E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
RACHEL MEALEY: I spoke earlier to the Minister for Social Services. Tanya Plibersek, thanks for joining AM.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: It's good to be with you.
MEALEY: Micaela Cronin, Australia's Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, says she'd like to see a national approach to risk assessment so that health workers, teachers, ordinary people, can raise a red flag when they need to. Is a national approach achievable?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yes, it is. And I think it's a really important part of our next steps when it comes to family, domestic and sexual violence. We've had in NSW just the most shocking weekend and devastating loss of life. One of the things that appears notable about this weekend is that these cases weren't previously identified by police as domestic violence cases. And so it does show that we need to use all of our big systems, like health, mental health, our school system, TAFE, university, early childhood settings, all of these big points of contact as potential systems where we can identify that there is a risk that there's family, domestic or sexual violence happening and be able to intervene earlier. And in fact, at the last National Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister proposed this and the Premiers and Chief Ministers agreed that we would take a domestic violence risk assessment framework forward that would make those big systems part of the solution.
MEALEY: Advocates say the system is ready. They know what to do. They just need meaningful funding. Can any money be found right now?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, yes, and in fact, we've increased funding by more than $4.4 billion since coming to government and we know that increased investment is part of the solution. We also know that we need to make bigger changes. It's not just about funding. There's also, I think, a much broader role for our community. In a lot of cases, people don't identify themselves as victims of family violence and they don't even pick up the phone. They're worried about the behaviour of someone in their family, something doesn't feel right. But they don't always seek help because they don't identify with what they think a domestic or family violence scenario should look like. So, there is a role for government. We are absolutely up for that role. We are, for example, investing a billion dollars in making it easier to leave a violent relationship by providing the leaving violence payment. We're investing $1.2 billion right now in more crisis and transitional housing. We're working on our second action plan for family, domestic and sexual violence. And we've identified the areas where we need to increase support, so support for victims and survivors, making sure that we're intervening earlier, enhancing supports for children and young people. Focusing particularly on sexual violence, which is the area where we've seen really extraordinary growth in incidents, focusing on reducing online harms and holding perpetrators to account. All of these things will be part of our second action plan as well.
MEALEY: Minister, while you're talking, my mind goes to Molly Ticehurst, who was murdered in Forbes in 2024. She did all the right things. She went to police, she warned her family. I understand that what you're saying is that the systems are there and that they're ready and that ordinary people need to be involved in this framework. But even when people are doing the right things, it can go bad.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, it can. And some people should just be locked up for the safety of the rest of the community. Some people should just stay in jail.
MEALEY: The NSW Deputy Police Commissioner yesterday said, while this spate of deaths was horrific, he described recent NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data as showing some green shoots. Are you seeing that in the national picture?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Over the long term, we do see some positive trends and I think it's important to acknowledge those positive trends because that helps us decide what to do, more of what's working. What can we double down on. I think it's important not to be diverted by that, though. We still have a real explosion in sexual violence rates, particularly where both the perpetrator and the victim are under the age of 18. So, just as we begin to see positive fruits of the investments that we've previously made and the efforts we've previously made, we need to be ready to act on new and emerging threats.
MEALEY: Tanya Plibersek, thanks for joining AM.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.