Fair Agenda Blog
Today outgoing Prime Minister Tony Abbott himself admitted: the challenge of domestic violence is still yet to be addressed by his government.
"The Abbott-led government left women in danger -- deciding not to provide the additional funding needed to ensure all women in need can access family violence services." says Renee Carr, Executive Director of Fair Agenda.
"Those decisions mean that thousands of women taking the brave step of trying to escape an abuser are being left with nowhere to turn, in a time they're at great risk."
"Prime Minister Turnbull now has an opportunity to change that - by providing the resources needed to help women escape abuse, and to stop further violence."
"This year more than 2,800 women are expected to be turned away from emergency accommodation services like women's refuges - services that need an additional $34 million a year in federal funding." says Ms Carr.
"At the same time, Community Legal Centres, where a third of the work is family violence related, are being forced to turn away more than 150,000 people a year due to lack of funding."
"Family Violence Prevention Legal Services need an additional $28 million to ensure they can assist people who need their services.
"More than 36,000 voters have joined the campaign calling for action on this issue, and polling has shown that most Australians consider family violence to be as much or more of a threat than terrorism. It's clear that the new Prime Minister has a public mandate for strong action. The question is - will he too decide to leave women in harm's way?" says Ms Carr.
For further comment or information on the family violence funding gap
Contact: Renee Carr, Fair Agenda
M: 0435 597 976
The PM's support for a target to make the party less 'blokey' is important progress, and it could open the door to meaningful change. Or it could end in more business as usual - with talented women left “knocking on the door of the cabinet”.
The Prime Minister has indicated he’ll be looking to an internal Party report for guidance on the specific targets and measures the Party should adopt to become less 'blokey'.[2] It’s critical that the Party commits to strong targets. And there’s an opportunity for us to influence that.
The report on this topic is being prepared by a team that includes members of parliament Minister Michaelia Cash and Senator Linda Reynolds. Can you help show them that voters want to see women equally represented in the Liberal ranks, and support strong measures to ensure that happens sooner rather than later? Click here to send them a quick personal email.
Several senior Liberal women have already spoken about the importance of targeting equality, including the NSW Liberals Deputy Leader Gladys Berejiklian,[3] It’s critical we show they have community support on this.
Other Liberal women have shared specific measures they believe could address barriers to women’s representation. Dr Sharman Stone MP has suggested the Party require equal number of female and male candidates at every pre-selection contest,[4] and Gladys Berejiklian has suggested that all parties set targets for the number of women pre-selected in winnable upper and lower house seats at every election until they achieve equal representation.[5] They’re both good suggestions, and ones we should throw our support behind.
There’s no doubt that the discussion about exact targets will be hotly contested within the Party. That's why it's critical those advocating for strong measures and targets can show they have public support.
-References-
1.&2. Tony Abbott supports targets for female representation in Liberal Party as report highlights lack of women, ABC News, 15 August 2015.
3&5. NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian calls for target of 50% women MPs, SMH, 18 August 2015.
4. Sharman Stone says quotas for women are needed, AFR, 28 July 2015.
The birth of a new baby should be a time of joy, celebration and of looking forward. Not of anxiety about making ends meet or being pushed back to work before mum or baby are ready. That’s exactly why good paid parental leave is so important.
This new report shows that the government are asking the Senate to approve cuts that would tear away the equivalent of 4 weeks of average living expenses for the everyday families modelled in the report – like a part-time teacher living with her partner and newborn in Adelaide who stands to lose $11,520 if the Senate approves the proposed cuts.
This same family would be left with only enough leave to cover 7 weeks of average living expenses for families like hers. That’s 19 weeks less than the 26 weeks experts recommend as the minimum leave time for a new mother.
Read the full report here: www.fairagenda.org/ppl_report
It won’t come as a surprise to you that with a national epidemic of domestic violence and a record high gender pay gap there's no end to the work we could be doing. The bad news is, right now our movement doesn’t have the resources it needs to even defend against all the attacks on our existing rights, far less to secure the changes we need to advance toward equality.
But here's the good news. We know that together our community can achieve remarkable things. Less than two years ago, Fair Agenda was just a dream -- then 240 people chipped in help make it a reality. Since then, our growing movement has stepped up to influence political, business and media leaders – all with just the support of one team member and a handful of dedicated volunteers.
But there’s still much, much more to be done. To win the change we need, we'll need to keep growing our size and strength, and building on the momentum we've created so far. Right now our ability to do that is limited -- we're still $4,000 short of the funding we need to amp up campaigns that will be make-or-break in the next two months.
Can you chip in to make these immediate next steps possible?
Your donation will allow Fair Agenda to step up the fight for funding of domestic violence services, to build more pressure on key Senate cross benchers to block the attack on paid parental leave, and to keep building on the momentum we've created together in the past year...
Since we ran our first campaign, our community has grown to more than 32,000; we've taken action together in 32 campaigns; and we've taken our message to key decision-makers across politics, business and the media. 
On federal budget night, we helped put the federal government’s under-funding of family violence services front and centre in the budget coverage. The release of our ‘What it will take’ report on The Project helped prompt four days of national news coverage, and helped win an additional $4 million of funding for the national hotline 1800RESPECT.
But we didn't stop there – securing coverage on Sky News, ABC Radio, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Women’s Agenda; funding adverts to get our powerful video about the importance of family violence services in front of thousands of voters in key electorates; and working with Homelessness Australia to reveal the $68 million funding shortfall that is leaving thousands of women fleeing domestic violence without access to refuge.
If the past six months have made anything clear, it’s that to defend our rights and secure advances for women in this country we’re going to have to keep growing our movement, speaking up and holding decision makers accountable.
But we'll need your support to make that possible. So if you can, please consider chipping in to fund our next steps.
During the weeks that followed, thousands of Fair Agenda members echoed her call; and Fair Agenda sent this letter to Australia's major news outlets, asking them if they would commit to do just that.
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To The Editor in Chief,
I write on behalf of Fair Agenda – a community of Australians working to drive change that promotes fairness and equality for women.
As you may be aware, during her National Press Club speech earlier this month Rosie Batty urged every Australian media outlet reporting on family violence to include links to family violence support services such as 1800 RESPECT in all stories.
I am writing on behalf of Fair Agenda members to ask whether your outlet is committed to including details for 1800 RESPECT or other family violence services in all stories you run about domestic violence?
1800 RESPECT provides a critical support service – in crisis situations it can be life saving. Yet just 8% of articles published about domestic violence so far this year have included it.
Including 1800 RESPECT in media coverage about family violence is critical because many victims still don’t know where they can turn for support.
Fair Agenda members are running a public campaign around this matter, and will be maintaining a public list of which media outlets have and have not committed to include 1800 RESPECT in their articles.
Fair Agenda will make this list public on the 30th June. I am writing to enquire as to your outlet’s position, to make sure it is accurately reflected in our list.
We note that we our deadline for including responses is midday on Monday the 29th June. Can you please advise us if your outlet is committed to including 1800 RESPECT in all stories published about domestic violence, by then? You can get in touch with us via [email protected].
Kind regards,
Renee Carr
on behalf of Fair Agenda