Members of several trade unions rallied outside NSW government offices in Farrer Place on October 4 as part of a national day of action to demand 10 days of paid domestic violence leave for all workers.
Australian Services Union NSW and ACT branch secretary Natalie Lang said in her speech to the rally: “When one in three women in Australia are experiencing sexual or domestic violence; when 800,000 workers are living with the trauma of violence; when one woman is killed each week in Australia at the hands of a current or former partner; when just last week four of our sisters and brothers were brutally murdered as a result of family violence; and we have nothing but inaction from Gladys Berejiklian and Malcolm Turnbull, I say: shame!
“He [Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull] held a [Council of Australian Governments] summit on domestic violence a year ago yet he has not enacted the recommendations of that summit, one of which was paid domestic violence leave.”
Several other trade unionists, including Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey, also addressed the rally. Morey said 10 days paid domestic leave was “not too much to ask”.
A group of women unionists dressed in red Handmaids costumes walked through the city before the rally to draw public attention to the issue.
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