Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): Not so much a tin ear as a wall of concrete. We had, today, women gather around Australia with a few very clear and unambiguous messages. Hear us roar: the Prime Minister needs to listen—to listen to what women are saying about what is happening in this building and outside. They said, 'Enough is enough.' What I saw outside was passionate women who are angry. They are angry about what's happened to them. They are angry about what has happened to their mothers, their grandmothers, their sisters, their daughters and their granddaughters. They are crying out that this is a moment that requires leadership. It requires leadership from this Prime Minister, and we are not getting it, Prime Minister.

We need an independent inquiry into the allegations that are being made against the Attorney-General. We know from former Solicitor-General Justin Gleeson that that would be an entirely appropriate thing to do. Frankly, for a government that had an inquiry into a kitchen renovation of a former Prime Minister long before she was in parliament, I find quite frankly incredible some of the arguments that are being used by this government to reject that proposition.

The fact is that day after day more information comes out, such as, over recent days, James Hooke's remembrances about what he said with the woman at the centre of the allegations and conversations he says he had way back in the early 1990s with the current Attorney-General. These are all issues that require examination because the idea, as the Prime Minister has said, that we can just move on, that what has been happening over recent days and weeks can be unseen and unheard, is just not fair dinkum. It can't be. That is why people are angry and frustrated. That is why we need to do better. All of us need to do better—all political parties, all businesses, all workplaces, our entire society—because sexual assault and these issues are about the power imbalance in society. That's what it is about. That's why women are demanding change, and they're entitled to get it.

Outside of this chamber we heard a magnificent speech by Brittany Higgins. I say to the Prime Minister: listen to it. Listen to what Brittany Higgins had to say. Because he wasn't there, I will help him out. She said this:

I watched as the Prime Minister of Australia publicly apologised to me through the media, while privately his media team actively undermined and discredited my loved ones.

She went on to say:

I have read the news updates every day at 5 am because I was waking up to new information about my own sexual assault through the media. Details that were never disclosed to me by my employers, information that would have helped me answer questions that have haunted me for years.

A reported sexual assault happened just metres from the Prime Minister's office. We know that multiple ministers were informed. We know that, for example, the Special Minister of State would have been informed at the time that something had happened in that office. We know that one member of the PM's staff knew two years ago. A second member of his staff said it would be raised with his chief of staff two years ago. A third member of his staff knew the alleged perpetrator was dismissed two years ago. A fourth member of his staff checked in with Ms Higgins after Four Corners last year. We know that a former Prime Minister and a former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party have said very clearly that it's not credible that this information wouldn't have flown up the chain. We know that the Prime Minister, when I have raised questions in this House about these issues, appointed his former chief of staff to do an inquiry about what his staff knew. All he has to do is ask them, but we had an inquiry by the same person into the sports rorts fiasco that took a couple of weeks. It's now been more than a month and we still have not had any information here.

The Prime Minister correctly pointed out that the respect for and treatment of women has been an issue for a long period of time. He's right at that. He raised the issue of the Australian Human Rights Commission. They produced a report, Respect@Work, more than a year ago, and the government hasn't even bothered to respond to the recommendations. You wonder why people are frustrated and come all the way to Canberra to demonstrate that anger.

What happened during that week was that, on the Thursday, the government gagged debate to get rid of the Family Court of Australia. What priorities were there that said, at a time when gender violence was an issue and when family violence was an issue, that you'd get rid of the court designated to deal with those issues? How has it been helped by that? But that was this government's priority. Its priority throughout all of this, as with everything, is political management. 'I don't hold a hose,' has become, 'I don't have an inquiry,' never taking responsibility for the high office that the Prime Minister holds. Women are asking that he fulfil that responsibility, and this parliament deserves it. Women need to feel as though they can come forward with complaints that they have.

The fact is, though, that the Prime Minister has made statements like, 'At this stage there are no matters that require my immediate attention.' Really, Prime Minister? 'Nothing to see here—just move on'? As Brittany Higgins said, also outside—and I'll conclude with this:

I had these suspicions confirmed when the media exposed a long list of people who knew what had happened to me. A list that seemed to grow by the day as truths about internal reviews, Senate committee submissions, office cleans and witness accounts were all unearthed.

I've seen two powerful women speak in recent times. Those speeches and those women give me great hope for Australia's future. One is Brittany Higgins with her extraordinary speech today, which reinforced to me the courage it took in order to come forward. The second, of course, is Grace Tame. The two are connected. It was seeing Grace Tame at the Australian of the Year commemorations and hearing her powerful speech, on the theme 'Let Her Speak', that encouraged Brittany Higgins to come forward.

Those women do all of us, as Australians, proud, but we need to do more than just listen. But that's a first step: just listen to what they're saying. Forget about the political management; just listen to what they're saying and then act, because we are in a position to act, but not by abolishing the Family Court and not by moving backwards but by moving forwards: to give proper funding to organisations that deal with family violence, to make sure women can be protected at work and to have industrial relations policies that defend the rights of women at work. Women should be safe in this House, but they should be safe wherever they are—wherever they are—whether it's at work, during a recreational activity or, of course, in the home.

One thing that these tragic circumstances should do is to ensure that every member of this House does their best to act in order to make a difference. We're a great country, but the stain of violence against women and children is one that is on all of us. But we are in a position of power. We can use it to make lives better, and we should do just that.