25 November is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2023. The domestic, family and sexual violence have been demanding action from governments for so long - it's well past time governments listen.
Abigail said:
(1) That this House notes that:
(a) Saturday 25 November 2023 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, with this year’s theme being “invest to prevent violence against women against women and girls”, emphasising the need for funding prevention strategies to proactively put an end to gender-based violence,
(b) this year so far 51 women have been killed in Australia, 30 of which were allegedly killed at the hands of a male intimate partner or ex-intimate partner, according to the activist project Counting Dead Women Australia which collects figures based on media-reported crimes,
(c) the overwhelming majority of domestic and family violence related crimes involve coercive control by the perpetrator in the weeks, months and years leading up to it, with the Domestic Violence Death Review Team having found that 111 out of 112 of intimate partner homicides studied between 2008 and 2016 in NSW were preceded by coercive control,
(d) criminalising coercive control is only one legislative step toward ending violence against women, and it is vital that this is underpinned by robust, trauma-informed and evidence-based training across all levels of society including police, health, legal and judicial systems,
(e) violence against women will not be solved by simply installing street lights on dark streets, which is an infrastructure initiative that should be installed for the safety and access of all people on said streets, and brandishing initiatives such as this as a spend for “women” ignores the nuanced reality of violence against women which is overwhelmingly overrepresented by domestic and family violence and abuse, and
(f) the domestic violence sector received a significant underspend of funding in the 2023-24 NSW Budget, which Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW) has said is not even enough to meet minimum service demands, after having called for:
(i) $145 million annual funding increase for the specialist domestic and family violence sector in New South Wales;
(ii) $20 million annual funding for sexual, domestic and family violence prevention initiatives in New South Wales;
(iii) $1.35 million annual funding for DVNSW to support a quality focused, trauma-informed, specialist domestic and family violence sector in New South Wales; and
(iv) $10 million investment to roll out specialist workers for children and young people in every frontline domestic and family violence service in New South Wales.
(2) That this House calls on the NSW Government to take urgent action to eliminate violence against women in our state through policy, legislation and funding that is grounded in genuine consultation with and leadership of victim-survivors, experts, advocates and representatives.