Keynote Address at the Building Respectful Communities Strategy Launch

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you Helen for your warm welcome.

It is a pleasure to be joining you again and an honour to be representing the Victorian Government on issues that are a deep part of what motivated me to get involved in politics.

That is, making our state safer and fairer for women.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, as the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today and I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.

I also take the opportunity to acknowledge our local Aboriginal communities in the northern region, and their strong leadership as well as their critical advocacy over many years to embed first nations principles and interests into our state.

Much of this work has been driven by First Nations women, who whether through leadership roles or grassroots advocacy have been instrumental in the charge towards equality and against gendered violence.

And I want to say from the outset, because I think that we cannot have an honest conversation about gendered violence without saying it – that I don’t believe we can address gender equality and gendered violence without addressing the compounding and disproportionate impact of discrimination that people experience on the basis of other attributes such as Aboriginality, ethnicity, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

And it is only be acknowledging our collective history, past harms and listening deeply to the voices, stories and wisdom of our First Nations women that we can move forward and achieve real change.

The good news is real change is happening – we can see it right here in this room.

Today we’re celebrating the launch of the third Building Respectful Communities Strategy. A remarkable partnership which has been made possible by all of you.

Our community leaders, health partners, advocacy groups, frontline workers and local governments who day in and day out are pushing for a better future for women and girls across the north.

In particular I want to thank and acknowledge Helen Riseborough and her team at WHIN.

I’ve known Helen a long time and I am eternally grateful for the insight, skills and expertise she has so generously shared with me over the years.

But I am even more grateful for the leadership and long term dedication of Women’s Health in the North, who have been absolute trailblazers in the prevention of violence against women, sexual and reproductive health and have made an immense contribution to improving outcomes for women and girls in our region.

A Safe and Strong North

Today I want to talk to you about the North – and in particular, what it means to strive for a safe and strong future for the northern region.

Because there is no mistaking that the north is growing rapidly.

From the densification of our suburbs, to urban sprawl, rapid population growth, shifts in industries and new job markets, the north is changing and transforming.

How we live, what we study, the work that we do, how we move around, where we spend our time, how we communicate, how we access services, our physical and social environment – all around us I see shifts and competing pressures.

With those changes come challenges and opportunities.

Yes - We need to balance growth with investments in services like accessible healthcare and mental health services. We need to build new infrastructure like modern schools and transport. We need to support our local businesses and create secure jobs. And we need to invest in community amenities like sports facilities and maintain open space.

But even more than that – even more than that – we need to embed equity and equality into the foundations of our growth and our investments.

Because the north may grow – and grow it certainly will – but it will not prosper if we are leaving people behind.

It will not reach its potential if we are leaving women behind.

And it will not thrive if we are not embedding social, economic (and indeed – although it’s not the topic of today I think it still bears mentioning – environmental) equality into the foundations of this growth.

The future of the northern region is inextricably linked to our work to achieve gender equality and end violence against women.

It was linked well before a pandemic came along and laid bare so many of the vulnerabilities and fractures in our society – and brought them into stark relief.

Decades of entrenched disadvantage and discrimination meant this pandemic was never going to be felt equally.

We know that prior to the COVID, women held just 37% of all full-time employee positions and 57% of women workers were in insecure work, largely in retail, hospitality, education and health.

As a result, women were among the first and largest group to lose hours, jobs and opportunity when the pandemic hit.

We were less likely to have paid leave entitlements or be able to access JobKeeper.

We picked up more of the unpaid caring responsibilities at home.

And we were put at increased the risk of family and domestic violence.

In the Northcote Electorate, some of the key sectors feeling the brunt of the pandemic in terms of job losses were hospitality, retail, education and the creative industries – all dominated by women.

The compounding impact of this, when coupled with all the awful stats we already know, is immense.

For instance, we know that half of all mothers report experiencing workplace discrimination as a result of their pregnancy or parental leave or on return to work, and three in 10 employers still don’t have a flexible working policy.

We know that women are more likely to be unemployed and twice as likely to be underemployed.

We know we do twice the unpaid care but retire with half the superannuation.

That women continue to miss out on the highest levels of leadership and decision-making in business, government and community.

That older women are the fastest growing cohort of homeless Australians.

That gendered violence is remains pervasive.

And while our economy here in Victoria is bouncing back, and the latest figures released last week show Victoria continues to lead the nation in job creation, we also know that structural inequality, pay disparities, job segregation and discrimination mean that the recovery from this pandemic is not going to be equal.

The economic disparity exacerbated during the pandemic will have long term consequences for women’s lifetime earnings, economic independence and wellbeing.

For the future of the north, it means that the most important thing at this moment in time is what we do next to support, encourage, elevate and generate opportunity for women and girls – and to dismantle inequalities.

Andrews Government’s Record

Thankfully, we are starting from a strong base.

When Labor came to government in 2014, we committed to a whole of government gender equality agenda – to improve outcomes for women in every setting, at every stage of life.

It’s been six years since the Victorian Government tabled the final report of the Royal Commission into Family Violence in the Victorian Parliament.

And six years since we launched Victoria’s first ever Gender Equality Strategy – a day I’ll never forget, as our fearless Minister, the former Member for Northcote, my boss and friend Fiona Richardson, in that one act, elevated the voices of every Victorian woman and girl and embedded them in every aspect of our government’s work.

In the years that have followed, we enacted the nation-leading Gender Equality Act, enshrining Gender Equality into law.

And I want to acknowledge Dr Niki Vincent, Commissioner for Gender Equality in the Public Service, who as been a driving force behind its implementation.

We’ve established a Gender Responsive Budgeting Unit to consider and address the gendered impact of Government budget decisions – and launched an Inquiry into Economic Equity for Victorian Women, to find solutions for problems like unequal pay and barriers to women’s economic security.

We set up Respect Victoria, delivered foundational programs like funded three-year-old kinder which we know helps women to get back into the workforce, and we’re working to embed cultural change through respectful relationships and consent education in schools.

We have acquitted 204 of the Royal Commission’s 227 recommendations, with the rest well underway - investing over $3.5 billion in funding to continue the work of keeping women, children and families safe – and rebuilding the family violence system from the ground up.

I’m proud to be part of a government that is not just working to deliver the generational change we need, but is putting it front and centre of our work.

And on that note, I cannot emphasise enough the tangible difference it makes to have women in government, in the caucus room, in the cabinet, in our departments, in councils, on our committees.

I have seen this impact first hand – particularly through the pandemic.

There is just no denying it - the policy that comes out of governments when there are women in the room is starkly different to the policy that comes out when there isn’t.

I have no doubt that we would not be where we are in terms of moving to adopt an affirmative consent model, criminalising stealthing, decriminalising sex work and so many other “risky” policies were it not for the strength of our women’s caucus.

That is why we will continue to push for women’s equal representation in leadership positions. And we’re having success.

Women taking positions on government boards has increased from 38% in 2015 to 55% in 2021.

We have our state’s first majority-women cabinet, backed up by government benches of 48% women.

In local government at the last elections Victoria reached the highest number of female councillors in Australian history – 42.8 per cent.

And I’m honoured to Co-Chair the Gender Equality Advisory Committee for local government, advising the Minister for Local Government and Minister for Women on strategies to increase women’s participation in local government.

We have more to do in this space, to not just elect women but to keep them there. Sadly disincentives like poor workplace cultures, harassment and bullying and inflexible work environments are still putting up barriers.

With many local government representatives here today, and each of you with a personal passion and commitment to ending gendered violence and promoting equality, I encourage you to think deeply about what actions your organisation can take because I know that we can turn the dial here too.

In the time that I have left I want to return to the North and some of the opportunities we have here.

There is much I could speak about, from initiatives to get more female students studying STEM and into the pipeline of our future industries, to supporting our unions to raise wages in female dominated industries, to improving embedding gender equitable design into our infrastructure.

But I’m going to narrow it down and speak about two things that I think are absolutely critical.

The first is access to tailored mental health services for women and children.

The north needs to harness the power of the Royal commission into Victoria’s mental health system to leverage a substantial uplift in mental health services for our region.

In Darebin, the data tells us that one in five residents experience anxiety or depression, over one in 10 suffer high levels of psychological distress and 18 per cent say they feel deep social isolation.

For women, the figures are higher - one in four are estimated to have a lifetime prevalence of anxiety and depression. And the numbers go up when you factor in other determinants like income, education and level of English.

The mental load that women carry is not easily quantified.

Intuitively, we all understand the unique mental and emotional weight that bears down on women as we juggle and persevere in a society not built to treat us as equal.

We throw around terms like “juggle struggle” and “burnt out” perhaps too flippantly, given the entrenched disadvantage from which it emanates.

But this invisible labour permeates and has very real consequences for our wellbeing, both psychological and economic. Addressing it is part of the key to a safe and strong north.

The 65 recommendations in the commission’s report set out a vision and a blueprint for a mental health system that is responsive and compassionate.

We have committed to implementing every single one of them - investing over $4.6 billion in the last two state budgets to deliver the lasting and comprehensive reform we need to get the system right.

Among the many critical issues explored by the Royal commission, one that bares particular mention is the heightened risk for women around the time of pregnancy, child birth and early parenting.

The birth of a child can be exciting and life changing, but it is also challenging and tumultuous. And as we well know, it is a time of high risk for intimate partner violence.

The RC found that women are at greater risk of developing mental illness during the perinatal period than at any other time. One in five mums experience perinatal anxiety and depression each year.

There are many intertwined risk factors that can occur. Family violence, reproductive issues, birth trauma, complex or difficult pregnancies, premature or sick babies, feeding and settling issues.

The impact for families can be long lasting and costly for our community, but we know that early intervention and access to quality specialised services can make a real difference.

Sadly, many families right across the north continue to face barriers to accessing support. And many women still lack that safe space to come with their babies to access care.

Long waitlists and geographic service gaps for both Early Parenting Centres and mother-baby units demonstrate that the demand for these services is high, and that demand is only set to increase as our population grows.

As we get on with the work of reforming Victoria’s mental health system and rebuilding it from the ground up, we need to work together to make sure the north gets its fair share of this historic investment - and that tailored services for women and children are at the core of that work.

The second opportunity I want to speak about it safe and secure housing.

In my electorate alone, 331 people are listed as experiencing homelessness on any given night. In the federal seat of Cooper that figure is over 1,000.

They will be sleeping rough or in crowded boarding houses, couch surfing or perhaps, if they are lucky, they have managed to find themselves in short-term crisis accommodation.

Thousands more are suffering under housing stress, as rising rental costs and insecure work leave many without a safety net.

We know that one in ten priority applications to the Victorian Housing Register are victim-survivors of family violence.

We know older women face huge vulnerabilities when it comes to housing security.

Increasing the availability and accessibility of safe and secure housing for women in the north is not just something we can do – it’s something we must do.

It is that most basic of foundations from which to build opportunity, aspiration and prosperity.

In Victoria we are transforming our social housing system by delivering the largest single increase and largest-ever investment in social and affordable housing in Victoria’s history through our Big Housing Build.

This $5.3 billion investment will deliver 12,000 new homes over the next four years, with dedicated housing for vulnerable women, victim-survivors and Aboriginal Victorians.

In Fairfield, we are already seeing the benefits of this type of investment, with an old rooming housing now transformed into 38 modern self-contained apartments for women.

There is more to come – much more – but we cannot do it alone. We need local government, our leaders and our communities working with us.

Our latest announcements this week will mean developers contribute to a Social Housing Growth Fund and the rates exemption will mean there is funding there to maintain and grow social housing in the long term.

These changes should not be feared but embraced.

Because as every person who has ever worked in the women’s movement knows, when you invest in women it is not an economic burden but a stimulus.

When we lift women up, when we give them security and opportunity, the whole community benefits.

No doubt that we will face criticism for some of our reforms.

But be in no doubt about this – reaching gender equality and ending gendered violence is not a photo opp for this Government.

Like every one of you in this room, we refuse to let the bandwagon roll on to the next issue of the day.

We are not going away. We will not sit down. We will not be polite.

Most likely, we will ruffle some feathers.

But it wouldn’t be a movement if we didn’t.

In closing, I’ll just say this.

Women experience disadvantage in almost every aspect of our lives, and it all comes back to one thing—gender inequality.

But every time I find myself angry, frustrated, furious at the injustice and the obstacles in our way – I am heartened by the new wave of brave young women joining our work, standing on the shoulders of the strong women who have come before them.

Whether it’s Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins, Chanel Contos or the local high school students I speak to across the inner north – there is a new urgency to our movement.

And I see that urgency as the cumulative impact of the work we have all collectively been doing, through partnerships just like the Building a Respectful Community Partnership.

Incrementally, we are changing attitudes and behaviours – we are changing a culture.

Thank you WHIN and all of the partners in this room for your determination and resolve.

Congratulations on the next iteration of your Strategy – I look forward to working together to build a safe and strong future for the North.