Domestic violence: 'It should be 'un-Australian' to disrespect women.'

By political reporters Anna Henderson and Francis Keany.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has appealed to the nation to change the national culture so disrespecting women becomes unacceptable.

The Federal Government has announced a $100 million package to deal with domestic and family violence.

The news follows a string of horrific domestic violence cases over the past few weeks and growing calls to deal with the crisis, with 63 deaths this year attributed to domestic violence.

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“All violence against women begins with disrespecting women,” Mr Turnbull told reporters at the launch in Melbourne.

“We as leaders, as a government must make it – and we will make it – a clear national objective of ours to ensure that Australia is more respecting of women.”

He said parents had an important role in ensuring their sons respect their mothers and sisters.

“We have to make it as though it was un-Australian to disrespect women.”

The Federal Government will hand out mobile phones to women fleeing domestic violence, to help them escape ongoing abuse.

As part of the package, $36.5 million will be spent over three years to provide more training for police, social workers and emergency staff to better support women.

There will also be training for hospital staff to recognise the signs of domestic violence, as well as a duty lawyer at selected hospitals to provide legal assistance.

The Government will also move to put in place GPS tracking technology to monitor abusers and safety buttons for women so they can call for help.

The Minister for Women Michaelia Cash says the government is working with telcos to deal with another key fear, that someone fleeing abuse could be tracked on their mobile phone.

"Often you will find when a woman leaves a relationship what's the one thing that you take with you? I think any of us know its our mobile phone," she told Radio National.

"Often that mobile phone can be compromised, it could be being tracked by the perpetrator, he might be able to go on and find out who your contacts were etcetera, and make phone calls to them.

"What we're going to do is we are going to work with telecommunications providers to ensure that we can provide up to 20,000 phones over three years to women."

Senator Cash said, in Victoria, domestic violence workers have overwhelmingly reported clients experienced "technology facilitated abuse".

She said the phones would already have pre-paid credit and be ready to use.

"What it does, it allows women to safely dispose of their own phones and block the perpetrators, but without losing access to their support network."

The number of Community Engagement Police Officers will also be increased in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

The Safer Schools website will also be expanded, at a cost of $5 million, which will provide resources for teachers, parents and students on respectful relationships.

Speaking last week on the issue, Mr Turnbull said domestic violence has been "ignored for far too long and we must have zero tolerance for it".

"Real men don't hit women, we have got to be very determined to eradicate it," he told Channel Nine.

This post originally appeared on the ABC and was republished here with full permission. 

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