Tanya Plibersek addresses the royal commission #familyviolence #auspol

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Minister, in the last week, five women and two children have been killed in very devastating circumstances that have shaken a lot of people in this country.

[00:00:08]And yet, when the PM was asked about calls for a royal commission into the killing of Australian women and girls, he said, "What does a royal commission do besides fund lawyers?" There's 90,000 signatures so far. What does your government feel about that? Will we see this royal commission? There's calls for a royal commission about everything.

[00:00:23]Well, I think the deaths of women are pretty paramount, wouldn't you say?

[00:00:26]>> you've got to work out what does a royal commission do besides fund lawyers? What we need here That's a pretty dismissive response, isn't it? Mhm.

[00:00:35]I understand why people want a royal commission because they say this is such an important issue for our society. And when an issue is important, they [clears throat] think a royal commission is an appropriate response. What people who work on the front line have said to me again and again is we've been consulted. We've had eight royal commissions and major reports in recent years with a thousand recommendations.

[00:01:01]Our family, domestic, and sexual violence commissioner, Michaela Cronin, last year totaled up all these recommendations and I've got a lot of sympathy for the argument of front line workers that we've been consulted. We know what the problem is. What we need is sustained action to change the incidence of violence in our community. Just if we just stick on the idea of a royal commission for a for a moment. The the the Prime Minister in 2021 said about the royal commission into defense and veteran suicide that a royal commission is the most powerful form of inquiry that we have.

[00:01:33]Um, it'll ask the hard questions and will find the hard truths. It'll show us the way forward. Why why is that different from for this particular circumstance? Because [music] we know so much of what we need to do.