
Labor has adopted policies to make childcare more affordable, to introduce 10 days paid domestic violence leave and 500 extra community sector refuge workers, to guarantee superannuation for more stability in old age, to reduce the 14% gender pay gap, and to introduce strong laws to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Labor is also committed to building more social housing and to fully Closing the Gap through the Uluru Statement.
It is one thing for the Morrison Government to outline ambitions, priorities, and targets to end violence against women and children in its national plan.
But it’s another thing entirely to commit to walk the walk and stump up the money.
Well may Grace Tame be told to smile nicely for the cameras.
But has Scott Morrison done enough to deserve her respect?
