This number is hard to get your head around. Every day there is an average of 184 incidents of domestic violence reported in NSW alone. That’s a lot of families being affected by this insidious abuse.
Today community workers and union activists are rallying outside NSW parliament in Sydney calling for NSW Premier Mike Baird to put domestic violence leave on the national agenda at the Council of Australian Governments meeting late this month.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said in the Sydney Morning Herald that there was no entitlement for workers to access additional leave if they were experiencing domestic violence.
“Maintaining your financial independence by being able to keep your job means women have more choices and options when leaving domestic violence situations. To do this we need to ensure their job is secure,” Mr Morey said.
“Our ask of the Premier is modest. We want him to champion the inclusion of domestic violence leave in the National Employment Standards and State Awards.
“This will both improve the workplace options for people leaving domestic violence situations while sending a strong message to Australian workplaces and workers.”
The call is for 10 days of paid domestic violence leave.
Australia’s alarming domestic violence statistics
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) is the independent organisation jointly funded by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to research evidence to reduce domestic violence against women and children.
Their Violence Against Women in Australia report notes that one in four women have experienced at least one incident of violence by an intimate partner they may or may not have been living with.
Other statistics add that one in three of all domestic violence victims are male.
Whatever the numbers, the 2016 Australian of the Year David Morrison, the former Chief of Army, summed up the issue best when he spoke on ABC’s Q&A show.
“We run the risk, at times, of being a nation of bystanders comforted by a few statistics,” he said.
“Let me tell you, there are people dying and people whose lives are absolutely ruined as a result of domestic violence and, what’s more, we are all, as a society, the victim.”
