Shellharbour MP Anna Watson uses her private member's statement to read into the Hansard a statement by Illawarra writer and domestic violence victim-survivor Helena Fox, commissioned by the Illawarra Women's Health Centre.
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00:00Member for Shell Harbour. Thank you Speaker. Speaker I rise in desperation to once again
00:06raise the issue of the ongoing crisis of domestic and family violence across Shell Harbour,
00:10the Illawarra, regional New South Wales and our entire nation. My fellow members of the
00:17Legislative Assembly, members of the gallery and everyone watching via other channels,
00:21enough is really enough. Domestic and family violence is a stain to our communities and is
00:28up to my government to clean it up and we are absolutely up for the fight.
00:32Whilst you have all heard me bang on about this issue until I'm blue in the face,
00:36today I want to read into the Hansard a statement from Helena Fox commissioned by the Illawarra
00:44Women's Health Centre. Helena is an author from the Illawarra and she's also a courageous victim
00:49survivor of family and domestic violence. The following is Helena's statement and I quote,
00:56in case it wasn't already obvious, recent events made the truth abundantly clear. We are in an
01:02enormous epidemic of gendered violence against women. From the individual stories of women dying
01:12at the hands of men to the overwhelming evidence that women continue to be targets of male violence
01:18and entitlement, the details and the statistics are horrifying. Again, as always, those in power
01:25are saying shocked things. More must be done, say the spokespeople. People are calling for yet
01:32another review but what is going to change? Half of our population is female. When do women get
01:40to have their voices heard? Not placated, not dismissed, not forgotten, but truly listened to
01:47and real action taken in response. Gendered violence against women is seeded into our
01:54society. We are taught that we are vulnerable and need to be vigilant right from childhood.
02:01Women are being killed, assaulted, abused, coerced, threatened, disrespected, gaslit,
02:10belittled, undermined, disbelieved and diminished in every day. Millions and millions of us.
02:19When women talk to each other, there are endless stories of me, my sister, my friend, my mother,
02:25my client, my patient, my daughter too. I too carry a me too story. It is exhausting, traumatising,
02:33terrifying, overwhelming and most importantly, it's enraging. We have the right to feel angry
02:39about this and not have that anger weaponised against us. For years, traumatised women have
02:45been shamed and punished for their rage, labelled as hysterical, crazy, unstable, unreliable and
02:52even abusive when they demand safety and body autonomy and speak about the harm being done to
02:58them. But women shouldn't have to stay quiet and pleasant in order to have our bodies and
03:04boundaries respected. We shouldn't have to monitor our emotions or apologise for being angry
03:10or think to ourselves as helpless or out of control when we feel rage. Our anger isn't
03:15the problem. The violence against us is. Our anger is informed. It comes from a place of
03:22knowing that our rage is a reasonable response to the violence being perpetrated against us.
03:28Women from all communities and backgrounds deserve to express their rage proudly,
03:33quietly, calmly, strongly in every corner of their lives and be safe in doing so. We deserve
03:39to step into our rage, embrace it and hold it up as an empowering light to be seen by.
03:45Our rage is bone and centuries deep. Collectively, let us all use the clean,
03:50clear light of it to demand the safety and freedom we all deserve.
03:54Speaker, amazing words there from Helena Fox and I thank her for her unwavering advocacy.
04:00But before I conclude, I want everyone to think about this for a minute. These men,
04:06apparently not happy with their partners, leaving them for being violent cowards,
04:14prove their ex-partners right by going out and showing everyone just how violent and cowardly
04:20they are. They deserve to be treated with disdain. They deserve jail time, as outlined
04:26in my Private Members' Bill of 2021. Speaker, we all know that there is more work to be done
04:31to stop men from murdering women, and I will continue to fight for all survivors
04:35of family and domestic violence as long as I am in this place.