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To say my heart is heavy is an understatement. The last few weeks in Australia have been diabolically awful. Gendered violence is - and always has been - a national emergency but it is now firmly in the spotlight as such.
There are so many things that need to be said and done to ensure all women and children in Australia are able to live safely and freely. At The Parenthood we acknowledge and thank victim-survivors, frontline workers and gendered violence advocates, experts and campaigners. We stand alongside them and support their informed calls for substantially increased funding and the need for a raft of evidence-based reforms to address prevention, housing, financial security, frontline services, the justice system and more.
We know that so many children are impacted by gendered violence directly and indirectly. There are hundreds of things I want to say and I have spent the last hour typing and deleting, and typing and deleting.
The only words I really want you to read here are from Lisa*. That’s not her real name but these are her real words. She wrote to me yesterday.
Childcare was actually more than just a place my younger daughter went when we were at the height of our DV issues.
Without having family around us, the childcare centre wrapped their arms around her and my older daughter and myself. They let my older daughter, who had attended the centre before starting school, play for a while when we went to collect her little sister. The teachers would sit with both of my girls, individually or together, if they were having struggles and would talk them through it.
My older daughter felt like she was the only child who had gone through this and one of the teachers opened up to her and said she had been through similar and talked to her about how she had felt.
They were also incredibly supportive of me. They would give me hugs if and when I needed. The Centre Manager began to be able to read my facial expressions and would check on me and give me a hug even if I didn't want to talk.
Again, without having family around us, the staff and the Centre became a safe place for all 3 of us where we knew we were loved and 'at home'. I knew the staff genuinely loved my girls and were doing all they could to support us. All 3 of us cried when my younger daughter finished at the Centre.
When it comes to DV, childcare and childcare centres can be more than just a place where your children go whilst you work. For my girls, it was their 'safe place' at a time when there was so much fear and disruption in the other parts of our lives. I honestly felt like this Centre and their staff were my backbone during that time because of how much they supported us. Knowing that my girls had a safe place they could go and just be kids was priceless.
There are millions and millions of reasons why every child deserves access to quality early childhood education and care. But this reason - creating a safe place for children when other places in their world are less safe - is perhaps the most profound.
I wonder how many other parents can relate to these words? And how many parents wish they had that safe place for their children?
In the mix of important services and support that women and families experiencing violence need, access to early childhood education and care cannot be underestimated.
In this Budget, we are calling on the Albanese government to meet the epidemic of gendered violence with ambitious, deliberate and immediate funding as identified by experts to keep women and children safe.
We are also actively pushing for two key changes: a substantial pay rise for early childhood educators and the removal of the Activity Test.
Both of these changes will help reduce inequity too which is crucial to addressing violence against women. Financial insecurity traps too many women, particularly mums, in violent situations. We know that 60% of single mums have experienced domestic abuse. We also know that financial security is particularly difficult, if not impossible, for single mums to attain.
Better pay for educators - more than 90% of whom are women - and better access to early childhood education and care means more women are better able to establish some financial security.
We're also deep into our rural campaign, refreshing our 'Choiceless' report with new insights. Your experiences are essential help us make a difference by sharing your stories.
Take care and thank you for supporting our work.
Georgie
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