MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: The death of Molly Ticehurst has sparked renewed concern, white-hot anger as well, regarding violence against women. For more on this, let’s bring in the federal Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, in Canberra. Minister, very good morning to you.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Morning Michael, thanks for having me on.
ROWLAND: Now, it’s very important we speak to you in that capacity this morning. We have the revelations the man accused of Molly Ticehurst was just 15 days previously released on bail. He was accused of raping Molly Ticehurst not once, not twice, but on three occasions. He was also accused of a range of other serious offences. I mean, everybody’s concerned about this. What do you think when you hear those facts?
GALLAGHER: I think, like everybody, just devastated. You know, and not wanting to comment I think on an individual case that’s before the courts, but what’s happening in this country – and you and I have spoken about this a number of times before, Michael, about the prevalence and extent of violence against women in this country. And you know, it’s been a really tough year. And this year’s a tough year, but so was last year and the year before that. I mean, this is a crisis in this country and women don’t feel safe. And I think anybody who has women in their lives acknowledges the – I think, how women feel about this in particular. And when we see – you know, it’s not safe to go out for a run, to go shopping, you take action against violent perpetrators, you do all the right things and we still have these cases. And I don’t think there’s one easy answer. There’s not. And there’s not one government that can solve it because the problem is deeper than that and it requires all of us and it requires, I think, a conversation with men about what’s happening and relationships with women and, you know, supporting women in this country.
ROWLAND: I want to talk more about that because it is a men’s issue front and centre, but without commenting, again, on this individual case, the NSW Premier Chris Minns says in his view there are genuine questions to be asked about what’s working and what’s not regarding bail laws when it comes to alleged offenders like this man. Do you agree?
GALLAGHER: Well, I certainly agree that governments need to respond when issues are identified and perhaps there are further steps that can be taken to strengthen and protect women. And I haven’t heard exactly what the Premier is proposing, but I certainly support governments doing everything they can to keep women safe. We know that when women do take – there are still women who either lose their lives or are violently assaulted or stalked or harassed or have coercive control placed on them even when they have left relationships and done everything they can to keep themselves, and often their children, safe. And so we must look at all ways that we support and keep women safe in this country. Laws are part of it. But as I said before, it goes much deeper than that and we have a lot of work to do, particularly with young people, to make sure that we are dealing with some of the issues that lead to this violence in the end.
ROWLAND: The Prime Minister was on the show this time yesterday, understandably concerned as well. He pointed, quite rightly, to the work the federal government’s doing on providing money for shelters, domestic violence counselling service, paid parental leave changes so women do not feel trapped in abusive relationships. All that is very well and good, but going back to the key point, this is a men’s issue, this is a men’s problem. Should much more money be funnelled into men’s behavioural programs and things like that?
GALLAGHER: Well there’s a lot of work – I mean, I think it’s an all of us issue. Historically, it has been women and women’s advocacy and women’s organisations that have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this area. And so I would certainly welcome a much bigger conversation with men about – and you know, having the PM stand up and make strong comments, the Attorney-General gave an important speech last week on women’s safety. I think it really helps when men speak up and talk to each other about all of the issues that lead to violence. And it’s not even violence, it’s some of the issues that lead to how women are more broadly treated in the community that lead to some of these bigger issues. So I would really welcome that. But you know, I think you’ll see in the service system that responds to women and women experiencing violence, you will see a lot more emphasis on support for young men, education for young men, and also perpetrator support. You know, there are a lot of men who want help and who need support to change the way they behave. And we need to be supporting that and not, you know, and not making them feel bad about that. We need to really intervene and to support those who are seeking help. So, I think you’ll see the service system evolve into a much more focused perspective on those issues.
ROWLAND: It needs to do that and do that more quickly, more money – I mean you speak to any advocate in the domestic violence space and they say more money needs to be channelled into these programs. We had your colleague, the Defence Minister Richard Marles, just last week announcing this $50 billion program in budgets for as far as the eye can see for defence, but shouldn’t money on that front go to defence for Australian women?
GALLAGHER: Well, there’s always more we can do and certainly we’ve invested heavily in this space. I think when you look at what the Commonwealth and what the states and territories are doing, Michael – and this is part of what frustrates all of us, is the amount of money that’s going in. A lot of that goes into dealing with the violence. You know, the support systems, the shelters, the Escaping Domestic Violence Payments, the hospitals, the courts, all of those areas. There are billions and billions of dollars going into this space. We are always looking at what we can do, more to support both the service system and women more generally. And we’ve made – the fact we’ve got paid domestic violence leave in this country says something on its own, doesn’t it? That we’ve had to actually legislate that as an employment condition. And we look at all of these matters in the Budget, Michael, but it’s not just a question of money. The problem is much deeper than that. And that’s why I think we need to think about the role that we ask men to play in this debate and how we make sure that we’re all working together to keep women safe, because your kids, my kids, I look at them – my daughters facing the same issues I faced when I was a young woman. And that’s really depressing for me. Young women don’t feel safe. Older women don’t feel safe. And that’s 50 per cent of the population in this country who think about what it means to park your car in a dark space, what it means to walk by yourself, what it means to do anything by yourself these days, and that’s just not acceptable.
ROWLAND: Yep, so wrong on so many fronts. Katy Gallagher, I know it’s an issue that concerns and affects you deeply, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
GALLAGHER: Thank you, Michael.