In a Member’s Statement to Parliament, Rachel Payne MP used her time in the chamber to cut through the election-year noise around potholes and corruption. She spoke on an issue she says isn’t getting the attention it deserves — the family violence epidemic. She referenced the recent murder of Brooke Timmins, a mother of two in her own South-Eastern Metropolitan electorate. Rachel called on Parliament to recognise Dandenong and Casey as a family violence saturation point. She also pointed to the Alexis model as a response that is proven to work.
The full transcript of her statement is below.
MEMBER’S STATEMENT – FAMILY VIOLENCE
Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51):
As it is election year this year, I want to talk about the fact that every major party seems to be talking about potholes and about corruption. However, no-one seems to be talking about the family violence epidemic that is happening across our country. Forty-two women this year have lost their lives at the hands of men known to them. Sherele Moody from Australian Femicide Watch is the only person that seems to be keeping across these numbers and reporting them regularly. Just this week we heard of a 29-year-old woman who was murdered by her partner in Clyde North, in my electorate in the south-east. Brooke Timmins was a mum of two young boys. This is an absolute tragedy.
Last week I met with Dr Dalal Smiley and the team at Wellsprings for Women. They have been calling for the Dandenong and Casey area to be considered a family violence saturation point for a long, long time now. I have raised these issues in Parliament. Dandenong and Casey have some of the most horrific cases we have seen of family violence reported recently. They are complex. These are repeat offences, and we need major support in that area. This is why I have stepped up. I have said we have a family violence response model that works – the Alexis model, where a specialised family violence worker is embedded in police, is responding well. We are seeing an 85 per cent reduction in recidivism. This is why we need to pursue this model.