Fair Agenda

Like you, Cassie & Kate are Fair Agenda members concerned about threats to our paid parental leave system.[1] That’s why last week they met with Queensland Senate candidate Suzanne Grant, to find out if she would vote to protect parental leave if elected. 

As you are no doubt aware, for the past year the Coalition Government have been trying to make cuts to paid parental leave. And, for the past year, community campaigning has made it impossible for the Abbott and Turnbull Governments to pass those cuts through the Senate.

Unfortunately, despite huge community concern, the Coalition Government haven't abandoned their plans to make cuts to new parents' paid time at home; which means that if they are re-elected next month, we can expect they will again try to cut paid parental leave.[2] 

It means electing Senators committed to protecting new parents' time at home with their newborns is absolutely critical. 

Analysis is continuing to show that in our next parliament minor parties will again make up the Senate "crossbench" -- that's the group who generally end up with casting votes on any issue where the Government and Opposition are split.[3] With the Labor Party opposed to any cuts to our paid parental leave system, we can expect the minor parties will end up with the deciding votes on any proposed cuts.

The latest analysis suggests that in Queensland there are four candidates who might end up with one of the critical "crossbench" Senate seats: Suzanne Grant for the Nick Xenophon Team, Andrew Bartlett for The Greens, Glenn Lazarus from the Glenn Lazarus Team and Pauline Hanson from One Nation.[4]

Any of these candidates could end up with a key balance of power role in the next Senate. 

The Greens and Glenn Lazarus are already on the record as being opposed to any cuts to paid parental leave. 

That's why Cassie and Kate met with Ms Grant last week - to present thousands of signatures from Fair Agenda members like you who are opposed to cuts - and to find out whether Ms Grant would stand up for new parents' time at home if elected. 

They're pleased to report back that:

Suzanne Grant has confirmed that if elected she and the Nick Xenophon Team would not support any cuts to the paid parental leave system. 

Ms Grant also affirmed that she believes the current system should be treated as a minimum standard, and recognises that it is by no means close to world leading. She also noted that she and the Nick Xenophon Team would support expansion and flexibility within the current parental leave system, as long as it didn't reduce the amount of leave support available to any parent.

Cassie and Kate attended last week's meeting on behalf of thousands of Fair Agenda members like you. They wanted to report back on the outcome because they know that like us, many Fair Agenda members will be thinking about this issue when they cast their vote on the 2nd of July.

The Fair Agenda team are working to put together a scorecard summarising all of the parties' positions on this important issue. To make sure you receive a copy, sign up to the campaign here: http://www.fairagenda.org/ppl

-References-

1. Turnbull Government shelves changes to Paid Parental Leave, News.com.au, 6 April 2016.
2. Cuts to parental leave shaping up as an election issue, Women's Agenda, 7 April 2016.
3. Federal election 2016: Name recognition a key to Senate race, The Age, 5 June 2016.
4. Federal election 2016: Name recognition a key to Senate race, The Age, 5 June 2016.

Authorised by Renee Carr, Fair Agenda, Suite 103, 55 Holt Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.

This week the Government called a press conference to announce just $30 million of additional funding for legal assistance services to deal with family violence.

The Ministers declared that “adequate investment in frontline services is critical to save lives” – and then proceeded to announce vastly inadequate funding for those same services.

The woefully inadequate resourcing of family violence services is devastating and dangerous.

Attorney-General Brandis and Minister Cash announced the $30 million for legal assistance services ($10 million per year over three years) as part of the three-year $100 million package included in last week’s Federal Budget to implement the Third Action Plan under the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children. 

“It has taken half a billion dollars to address service and system gaps in just one state. We need the federal government to match Victoria’s recent response. We need $4 billion of federal funding for family violence response over the next two years. Instead, the Government have chosen to leave thousands of women without access to the services they need to be safe.” said Moo Baulch, CEO of DV NSW.

“The Government has had a chance to prove it is taking this issue seriously; and it has failed.”

“Specialist services can’t keep up with referrals from police. Refuges can’t shelter all the women seeking their help. Community legal services are being forced to turn away women relying on their help. Specialist services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aren’t even funded to have national reach.” Ms Baulch added.

“This week’s Four Corners episode has shone a light on just how much the system is failing Aboriginal women. Yet our domestic violence services still aren’t funded even to provide national reach.” Says Antoinette Braybrook, Convenor of Family Violence Prevention Legal Service.

“It will take another $28 million per year to address unmet need for our service. Today’s announcement is completely inadequate to prevent Aboriginal women being murdered, and communities destroyed.” She added.

“This funding is manifestly inadequate no matter how it’s split up. How is $10 million extra each year supposed to address the massive unmet need across 189 Community Legal Centres, lack of national reach in FVPLSs, and family violence work in ATSILs and Legal Aid?” Adds Ms Carr, Fair Agenda.

“Women are coming to Community Legal Centres with an urgent need for legal help to keep their children safe; to address financial abuse; to get an appropriate intervention order in place; and for a range of other legal problems – and inadequate funding means we have to turn women away.” says Daniel Stubbs, National Spokesperson for the National Association of Community Legal Centres. 

“Today’s funding increase is good news – but it’s not enough to cover the funding cuts facing Community Legal Centres or meet increasing demand. Instead, Community Legal Centres - which are services that the Ministers have just recognised as being ‘critical to saving lives’ - are facing 30% funding cuts nationally.” He added. 

More than 37,000 community members and 100 organisations have signed onto Fair Agenda’s call for full funding of family violence services.

You can join the campaign for full funding of family violence services here: www.fairagenda.org/family_violence_services

MEDIA CONTACT

Renee Carr, [email protected], 0435 597 976

Information on service funding needed

Domestic Violence NSW supports Domestic Violence Victoria’s call for the Federal Government to match Victoria’s per capita injection into family violence response – that’s an additional $4 billion over two years.

Specific service gaps:

• Family Violence Prevention Legal Services – a vital specialist service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, who face a vastly increased risk of murder and hospitalisation as a result of family violence. Only 14 centres are funded nationally; leaving many women without access. They need an additional $28 million annual funding.
• Community Legal Centres – help over 215,000 people each year and are forced to turn away more than 160,000 people a year, including women affected by family violence. Family violence and family law work are the top two areas of demand for CLCs across Australia. They need an additional $14.4 million funding this year; and a reversal of $34 million of cuts over the forward estimates.
• Specialist domestic and family violence services – aren’t resourced to respond to all police referrals, or to meet demand for crisis or outreach work. The Victorian Government recently announced $103.9 million additional funding over two years to address need for this service area in just that one state.
• Perpetrator programs - need $38 million funding to increase and expand perpetrator interventions.

It was good to see Bill Shorten emphasise the importance of addressing family violence in his budget reply last night -- but unfortunately the Labor Party's commitment to 'ensure women are safe at home and supported in the courts' isn't yet matched by the funding needed to do that.

Right now thousands of women are being left without the support they need to escape their abusers because of inadequate federal funding. Specialist services still aren’t resourced to respond to all police referrals; refuges aren’t resourced to shelter all the women seeking their help; and legal assistance services are being forced to turn away women rely on their assistance.

Both Labor and the Coalition are paying lip service to the importance of treating family violence as a national priority. But so far both their funding commitments are woefully inadequate. 

Last night’s budget included a funding increase of just $33 million next year to address violence against women and children – a woefully inadequate response to the family violence epidemic, and a decision that will have dangerous consequences for those affected by family violence.

The government has essentially decided to leave thousands of women without the service support they need to be safe.

Our Prime Minister has said that family violence is a national priority – but his budget announcements don’t reflect that. His decision to leave thousands of women without access to the services they need to live free from danger is devastating.

It’s good to see new funding committed, but let’s put this in perspective. Just weeks ago the Victorian Government announced $572 million (over two years) in additional funding just to address urgent family violence service and system gaps in that one state. What we needed last night was for the federal government to match that level of funding nation-wide -- that would have been $4 billion over two years.

Instead the federal government will continue to inadequately fund a range of critical services, including:

• Family Violence Prevention Legal Services – a vital specialist service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who face a vastly increased risk of murder and hospitalisation as a result of family violence. Only 14 FVPLS centres are funded nationally; leaving many women without access. They need an additional $28 million to ensure women coverage nationwide.
• Community Legal Centres – these help over 215,000 people each year and are forced to turn away more than 160,000 people a year, including women affected by family violence. Family violence and family law work are the top two areas of demand for CLCs across Australia. They not only didn’t receive the additional $14.4 million funding they need to meet this existing demand; the Turnbull government also maintained $34 million worth of cuts over the forward estimates. That means that from 2017 the capacity of community legal centres will be cut by 30%. That’s a devastating cut for a service that helps women navigate things like AVO processes, family law, child protection, and financial abuse.
• Specialist domestic and family violence services – which aren’t resourced to respond to all police referrals, or to meet demand for crisis or outreach are expected to receive some fraction of the additional $33 million this year. To put that in context Victoria recently committed $103.9 million additional funding (over two years) to address funding deficiencies in this area in just one state.
• Perpetrator programs - which need $38 million funding, also appear not to have additional funding.

The Treasurer has said that this government will ‘afford the things that need to be afforded’. Last night’s budget shows us that apparently keeping women safe doesn’t fall into that category. It’s absolutely critical that we as a community keep coming together to demand action on this issue, until it does.

Join Fair Agenda's campaign and take action here.

With so many things at stake this election, it can be hard to keep track; so we’ve put together a quick budget guide on the top two issues Fair Agenda members said are top priorities, so you know what to keep an eye out for.

Here it is:

1. On addressing gendered violence

Funding for family violence services is the big one to look for here. Prime Minister Turnbull says addressing family violence is a national priority, and tonight’s budget is a test of that commitment.

Domestic Violence Victoria are calling for the federal government to provide an urgent additional $4 billion over two years in this budget, to match the scale of funding committed by the Andrews’ Government in Victoria last month.

Some specific funding needs to listen out for:

• Family Violence Prevention Legal Services: these are a specialist culturally safe service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, which need an additional $28 million to meet national demand. 
• Community Legal Centres – which provide vital legal advice to women trying to escape family violence and who are facing a $34 million funding cut,, but which actually need an additional $14.4 million to even meet existing demand.
• Perpetrator Programs – which require $38 million
• Primary Prevention work – which needs additional funding on top of the $30 million awareness campaign currently being rolled out.

2. On ending women’s economic inequality

Paid Parental Leave

For the past year the Fair Agenda community have successfully campaigned to stop the government’s attempts to cut the amount of time new parents’ can afford to spend at home caring for their newborn. The government recently confirmed that they plan to re-introduce their cuts to parental leave after the election.

Tonight’s budget should give us an idea of whether or not a returned Turnbull government plans to re-introduce them before the end of the 2016/17 financial year, and therefore whether or not parents due in that time frame will be affected.

Superannuation

Last week a Senate committee report found that women’s superannuation balances at retirement are on average half as large as men’s.

One recommendation made by the committee was that the federal government adjust superannuation tax concessions to ensure they are distributed to people with lower super balances.

The Turnbull government have said that it plans to abolish the Low Income Super Contribution, but there’s speculation that they might introduce something else in this area – if so, it will have important implications for women with low-incomes.

Childcare

The government is proposing a new childcare system – but wants to pay for it by tearing funds out of Paid Parental Leave and Family Tax benefits; hardly a good outcome for families. This is another issue to keep an eye out for in coverage of tonight’s budget.