THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
ABC RN
TUESDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2025

TOPICS: 1800RESPECT FUNDING BOOST; GAMBLING; ENVIRONMENT LAW REFORM; PAULINE HANSON.

SALLY SARA: Tanya Plibersek is the Minister for Social Services. She joined me earlier. Minister, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, TANYA PLIBERSEK: Always great to be with you.

SARA: Why do you think it's important to increase the funding for 1800RESPECT? Is family and domestic on the rise, or are we seeing more people reporting the violence?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we're seeing more people use the 1800RESPECT service. In its first year of operation in 2010, it got about 11,000 calls, and then last financial year, it was 342,000 calls. So, that is a huge increase in demand, and we want to keep up with demand. At the moment, well over 90% of calls are being answered within 20 seconds. That's great. But we know that year on year, the demand for this service is increasing. We want to keep up with that because people need somewhere to turn if they're experiencing family, domestic or sexual violence. They need someone to talk to. This is a great service. You can phone, you can SMS, you can do video chat, you can get ongoing counselling. And I think it's really important that that service is available for people. You've asked about whether the incidence of domestic family and sexual violence are increasing, and I have to say, Sally, it's a mixed picture. We’re seeing some areas, like intimate partner violence, slightly decreasing, but we're seeing big increases in, for example, young relationships under 18’s, we're seeing big increases in violence there. So, we need to keep evolving as this problem in our society evolves.

SARA: What do you think of the courage of those people who call in on this line? There'd be many people who need this help who are absolutely terrified about even making the call in case their partner sees that on their phone. What do you think of the courage of those who make that call?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think anybody who discloses family, domestic or sexual violence needs an enormous amount of courage. And I really do respect that and value it. And I also want to say the workers who are taking these calls every day and all of those frontline workers, the women who are staffing refuges, the first place often that, you know, women and children turn up after they've fled a violent home. Right across our community, there are people who are working every single day to keep women and children safe. I want to salute them as well.

SARA: When the government sees that harm is being perpetrated, particularly on women and children, how important do you think it is for the government to act?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well I think it's absolutely vital for every level of government to act. And that's why our government has invested more than $4 billion in 122 measures under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and their Children. It's why we've made the $5,000 support through the Leaving Violence Payment permanent. It's why we've legislated 10 days paid domestic violence leave. It's why we've put $1.2 billion into emergency and transitional housing. It's why we've massively increased funding for legal services, including about $800 million extra for family violence legal services. It's why we will continue to work as a Commonwealth government and with the states and territories across a whole range of things that we can do to intervene to keep people safer.

SARA: Last year, a rapid review conducted by an expert panel examining how to best prevent violence against women and children recommended a total ban on gambling ads. Will the government follow that recommendation?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I think gambling is a really important issue to address in the context of family and domestic violence. We know that rates of violence increase, for example, around major sporting events. There is evidence that gambling is a contributing factor. There's evidence also that alcohol and other drugs are contributing factors we need to address all of these and that's why our government has done more than any government in Australian history to address problem gambling. And it's why we'll continue to work to address problem gambling. It's why we're also investing $1 million dollars in a national strategy to reduce alcohol related harms when it comes to family and domestic violence. It's why we'll continue invest in frontline services, the first place people turn when they're leaving family and domestic violence. We have to do all of it. It's not one thing or the other, it's all of it.

SARA: Does that include taking up the recommendations and providing a response to the parliamentary inquiry headed by the late Labor Member Peta Murphy?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, it includes things like the changes we've made banning credit cards, mandatory ID for online gambling. Betstop, I mean we've set up Betstop, 51,000 people have registered to exclude themselves from online gambling. That's why we make online gambling companies send monthly statements to people so they know the money that they're losing.

SARA: And yet two years after the recommendations were handed down by the Murphy inquiry, the government still hasn't responded to those. Do you understand why there's frustration in the sector?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I understand why people say we need to work on alcohol and other drugs, why we need to work on problem gambling, why we need to address online misogyny. I think it's important to understand that these are all issues that need to be addressed and we'll continue to work on all of them. And take one example, I know you're, you know, obsessed about the gambling advertising, but we've had to ban things like nudify apps because there are young people, young women in particular who are having fake pornography made of them and spread in their schools and workplaces. We will continue to address evolving challenges as a government and it's very important to do that. I'm not, for moment minimising any area where we need to act. We'll continue to methodically go through that. It is important, though, to make sure that we acknowledge the work that's already done and our government has done more to address problem gambling than any previous government in Australian history.

SARA: When I was asking you earlier about whether it's important for the government to act when there's clearly harm to women and children on a range of issues, you were saying it is very important when we know public support is high for an end to gambling advertising. Why isn't the government taking action? And I'm interested in why you would describe it as an obsession when a journalist is asking questions of a Minister issue when it's been two years.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, as I've said to you, our government's doing more than any government in Australian history to address online gambling and problem gambling and will continue to work to address this as a problem. But it's not the only issue when it comes to family domestic and sexual violence. I'd really like to talk about some of the other incredible work that's being done right across our community. For the first time ever, we’ve massively expanded programs that support men's behaviour change. We've invested for the first time in 12 adolescent boys pilots around the country where we're working specifically with adolescent boys who are at risk of using violence in their intimate relationships or in their family home. We're working specifically with children to make sure that we support the recovery of children. A new $81 million investment in things like child specific counselling. We've got $82 million that we're investing in high-risk perpetrators, making sure that those men who are likely to go on an offend against one partner and then the next partner and then the next partner have specific programs to stop them re-offending. We've invested $3.9 billion in legal services, including $800 million for family violence specific legal services. We're investing $1.2 billion in emergency and transitional housing. These are all important contributions to make and the people who work in these areas really need to be acknowledged for the incredible work that they're doing day in, day out to help women and children escape violence.

SARA: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is the Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek. On another matter, in your former role as Environment and Water Minister, you tried to reform Australia's environment laws and got a deal. Are you confident that your successor, Murray Watt, will be able to make a deal in this final week of sitting?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, just to correct you on that, I never, sadly, made a deal. I made an offer to The Greens political party and they never accepted it. I wish we had made a deal because we would have had an Environment Protection Agency a year ago if the Greens accepted my deal. I think it's really important that these laws pass now, and they should pass, in fact, unamended. They are a great improvement on what Professor Graeme Samuel had recognised five years ago, an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act that is completely inadequate for its purposes. It's not good for businesses trying to build new homes or roads or, you know, do whatever it is they're trying to do, set up their new business. And it's particularly bad for the environment. We've seen a steady decline of the Australian environment under the existing law. And I think both The Greens and the Liberals and Nationals should be voting for the law that Minister Watt has put forward, as it is unamended. That said, Minister Watt has very sensibly said he's happy to accept reasonable suggestions from either The Greens or the Liberals and Nationals. And, you know, one or the other should get behind this and vote for it now, because what Minister Watt has put forward is an improvement for both. It's an improvement that strengthens environmental protection and it means faster, clearer decisions.

SARA: Just finally, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was suspended from the Senate after again wearing a burqa in the chamber yesterday. The Senator says she's raising awareness about a national security issue and women's rights. Is that a legitimate and appropriate protest in your view?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I don't remember the last time someone in a burqa robbed a bank, but I do recall a couple of weeks ago that there was a queue of neo-Nazis standing outside New South Wales Parliament. And the director of ASIO has said very clearly that one of the fastest growing threats in Australia is the rise of right-wing extremism. I think Senator Hanson's stunt yesterday is simply a guarantee that some schoolgirl wearing a headscarf's going to get bullied on the train on the way to school today. I don't see how it helps anyone.

SARA: Minister, thank you for your time this morning.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you so much.

ENDS