Senator Katy Gallagher Speaks on RN Breakfast Radio

SALLY SARA, HOST: To Canberra now and at least 27 women have been killed this year, allegedly by men personally known to them. That's 11 more deaths than were killed at the same time last year. There's now growing pressure on state and federal governments to do something. The Prime Minister has organised a National Cabinet meeting for Wednesday and as many of you would have seen, there were rallies around the country in the past few days, not only in the capital cities and in Canberra but also in parts of regional Australia, where this issue is hitting very hard. But the government has so far rejected calls for a Royal Commission and ignored calls for a declaration of a national emergency. Katy Gallagher is the Minister for Women and the Finance Minister and she joins me now. Minister, welcome back to RN Breakfast.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Thanks for having me on, Sally.

SARA: Is this an emergency?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think - and I don't want to get hung up on words because you know I think everyone accepts that there is a crisis. We've been saying that for some time, that's why we have a National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. The term emergency is usually used in those instances where you can - you know, something happens and you can deal with it quickly and respond to it quickly and you move on. And I think everybody who's involved in this area of women's policy, women's safety, dealing with prevention of violence in families, knows that as much as we'd like it to be over in a couple of months, it won't be. So, it's certainly a national crisis, the PM made that very clear yesterday in his remarks at the rally. There's no shortage of enthusiasm and will and drive across the government to work with anyone who wants to work with us to make a difference here. I got the sense from attending the rally, and I've been attending these rallies for decades unfortunately, that people want to see change happen faster than it's been happening.

SARA: Your government's been in government for two years, but gender violence is worse this year than it was last year. Why do you think that your plan isn't working?

GALLAGHER: Well, I'm certainly not accepting that. I mean, we're two years in to a ten year plan that had months and months of consultation and involvement from everybody who works in the sector and we've all signed up to it. So that's state and territory governments, all of the women's advocacy - and it predominantly is women's advocacy - and those organisations that specialise in women's safety and the Commonwealth came together and put this plan together and we've resourced it with $2.3 billion to make sure that we are funding the initiatives in the plan. And we need that plan to work. And I think every government is committed to doing that. It didn't get much fanfare when it was launched, and much scrutiny since, but because this issue - and I welcome the fact that we are having lots of conversations about women's safety - we need to look to the plan and if there are areas in the plan we need to shift or areas we need to refine or put more effort in, I think all governments are up for it. And that's why I guess the meeting on Wednesday, the National Cabinet, will be an important one.

SARA: So if you're saying two years is a bit too soon to see a big turnaround, do we need to wait ten years for this issue to turn around?

GALLAGHER: Well, no. The goal in the National Plan is to end violence against women and children in a generation. That is the agreed, final - where we want to get to. Because we acknowledge that whilst we can make a difference in a whole range of areas, shifting community attitudes is a longer piece of work. And that's not something that just governments can do. Everyone in the community has a role to play here. We have action plans that underpin those national plans, and they will be evaluated as we go through. But again, certainly from our government's point of view, we are very open to having discussions with anyone about areas that they think require more focus or better interventions. And I think it's upon us to continually review that. Because violence against women and children is changing all the time. We've seen with the increase in use of technology, of tracking apps, of smart TVs, of smart fridges, of monitoring devices, of cameras on doorsteps, there's a whole range of ways now that women can be controlled and coerced and dominated that don't include physical or sexual violence and we have to make sure that we are continuously looking at how we're responding to all of that.

SARA: Minister, Women's Legal Services Australia say that they estimate that their 13 legal services across the country had to turn away an estimated 52,000 women last year. Is that acceptable and in terms of funding, what are you going to do about that?

GALLAGHER: Yes, so this is an area that the Attorney-General's been leading in. And he's had a review done, if I recall correctly, into the funding of community legal services and the government is considering that. I think there is an acknowledgement that that is an under-resourced area. I think we provide some top-up funding if I recall correctly. But that is - I think there is an acknowledgement that we need to look at the resourcing of those centres because it is often the first place that a woman escaping violence will go to. But there's other measures as well, like the leaving domestic - when you're leaving domestic violence relationships, a payment you can get there. You know, when we look at the structures that we've put in in government, it is really astounding at how much effort and how much resources go into dealing with the results of violence. So, part of the work we have to do is looking at how we can stop that violence from occurring in the first place.

SARA: You're talking about generational issues but in the short term, and obviously there's a great deal of urgency because every single woman that ends up in this situation, that's one woman too many - there have certainly been calls for changes to bail laws. Do you support that?

GALLAGHER: I support anything, any measure that can be sensibly implemented that keeps women and children safe from violence. Those matters around bail and some of the justice responses are responsibilities of the State and Territory governments, which is why National Cabinet will have the opportunity to consider all those matters and I know there's other reviews underway. There's been quite a bit of work done by States and Territories around access to justice and how the justice system deals with victim-survivors of family and domestic violence, but again we have to constantly be looking at what more can be done. I got the sense over the last few months, this is the number one issue that women are talking to me about and it's everywhere. It's our friends, it's our families, I guess people of my age are just you know - and I sensed this at the rally - are just so sick of it. Because we've been campaigning for this for decades. And to see lives continuing to be lost, and it's not just the women who pay that horrific price and their families, it's the thousands that end up in hospital, it's the thousands that are locked in coercive relationships at home, it's the children that suffer. This affects so many families across Australia and we remember everyone who's lost their life to violence today and every day. You know, this is something that never leaves us but we have to keep working and all of us pulling in the same direction and that's a responsibility not just for government, but for every single member of our society.

SARA: Minister, there currently isn't a national system to count the number of women who've died at the hands of a partner. There are groups who've been doing this, but at a government level, is that the case? That there's not a national tally?

GALLAGHER: Well, you're right, there are different ways of collecting the data and some of that is due to legal processes. So, you know, coronials or matters that are before the courts and when those are resolved. But there is a fair bit of work happening certainly in my area on data collection, the better use of data through data and digital ministers and through the Attorney-General and Minister Rishworth's area about seeing what can be done there. There has been some improvements in real time access to data but there are differences in how some of that data is collected.

SARA: Minister, was the Prime Minister invited to speak yesterday at the Canberra rally? There's been some confusion. What happened?

GALLAGHER: Look, firstly, I think the organisers - because they ran the rallies right around the country - did an incredible job and Ms Williams, who I think spoke at the Canberra rally, had shared her very personal story, is an incredibly powerful and brave young person. We'd been working with the organisers about an opportunity to speak, we weren't on the speakers list, and you know we weren't able to land that by the time the rally started. And then when we were at the rally, I think the rally expected to hear from their Prime Minister, so he stood up and spoke. And I would say I can't think of another Prime Minister who spent a couple of hours, one hour walking and the rest of the time listening to speakers. He was there as a sign of solidarity. He wanted to show that he was deeply interested and cared about the matters that were being raised at that rally, and he did -

SARA: But was he invited to speak? Because I guess an issue of respect is quite important in this and there's been some confusion and concern about that. Was he given an invitation to speak?

GALLAGHER: I'm not aware of an invitation for the government to speak. We - I had wanted to speak, it was a rally in my home town, and I thought that was appropriate. But there was some concern about the demands - the five key asks - that were being sought at that rally and a commitment that they were seeking from us and we weren't able to reach agreement on how to proceed, so in the end, we decided to just walk and attend the rally as a sign of respect, and as a sign of solidarity with women around the country.

SARA: Just on a separate issue, time's against us, in November, the end of November last year, you and your fellow minister Ed Husic announced that the National Reconstruction Fund was open for business. How much money has gone out the door so far? Because looking at the website, no investments have been made at all.

GALLAGHER: Yeah, so the NRF is the biggest investment in manufacturing this century and so we are really proud of getting it up and in place. They have been taking proposals, as I understand, but those are currently being considered by the Board. It needs to make the right decisions. This is a really important fund and they need to take time to do the due diligence and assessment as you would expect any independent board to do. You know, we want it to be good decisions, not you know decisions just to meet a timeframe. So we're expecting the board to do that, I have no doubt they'll be making those decisions and doing that due diligence properly you know in respect of taxpayers' money that they are going to make decisions about.

SARA: Minister, thank you.

GALLAGHER: Thanks very much, Sally.