Family and domestic violence—Funding
Statement
Hon Jess Beckerling (9:04 pm): The Australian Institute of Family Studies' research program Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health is the largest of its kind. It started tracking more than 16,000 boys and men in 2013–14, and added another 10,000 men to the database in 2023–24. In June, the study released its latest results. If members have not seen them already, what I am about to share might shock them. The men were asked the following two questions as part of the study. The first was: Have you ever behaved in a manner that has made a partner feel frightened or anxious? In other words, they were asked whether they had ever been emotionally abusive. The second was: Have you ever hit, slapped, kicked or otherwise physically hurt a partner when you were angry? In other words, they were asked whether they had ever been physically abusive. Thirty-five per cent of the 26,000 participants answered yes to one or both of those questions—that is, more than a third.
When we layer over that the statistics that were released by the Western Australia Police Force on Friday, the picture for women and children in WA is nothing short of bleak. Those police figures show that reports of family and domestic violence offences have jumped 18% in just a single year, to more than 42,000. That equates to an FDV offence or incident being reported every 12.5 minutes in Western Australia, or one incident every 750 seconds. I ask every person in this chamber to imagine what kind of response we would mobilise if a shark was attacking or circling a swimmer down at Cottesloe Beach every 750 seconds. Perhaps it would mirror the swift and decisive actions of this place in 2008, when the WA government responded to public pressure and introduced the one-punch legislation. Since the year 2000, 170 Australians have died following a one-punch attack. If members want to know how many Australian women were killed by a partner or former partner in the same period, it was 1,645. Where is the outrage? Where is the swift action? Where is the declaration of a state of emergency? Where is the money?
How shameful for the Premier to say last week in response to the publication of these new figures that solving this problem is not a simple matter of writing a cheque and that the horrific statistics are down to raised awareness and higher levels of reporting, while simultaneously refusing to do what is necessary to protect women who are risking everything to make that first police report. There is plenty that writing a cheque would achieve. It would mean that a woman who is trying to escape violence to keep herself and her kids safe could get a spot in a refuge, it would increase the Safe at Home package and actually provide enough money to secure a house with the necessary security equipment and it would employ the necessary number of specialist workers in this sector. Therefore, I am taking this opportunity tonight with members' statements to call on the Premier, the Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, the Minister for Women and their parliamentary secretaries to immediately start work towards a significant increase in the funding available for family and domestic violence services to meet the requests that have been put forward by the sector.
House adjourned at 9:08:00 pm
Questions on notice answered today are available on the Parliament of Western Australia's website
