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Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says it's time to "stop shying away" from evidence that shows men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of domestic, family, and sexual violence.
Key points:
- At the National Press Club, Ms Rishworth said 95 per cent of people who have experienced physical or sexual violence name a man as the perpetrator
- She said the government was working with a "sense of urgency" to develop action plans
- Greens senator Larissa Waters said the speech was "big on words and small on dollars and actions".
Ms Rishworth has also emphasised the need to gather more data on perpetrator behaviour, stating that for too long research has focused on those who experience violence rather than those who commit it.
"The evidence shows there is a clear, gendered nature to family, domestic and sexual violence," she said.
"Ninety-five per cent of people who have experienced physical or sexual violence name a man as the perpetrator.
"It's time for us to stop shying away from it," she said.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Ms Rishworth said she had been inundated with messages since the release of a new 10-year national plan aimed at ending violence against women and children questioning why the strategy focused on abuse experienced by women.
"The plan acknowledges that gender-based violence is rooted in gender inequality and unequal power relations, particularly those that view women and girls as subordinate to men and boys," she said.
According to ABS data, one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, at the hands of a man they know.
Research from 2017 also shows women accounted for three quarters of the people who experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15, compared to men who accounted for one quarter.
A pledge by federal and state and territory governments to end violence within "one generation" was central to the new plan released last month.
While the plan acknowledges the need for clear and measurable targets to ensure accountability on the part of current and future government, those details are yet to be released.
Ms Rishworth said the federal government was working with a "sense of urgency" to develop two "action plans" which will contain specific steps and timelines, including one which focuses on the disproportionately high rates of violence experienced by Indigenous women and children.
"The message I get clearly is that action does need to be taken, but it actually needs to be taken in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, so that is what I am critically committed to doing," she said.
The minister would not say whether the "action plans" would be ready for release before the next budget in May.
Criticism funding is inadequate
Labor allocated $1.7 billion over six years in its first budget released last month towards women's safety measures, a figure many advocates say is inadequate given the scale of the problem.
Ms Rishworth said $100 million in funding included in last month's budget would go towards building an additional 720 emergency accommodation spaces over the next five years as part of the Safe Places program.
She said priority access would be given to First Nations women, along with those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and those who live with a disability.
"We know victim-survivors can experience the compounding impacts of racism, ableism and sexism and our goal is to provide Safe Places which recognise this and are inclusive and accessible," she said.
When asked whether she believed the unemployment benefit known as Jobseeker should be increased to address the links between poverty and violence, Ms Rishworth side-stepped the answer.
"We can't fix everything immediately and so what we have been doing is taking steps through the women's economic equality task force to look at the whole broad range of issues that affect women's economic security," she said.
"We have a significant budget problem and so this is something that we do have to look at budget when it comes to raising the rate of JobSeeker."
Greens spokesperson on women Larissa Waters said the minister's speech was "big on words and small on dollars and actions".
"Additional funding for emergency housing is welcome, but when the waiting list for social housing is over 50,000 in Queensland alone, $100 million for 720 houses is a drop in the ocean," Senator Waters said.
"The housing crisis is felt even more acutely by women and children experiencing family and domestic violence. Women are forced to choose between abuse or homelessness, because there is nowhere to go.
"Women on low wages or income support are especially vulnerable without the resources to escape violent situations, yet this government persists with the cruelty of keeping income support payments like JobSeeker below the poverty line, and has the audacity to cry poor while dishing out hundreds of billions in tax cuts and investment property perks for the rich."