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Peter Dutton's comments on Lebanese migrants 'loud, lazy disrespect', says Bill Shorten – question time live Labor MP Emma Husar tells a personal story of domestic violence – politics live
(35 minutes later)
5.27am GMT
05:27
Emma Husar's speech in full
Labor MP for Lindsay, Emma Husar’s, speech in full.
In my first speech in this place I said 29 out of my 36 years of life had been affected by domestic violence.
I am a survivor of family violence, and it has taken me a long time to overcome the trauma of that to be where I am today.
I know there are a lot of women out there who suffer in silence. Today I stand in solidarity with survivors, with those women afraid to speak, and I will use my story, told in this place to advocate for the change we need.
I will use the eve of white ribbon day as an opportunity to shine a light into the darkest corner of my own life.
The first 13 years of my life was marred with physical domestic violence, committed towards my mother, at the hands of my always drunk-when-abusive Father.
My Dad was the son of a World War Two German soldier who committed many acts of violence against his wife and against his seven children. My father had been raised in a house where violence was the accepted norm and at a time when society said these were private matters.
Whilst the blows that landed on my mother during my childhood didn’t land on me physically – they may as well have. The trauma inflicted was the same. I recall it vividly and in great detail.
Each episode of this violence over my 13-years was different but the aftermath was always the same: Dad would apologise, promise to be different, and that would work for just a short time.
One evening, at the end of another round of abuse, Dad launched the family dinner of that evening at the wall.
The stain remained on that wall for a very long time – the stain in my heart would linger much longer. Mum then bundled my sister and I into the family car and fled.
We would go to the refuges in our community, until, after so many years and so many incidents, my father knew the locations and we were not safe there anymore. We then shifted to staying in hotels, which were located above pubs where the people below were loud and sometimes their noise would spill into the streets, waking me and reminding me that I wasn’t in my own bed, in my own home.
I was in a foreign place, because I was not safe.
One night, when Mum was hurrying to get my sister and I out. Dad had removed and smashed the distributor cap from the car rendering it useless and us trapped. The Police fetched us this time.
I still remember sitting in the Police station well into the early hours of the morning and the officers in Penrith police giving us pink milk while we waited. The police did their best.
Again, after this event my Mum returned home.
We know why women return time and time again even when their lives are massively disrupted along with their children’s’, and I hope that the blame that was launched at my Mum during the 90’s for not leaving, is no longer part of the “solution” around domestic violence – and I hope the questions of ‘why doesn’t she just leave’ quit being asked.
Eventually, though, the courage rises up, services step up and women stand up. Finally leaving. But not before one last terrible incident.
There were 13-police cars the last time physical violence affected my childhood. But this was the end of the physical violence, once and for all. Whilst the physical part ceased other abuse around finance and control ramped up.
Sadly, the wheel of domestic violence continues to affect my life as a grown woman, with children of my own. The last 16-years of my life have been and continue to be affected by domestic and family violence.
In the limited time I have left, I would like to thank Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for his continued support of my current situation, his understanding, and the support he provides to me. I would also like to thank my caucus colleagues and staff who know my story, who don’t judge me and continue to provide support.
I would like to acknowledge the Penrith Women’s Health Service who have been providing services to my community for 30-years, including to my Mum then, and to my family now.
Sometimes in my experience I have found that, mostly, victims don’t talk about domestic violence because other people don’t talk about domestic violence.
For many years I was embarrassed and ashamed. I know that I shouldn’t be but I am.
I hope that today, I have lent my voice, my story, and my passion for advocating change, to the choir of the white ribbon movement who call on us to stand up, speak out and act.
5.21am GMT
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Dr Mike Freedlander, Labor MP and paediatrician, has just described the most horrific injuries suffered by children as a result of domestic violence.
He questions the use of the term “domestic violence”. Domestic might suggest it is a lesser form of violence, whereas it is far from that.
He describes twin babies with cerebral palsy who were bashed so badly their heads were like the shells of boiled eggs. A little boy whose liver at autopsy was like red jelly. A three-year-old girl who was bashed so badly she never saw, walked or talked again. A six-year-old girl starved.
These are real things and they have been real things to me in my career. We know there is a strong correlation with violence against children with violence against women.
This has been a very raw afternoon in the house.
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Llew O’Brien, the new National MP for Wide Bay, acknowledged and thanked Emma Husar for her speech. He is a former police officer and talks from a different experience. He says the focus is rightly on the effect of women but reminds the chamber that sometime men are the victims of women and men and women both suffer in same sex relationships. It is a very respectful nuanced speech. Llew O’Brien, the new National MP for Wide Bay, acknowledged and thanked Emma Husar for her speech. He is a former police officer and talks from a different experience. He says the focus is rightly on the effect on women but reminds the chamber that sometimes men are the victims of women and men and women both suffer in same-sex relationships. It is a very respectful, nuanced speech.
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at 5.17am GMT
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Emma Husar with a very personal story on domestic violenceEmma Husar with a very personal story on domestic violence
Emma Husar, Labor MP for Lindsay.Emma Husar, Labor MP for Lindsay.
She says the first 13 years of her life was marred by family violence. She has described her father’s violence towards her mother. She says while the blows did not land on her, they may as well have. It scarred her.She says the first 13 years of her life was marred by family violence. She has described her father’s violence towards her mother. She says while the blows did not land on her, they may as well have. It scarred her.
She described her father chasing them from refuges to cheap pub rooms to try to escape his violence. Waking up in strange rooms with bar room noise reminding her that she was not in her own bed.She described her father chasing them from refuges to cheap pub rooms to try to escape his violence. Waking up in strange rooms with bar room noise reminding her that she was not in her own bed.
Husar’s mother returned home, because she had nowhere else to go.Husar’s mother returned home, because she had nowhere else to go.
The last time there was violence, Husar says there were 13 police cars present.The last time there was violence, Husar says there were 13 police cars present.
She thanks the Penrith Women’s Services who provided her family with help.She thanks the Penrith Women’s Services who provided her family with help.
She is breaking down.She is breaking down.
I am ashamed. I shouldn’t be but I am.I am ashamed. I shouldn’t be but I am.
The most amazing speech.The most amazing speech.
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Labor has listed matter of public importance, “the need to address family violence as a national priority”. Labor has listed a matter of public importance, “the need to address family violence as a national priority”.
Labor’s Terri Butler has spoken and now human services minister Alan Tudge.Labor’s Terri Butler has spoken and now human services minister Alan Tudge.
Labor has spoken about cuts to legal services effecting domestic violence victims. Butler also used it to prosecute the Labor policy of changing court arrangements for victims. Labor has spoken about cuts to legal services affecting domestic violence victims. Butler also used it to prosecute the Labor policy of changing court arrangements for victims.
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at 4.48am GMT at 5.03am GMT
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Malcolm Turnbull does not get up in time to call for an end to question time so Labor squeezes one more question in.
Did the prime minister have any advanced notice of the contents of his deputy’ Barnaby Joyce’s letter of 17 November?
Turnbull:
The commitment of our government to the basin plan is absolute but it is a plan which presents significant challenges which the member for Watson understood back in 2012 which he had the northern basin aspects of the plan reviewed to look at precisely these issues of ensuring that there is neutral or improved socioeconomic outcomes.
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at 4.38am GMT
4.16am GMT
04:16
Earlier Paul Karp reported on the One Nation split in a senate vote. The vote was on superannuation: Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts voted with the Greens, while Brian Burston and Rod Culleton voted with Labor and the government.
Hanson and Culleton were absent during Question time. Burston and Roberts were in the senate.
4.13am GMT
04:13
There was a government question on electricity supply and then another Murray Darling question.
Shorten to Turnbull: I refer to the deputy prime minister’s letter of 17 November indicating to the SA government, indicating that the government would abandon its obligation to deliver 450 gigalitres of water to the Murray-Darling Basin through efficiency measures. Does the deputy prime minister’s letter reflect government policy?
The leader of the opposition could you assist us by showing where in the letter does the word “abandonment” is used? Not once.
Turnbull says the government supports the plan but the plan has conditions which the government must adhere to.
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4.09am GMT
04:09
Labor’s Tony Burke to Malcolm Turnbull: When the deputy prime minister personally insisted on receiving the water portfolio, did he keep secret from the prime minister his intention to undermine the additional 450 gigalitres on the Murray-Darling Basin plan? Did the prime minister have any idea prior to Friday that his deputy had put in writing that the basin plan wouldn’t be completed and since then, has the prime minister in any way reprimanded the deputy prime minister for free ranging on the basin plan?
(These two are both former water ministers.)
Turnbull says Burke’s question amounts to one misrepresentation after another. He says the clause about the requirement for no negative impact on communities comes from the 2012 version of the Murray Darling Basin plan, which Tony Burke oversaw.
This is the plan the honourable member promulgated as minister and the section to which I referred is in his plan and that is part of the plan to which we are committed.
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at 4.17am GMT
4.05am GMT
04:05
A government question to social services minister Christian Porter on the improvement of the domestic violence hotline.
4.03am GMT
04:03
Government threatening to sue over use of Medicare logo on Save Medicare website
Tony Burke to Malcolm Turnbull: Can the prime minister confirm his government has threatened to sue Mark Rogers, a Sydney grandfather, over his use of the Medicare logo on his Save Medicare website? Will the government be threatening legal action against the Liberal party, the member for Ford, the minister for trade, the member for Bonner and the health minister who have all used the Medicare logo in their own political material?
Turnbull says yes to the substantive question.
That litigation is as he has described.
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at 4.09am GMT
4.00am GMT
04:00
Peter Dutton gets a government question on securing borders and third-party settlements. He says the US Homeland Security department has been out to work out rapid screening methods for the refugees taken into Australia. But most of the answer goes to whacking Labor on asylum seekers.
Updated
at 4.11am GMT
3.58am GMT
03:58
Not happy, Bowers.