Yes, Mr Rudd, it is 'time for action'
21-April-2009
The Rudd Government has now spent a month hiding Time For Action, the Report of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children to avoid public debate, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“This is a disgrace. The Government received the Report on 19 March but continues to stall on publicly releasing details. At the same time as they splash around tens of billions of dollars, all we get is a constant chorus of Rudd Government Ministers mumbling about ‘budget constraints’. They are cowards, making panicked policy on the hop, and they ought to be honest and up front with Australian women.”
“This is a highly-anticipated Report which the Government promised Australian women before the 2007 election. The Minister for the Status of Women announced the membership of the Council back in May last year. There was great fanfare when the Prime Minister addressed the inaugural Council meeting in June and the Minister has told us that there must be ‘strong, focussed leadership to ensure the Commonwealth, States and Territories work together to try to prevent women and children from being subjected to violence and abuse’.
“I could not agree more. There does need to be strong leadership on this issue but it needs to be NOW not at sometime in the future when the Government can be bothered to get its act together,” Mrs Mirabella said.
With 1 in 3 women experiencing domestic or family violence in their lifetime and 1 in 5 experiencing sexual assault, this is not an issue that we can allow the Government to sit and twiddle its thumbs on.
“Whether the Government is going to respond in the May Budget or not, they should at least put the Report on the table and encourage community debate and discussion on the National Council’s findings.”
“I met with the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children several times during the drafting of the National Plan to discuss the progress being made on it. The Coalition strongly supports the idea of a practical national plan that includes a long-term approach to address the underlying causes of violence against women.
“We were promised a copy of the Report before it was released publicly but this has not occurred. Obviously the Government has decided to play games with what is a serious national issue.”
“In Government the Coalition made the largest ever financial commitment to tackling domestic violence with the Women’s Safety Agenda which included the “Violence Against Women: Australia Says No” public education campaign. Unfortunately this campaign was scrapped by the Rudd Government and has not been replaced.”
“Kevin Rudd has not made a tough decision since coming to office and is quick to blame others when he fails to meet his election promises. Will someone – anyone in the Government- please just make a decision and release the report as a matter of urgency?” Mrs Mirabella concluded.