STEPHEN JONES MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND SUPERANNUATION
MEMBER FOR WHITLAM
 
SENATOR JENNY MCALLISTER
SHADOW CABINET SECRETARY
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE LABOR LEADER IN THE SENATE
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMMUNITIES AND THE PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
SENATOR FOR NEW SOUTH WALES
 
PETA MURPHY
MEMBER FOR DUNKLEY

It’s time Scott Morrison stopped playing politics with women’s safety and ruled out once and for all his plan to get domestic violence victims to use their superannuation to escape abusive relationships.

His Minister for Superannuation Jane Hume told the ABC’s Fran Kelly this morning: “If there is a chance it will put women at risk, then we won’t proceed with the measure.”

If, as the Minister claims, the Morrison Government has spent “years” consulting with stakeholders about its plan, Scott Morrison would know there is more than a chance of being put at risk.

He would know that many women in abusive relationships have already been violently coerced into handing over their super through his poorly conceived COVID early access to super scheme.

He would know that women’s superannuation nest eggs already lag far behind men’s.

He would know financial security is already the number one barrier to women leaving abusive situations.

Scott Morrison’s desperate political fix will do harm and “reviewing” it is not enough to assure at-risk women that they will not be asked to provide for their own safety by running down their financial security.

He must commit to what stakeholders and Labor have been asking for for years: Proper funding for housing and support services and paid domestic violence leave for every worker in Australia.