More than 200 candidates for the upcoming federal election have committed to take some action on women’s safety if they are elected to parliament, with 65 candidates fully committing to a pledge for a safer future.
Fair Agenda has today launched its Pledge for a Safer Future for political candidates. The pledge contains six specific commitments on women’s safety and is endorsed by Rosie Batty AO, as well as organisations like the National Association of Services Against Sexual Assault, Australian Women’s Health Network, Australian Women Against Violence Alliance, Women With Disabilitiies Australia and Change the Record.
The website Vote for Safety tracks the commitments of political candidates (as well as their commitments to future action), and the track record of major parties.
Executive Director of Fair Agenda Renee Carr said Australians want to know that the politicians they elect will take action to stop gender-based violence.
“A hundred thousand of us marched for justice during the last parliament; we’re taking those same concerns to the ballot box,” Carr said.
“We deserve a parliament that will prioritise our safety. Advocates have been calling for transformative change for years. Solutions exist: the pledge shows which candidates are willing to commit to what’s needed.
“Everyone who cares about women’s safety should ask, have my candidates taken the pledge? Are they willing to do what’s needed to create a safer future?”
Rosie Batty AO, a former Australian of the Year, said it’s more important than ever that politicians act for our safety.
“Solutions exist, experts have laid them out – we need everyone standing for the next parliament to make meaningful, transformative action a priority,” she said.
Fair Agenda has noted the “alarming” record of the Coalition on systems reform in the women’s safety space, highlighting the abolition of the family court, the decision to proceed with a parliamentary inquiry opposed by safety advocates and the shelving of a taskforce to address sexual violence at university.
“We need leadership on women’s safety. That means: strengthening prevention efforts, properly funding services, reforming systems that harm survivors, championing safer workplaces, and doing what it takes to end gender-based violence,” Carr said.
The pledge
The Pledge for a Safer Future for candidates has 6 elements:
- Do what it takes to end all forms of gender-based violence within a generation
- Champion strong action to prevent all forms of gender-based violence by
addressing its drivers and enablers, including gender inequality. - Push for proper funding of specialist sexual, domestic and family violence
services – to ensure everyone affected can access the support they need, and that
perpetrators’ abusive behaviours are reduced. - Vote for better legal and institutional responses for victim-survivors to ensure
people seeking support are helped, not hurt, by systems that should support them. - Vote for safer workplaces by supporting full implementation of the Sex
Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work recommendations to address
workplace sexual harassment. - Champion reforms for a safer parliament – including full implementation of the
recommendations in the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s ‘Set the Standard’
report
65 candidates have already taken the pledge in full:
Andrew Wilkie MP, Independent, Clark
Nicolette Boele, Independent, Bradfield
Kylea Tink, Independent, North Sydney
Kim Rubenstein, Independent, ACT
Sen. Peter Whish-Wilson, Australian Greens, TAS
Alana Galli-McRostie, Australian Greens, Goldstein
Alex Breskin, Australian Greens, Isaacs
Apurva Shukla, Australian Greens, Werriwa
Asher Cookson, Australian Greens, Aston
Bill Pheasant, Australian Greens, Menzies
Brendan Clarke, Fusion Party, Berowra
Catherine Robertson, Victorian Socialists, Fraser
Cecily Rosol, Australian Greens, Bass
Celeste Liddle, Australian Greens, Cooper
Chetan Sahai, Australian Greens, Sydney
Colleen Bolger, Victorian Socialists, Melbourne
Danielle Mutton, Australian Greens, Blair
David Deex, Australian Greens, Spence
Dominic WY Kanak, Australian Greens. Wentworth
Elijah Suares, United Australia Party ,Bendigo
Ethan Hrnjak, Australian Greens, Mackellar
Gilbert Wilson, Australian Labor Party, Wannon
Greg Elliot, Australian Greens, Mayo
Jack Boddeke, Australian Greens, Lalor
Jade Darko, Australian Greens, Franklin
James Haggerty, Fusion Party, Grayndler
Janet Murray, Australian Greens, Hunter
Janine Rees, Australian Progressives, Ryan
Jennifer Cox, Australian Greens, Kennedy
Jeremy Carter, Australian Greens, Boothby
Jerome Small, Victorian Socialists, Calwell
John Photakis, Australian Greens, Kingston
Kathryn Savery, Australian Greens, Bean
Katie McCusker, Australian Greens, Sturt
Kelly Guenoun, United Australia Party, Petrie
Kim Grierson, Australian Greens, Shortland
Kristyn Glanville, Australian Greens, Warringah
Liz Chase, Australian Greens, Jagajaga
Mandy Nolan, Australian Greens, Richmond
Mat Morgan, Australian Greens, Monash
Max Chandler-Mather, Australian Greens, Griffith
Max Martucci, TNL, Hawke
Melissa Stevens, Australian Greens, Lilley
Nadia David, Australian Labor Party, Indi
Natasa Sojic, Australian Greens. Fenner
Neil Cotter, Australian Greens, Rankin
Nicole Thompson, Australian Greens, Wright
Patrick Deegan, Australian Labor Party, Page
Piers Mitchem, Australian Greens, Kooyong
Rebecca Galdies, Australian Greens, Adelaide
Sarah Jefford, Australian Greens, Wills
Sarah Russell, Independent, Flinders
Scott Hardiman, United Australia Party, Kooyong
Sonya Semmens, Australian Greens, Higgins
Steph Hodgins-May, Australian Greens, Macnamara
Stephen Bates, Australian Greens, Brisbane
Suzette Rodoreda, Australian Greens, Gellibrand
Tim Hollo, Australian Greens, Canberra
Victor Kline, TNL, North Sydney
Andrea Leong, Fusion Party, NSW
Brandon Selic, Fusion Party, QLD
David Kennedy, Fusion Party, SA
Drew Wolfendale, Fusion Party, SA
Felix Dance, Socialist Alliance, VIC
Tim Viljoen, Fusion Party, WA
Another 168 candidates have taken parts of the Pledge for a Safer Future.
Visit the Vote for Safety website here.
Feature Image: Kylea Tink, Celeste Liddle and Kim Rubenstein.