THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RN BREAKFAST
TUESDAY, 3 JUNE 2025
Topics: Family and Domestic Violence; Australian Institute of Family Studies research; North West Shelf; Dorinda Cox.
SALLY SARA: Australian men who have a healthy relationship with their dad are significantly less likely to commit violence against a partner later in life. That's one of the key findings of a landmark study that could have major implications for Australia's national plan to end domestic violence. The study is based on surveys of Australian men with one in three admitting they've been responsible for some form of violence against a partner. The long term research is being overseen by the government agency, the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Tanya Plibersek is the Federal Minister for Social Services and she joined me a short time ago. Welcome to Radio National Breakfast.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: It's a pleasure to be with you.
SARA: This is an issue that affects a lot of families and you've spoken publicly about your daughter's own experience of violence. Reading this research, how did it strike you?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, it's very important research that the Australian Institute of Family Studies has released and it shows that in fact, the rate of men who ever use violence in an intimate relationship has actually increased across about a decade. There was an early report, about nine years later they did another report and it shows that the rate of men who'd ever used violence in a relationship had increased from 1 in 4 to 1 in 3 in that time. That's the equivalent of about an extra 120,000 men every year using violence for the first time in an intimate relationship. Obviously, that trend is in completely the wrong direction. And it's very important that we continue to focus on getting those numbers down. And this report is useful because it also presents us with some of the key protective factors that make it much less likely that men will use violence. So, it shows that good mental health, good social connection and good relationship with a father or father figure early in life are very strong, very strong protective factors.
SARA: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that in particular, the researchers say one of the significant things they've uncovered is that men who have a quality relationship with their dad or a father like figure are almost 60 per cent less likely to carry out intimate partner violence. That's quite significant.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It's very significant. And it does show, I mean, look, a bit of this is common sense, right? If you've got a warm and loving relationship with a father or father figure who demonstrates what it's like to Be a warm and loving man to your mother or to the women around you. That's the first information, the first pattern that young men have to learn from. Of course it's significant. It is a really strong message to men that whether they're fathers, whether they're teachers or sporting coaches, that the way they behave is really significant for the young men that they influence.
SARA: The researchers have recommended setting up some sites for men to get some social support and even screening for depression. Is that something that you would look into?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, absolutely, and we're already doing it. We've invested around a billion dollars extra in better mental health supports, including setting up these Medicare walk in mental health clinics. That's incredibly important and innovative. We're expanding the Headspace network for younger people. We're also adding more acute mental health services for young people. And there are services like the Men's Referral Service or No to Violence that men can contact if they are worried about using violence in their personal relationships. If they want support to stop themselves using violence in their relationships, they can contact those organisations for those supports. That's a very important breakthrough in recent years. But the report shows that we've still got a great deal of work to do.
SARA: And if you're experiencing family or domestic violence, you can of course, call 1-800-RESPECT, which is 1-800-737-732. If it's an emergency, you need to call Triple Zero. You're listening to Radio National Breakfast and you're hearing from the Social Services Minister, Tanya Plibersek. Minister, on another issue, you were Environment Minister before the election. In that role, you twice delayed a decision over the extension of Woodside' North West Shelf gas project. Now provisional approval has been given. Is it fair that Australians might be cynical about the timing so soon after an election?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, no, it's not at all fair. The West Australian Government had six years to assess this project and we've had it before the Commonwealth Government for about six months. But I'd say I am proud of the work that the government did while I was Environment Minister. We added about 100 million hectares of land and ocean to the areas that we protect in Australia. That's an area larger than Germany, Italy and Norway combined. We had the biggest acts of ocean conservation in the world two years running. We added a million extra tonnes of recycling capacity. We doubled funding for indigenous rangers, we doubled funding for our national parks. We spent half a billion dollars on our threatened species. I'm very proud of what we achieved during the last three years.
SARA: But when we look at the North West Shelf gas project, there's been criticism from environmentalists and also The Greens about the emissions from this project. They call it a dirty project. There's also been concerns from UNESCO about the indigenous rock art nearby already being degraded and fears for its future as well. How do you see those concerns and the government's ability to address those?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the Murujuga rock art is globally significant and I was very proud to support the nomination of that rock art for UNESCO World Heritage listing. And I believe UNESCO should list the rock art because it is significant. It's beautiful, and it's significant. It's significant not just for Australia, but for the world. When it comes to emissions, all of these projects have to fit within Australia's trajectory to net zero. During my time as Environment Minister, I approved more than 80 renewable energy projects enough to power 11 million Australian homes. We're on track to get to 82 per cent renewable energy. We're on track for our emissions reduction. And I think, you know, that's quite an achievement in just three years.
SARA: Can the government guarantee that the extension of the Northwest Shelf won't add to emissions here in Australia and also in the product that it exports overseas?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the Environment Minister, Murray Watt, has made a provisional decision. I'm not going to go into the details of the conditions that might apply in this circumstance. That's for the Environment Minister.
SARA: Just finally last night we learned Greens Senator, Dorinda Cox has defected to join the Labor Party. Just weeks ago, she ran to be the Greens deputy leader and has spoken out in the past week about the North West Shelf decision. How committed do you think Dorinda Cox is to the Labor cause?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I think what Dorinda said is that her values align more with Labor values than Greens values. And it's for her to go in into the details of -
SARA: They didn't last week.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: That’s for her to answer. That's really not for me to answer. We're delighted that she's joining a very strong West Australian team. I first met Dorinda Cox when she was doing work on violence against women last time I had this portfolio when we were working on the first national plan on violence against women and their children. She made a terrific contribution at that time. I'm very much looking forward to her joining what's a very strong representation for Western Australia. And I'm looking forward to going there this afternoon for a Cabinet meeting.
SARA: Tanya Plibersek, thank you so much for joining me on Radio National Breakfast this morning.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It's a pleasure.
ENDS
