Assistant Minister Kearney interview on Drive with Prue Bentley

Topics: Family Violence in Victoria; National Anti-Corruption Commission
 
PRUE BENTLEY: So, there's a major funding boost to support children and young people fleeing family violence here in Victoria. And at the announcement about that funding today, 22-year-old Connor spoke about growing up in Mildura without access to dedicated youth support services while he was facing a tough time at home, and says no child should feel unsafe.
 
[Excerpt]
 
CONNOR: I thought it was normal to go to the perpetrator's house and walk on eggshells, I thought it was normal to be yelled at and to be abused until the violence escalated, and I realised that the things that I was experiencing wasn't normal.
 
[End Excerpt]
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Ged Kearney is Assistant Minister for Prevention of Family Violence and MP for the seat of Cooper in Melbourne. Ged Kearney, good afternoon.
 
GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER: Yeah, this is a great announcement. It's a joint funding between the Federal Government and the Allan Victorian Government, and it is really going towards, to fill a gap, I think, that young people experience when they are living or escaping family and domestic violence. We really need to think of children as victims in their own right when it comes to family and domestic violence, and sometimes, you know, we think, "Oh, we just tack it on to mum." But if those children in particular are sort of 15, 16, 17, 18, they might be fleeing a situation from home without a supportive parent, and they don't qualify for, you know, the child support system, and they're too young to be treated as adults. So, there's a real gap there.
 
So, this funding is specifically going towards specialist youth programs to help people like Connor, who you had on your program just a minute ago, who, you know, he has a really sad story, and he could not find any help. And as you mentioned, he's from regional Victoria. So, some of this funding will be dedicated to regional organisations to make sure the kids who need help - with housing, with finance, with counselling, all of those sorts of things - this money will go towards organisations that support them. So, it's really great.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: We know a lot of people often are resorting to living in motels when they have to flee family violence.
 
GED KEARNEY: Yes.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Will this help there?
 
GED KEARNEY: Hopefully. So, this is going to an organisation called Amplify, another organisation called Aspire, and a First Nations-led organisation around the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum. So, these organisations certainly try to help with housing, you know, help keep kids safe and provide all sorts of legal assistance, including housing. So, yes, we understand that motels are a difficult option, sometimes, sadly, they're the only option. But it's funding like this that will make people safer.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: And so, this is joint funding between federal and state governments. 180 million --
 
GED KEARNEY: It is.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: That's actually quite a sizeable amount. Will it go to local organisations? How will it be delivered?
 
GED KEARNEY: Yes, it will. It will go, and it was really great to stand up today with the organisation Amplify. This is Australia's first dedicated family violence case management program for unaccompanied young people. So, these are really groundbreaking. This is a groundbreaking organisation. It's delivered by Melbourne City Mission, which I'm sure many of your members will know and love. It's a great organisation. And this particular Amplify program is actually embedded in their homelessness services. So, they're specialised in, as you said, you know, housing and having somewhere to sleep is really important. So, Amplify is one of the programs that will get this. Another is Aspire, which is a very similar program, but that runs in regional Victoria. And another part of the funding, as I said, will go to an Aboriginal community-led group. So, it's really fantastic. These are very targeted, well-run organisations, and I think the funding will go a long way to helping young people who've fallen through the cracks. So, it's really important funding.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Ged Kearney is with us, Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and also the member for Cooper in Melbourne. Can I ask about some state matters? Obviously, as a member for Melbourne, you will have been keeping an eye on things. There have been a lot of pushes for IBAC in Victoria to get stronger powers to investigate supposed corruption. Last night, you will have heard that the Victorian Government pulled an omnibus justice bill from Parliament to avoid amendments that would give the state's anti-corruption watchdog more powers. What message do you think that sends to the people of Victoria? Do you think the Premier is serious about stamping out corruption?
 
GED KEARNEY: Look, to be perfectly honest, Prue, I'm not 100 per cent over what was in that bill or what the amendments were or, you know, what drew State Government to that conclusion. I think you probably need to ask members of the state government about that. But I do know that federally, we have established the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the NACC, commonly known as the NACC, which is a strong, independent anti-corruption commission. There were very strong calls for that from the electorate, from the community. And it was an Albanese Labor Government that established that. It's independent, it can look at anything that likes. It's out of the government's hands, really, what that body does. And so we certainly support a very robust Anti-Corruption Commission regime.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Would you support strengthening of that here in Victoria as well? I mean, there have been calls for a Royal Commission, but the Premier has said categorically that's not going to happen.
 
GED KEARNEY: A Royal Commission into --
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Into the alleged corruption on the Big Build and in construction sites here in Victoria.
 
GED KEARNEY: Oh, okay. In the construction. Look, again, that is a question for the State Government. But with respect to the construction industry, the Federal Government has taken really strong steps, and you wonder, what would a Royal Commission ask us to do? They would probably ask us to put in an administrator, which we have done. They would want anyone associated with any wrongdoings to be removed from the union, which has happened thanks to us putting in an administrator. And we would want to know that the workers who rely on that union - and let's face it, that's really what we're here about, to make sure the workers in that industry are protected by a good, strong, robust union - actually do have that. And all the signs, even in that, the report, I think, from Geoffrey Watson, say that that is happening, the union is starting, you know, is coming around, and they're getting good outcomes now.
 
So, that's what we're focused on, making sure that the construction industry is safe for those workers, they get paid appropriately, they have a good, strong union that looks out for their interests.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Ged Kearney, thank you for your time this afternoon.
 
GED KEARNEY: My pleasure, Prue. Thank you.
 
PRUE BENTLEY: Ged Kearney is the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, just on that announcement today: $180 million from Federal and State Governments that will go to Victoria, both Melbourne and the regions, to help young people fleeing family and domestic violence.