This really important topic of family and domestic violence leave is something that I think goes beyond just the leave. The government's commitment to improving people's lives and making sure that we reduce gendered violence goes beyond just the leave, although that is, of course, very important. To have provided 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave for workers right across Australia is incredibly significant, particularly because it is the only implemented form of leave that includes casual workers. We know that for so many people, particularly those in insecure work, decisions often have to be made between whether they get paid or whether they are safe, and it is really so critical that, with this family and domestic violence leave being implemented, workers, particularly women workers, will no longer have to make that really terrible choice.

I have spoken to many women over the course of the work I've done, before entering this place and since, about what difference this is going to make. I know it will be significant, and I know workers and workplaces right across the country have really supported our introduction and implementation of this piece of legislation, because we know it will change lives. I think that, through the normalisation of people taking family and domestic violence leave, we'll begin to see other conversation start to happen and we'll be able to see cultures and behaviours change. This is a really pivotal change in the way that we think about workplaces and about the things we need to do to truly make a difference to getting rid of family and domestic violence in our communities.

I note that our government last year launched the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, with the incredibly ambitious but appropriate goal of eliminating gendered violence within one generation. Family and domestic violence leave is a huge stride in enhancing workplace rights and safeguarding the wellbeing of employees. We know that small-business employees will be part of this, as well as employees in larger companies. The introduction of 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, which never existed before, is really critical in creating a fair and supportive work environment for everybody.

I also want to acknowledge that this change came about because of the really powerful and courageous advocacy of victims-survivors and employee organisations in particular to raise this issue, to elevate this issue, to the national consciousness and result in the kind of change that we see today. I do not think their courage in pushing forward this change can be emphasised enough. It is a change that will mean that other women will not have to experience the terrible decision-making processes that they've had to, when they were forced to choose between their wages and their safety. That is a terrible position for anybody to be put in.

I think that the comments the minister made in the ministerial statement earlier this week have really helped to keep alive the need to take action to eliminate gendered violence. I note too that this morning the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, made comments in relation to safety on campuses and the need to eliminate gendered violence in those settings. Of course, we know that the work to eliminate gendered violence is not going to be isolated to any particular area of society. Indeed, with family and domestic violence leave, efforts are being made to provide support for people in their workplaces who are contending with things in their personal lives. Through the priority recommendation to work through a national process with states and territories to try and deal with the issue of gendered violence on campuses, we understand that in educational settings this is also a pervasive issue that needs attention. It will require a whole coming together of society to make sure that we are able to eliminate gendered violence within a generation, which is our goal.

Personal safety should never be compromised for economic stability, and the implementation of family and domestic violence leave acknowledges that quite clearly. We know that too many people in the past have, unfortunately, stayed in very dangerous situations and have had to put their personal safety at risk because they felt that they couldn't make the choice to step away from work for the period they needed to to make arrangements to leave a very unsafe relationship.

As part of the implementation of our family and domestic violence leave, the Fair Work Ombudsman has provided tailored advice, guidance and support to help all businesses understand their responsibility, which is really important because—it's really great, of course, that we've introduced this new right to leave, but it's really important that people can take advantage of this provision and make the right decision for themselves in relation to getting out of a dangerous situation when they need to.

This has been a really collaborative process to get this tailored guidance and support together, as well as to get the family and domestic violence leave settings right, and it has involved experts from family and domestic violence organisations as well as small business representatives and those I mentioned earlier as being part of the process, the victims-survivors and employee organisations.

In my own electorate I have met with various family and domestic violence prevention groups, including within universities, who are at the cutting edge of research in this area and are helping to push forward ideas around the cultural and behavioural change that needs to happen right across our communities—in workplaces, schools and universities—to make sure that we eliminate, as much as we can, gendered violence in our communities in the short term, with that longer term goal of ridding our society of it within a generation. Having the 10 days of leave under this new right is a very important provision, but I think the ultimate goal, to eliminate gendered violence, is something that we all need to commit to as a society and as a parliament.

I know that these changes will save people's lives. I look forward to working with people in my own community to do more so that, in the next generation, people don't need to make the decisions they currently have to make, because we will have reached that goal of eliminating gendered violence within a generation.