Mea vs Culpa.

"Now, to the other, rather disturbing events — those further reports last night.

I'm shocked, and I'm disgusted. It is shameful. It is just absolutely shameful.

I was completely stunned, as I have been on more than one occasion over the course of this last month.

All of this has been shocking. It has been disgraceful.

It has been a month of such reports.

Indeed, reports involving the conduct of staff and of Coalition government members and ministers, but as you know reports of equally disgraceful and despicable activity, anonymised, of those working in other parties.

We must get this house in order.

We must put the politics aside on these things and we must recognise this problem, acknowledge it, and we must fix it.

This has been a very traumatic month.

It began with Brittany Higgins and her revelations of what took place in this very building.

I remember that day very well. I was equally shocked and stunned at receiving that news also.

These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did.

And it's been going on. We have been talking about it in this place for a month, they have been living with it for their entire lives.

And the women listening to me today know that to be true, so as much as it has been a topic of discussion here, and around the country specifically in relation to these disgraceful acts, it is something that has been the lived experience of Australian women for a very long time, and I welcome the spotlight that has now been placed on this.

I acknowledge that many have not liked or appreciated some of my own personal responses to this over the course of the last month,and I accept that.

Whether that was seeking to openly share how I try and deal with such traumatic events, people might like the fact that I discuss these with my family, they're the closest people in my world to me.

That's how I deal with things, I always have

I have grown up in a loving, supportive family and I discuss these things with my family and those who are closest to me.

No offence was intended by me by saying that I discuss these issues with my wife.

And equally, that is in no way any indication that these events had not already dramatically affected me already at that point.

Equally, I accept that many were unhappy with the language that I used on the day of the protests.

No offence was intended by that either.

I could have chosen different words, I have already explained those matters in the House.

But what I am even more concerned about, even more importantly, I acknowledge that many Australians, especially women, believe that I haven't heard them, and that greatly distresses me.

I have been doing a lot of listening over this past month, but not for the first time.

But particularly on these issues over the last month I have been listening carefully.

I have had many colleagues, I have had many friends and others that I have regular contact with, talk with me openly about the issues, and the traumatic things that they have had to deal with over their lifetimes and members of their family.

Let me tell you what I have heard: Women are too afraid to call out bad behaviour for fear of losing a job or being intimidated in their workplace.

That is not OK, and it's not their fault, it's the environment we have allowed to be created.

Women are afraid to walk to their car from the train, and they carry their keys in their hand like a knife for fear of being attacked. That is not OK. That is not acceptable.

But in this country, a country as great as Australia, women walk daily in that fear.

I have heard that women are overlooked, talked over by men, whether it is in boardrooms, in meeting rooms, in staff rooms, in media conferences, in cabinets, or anywhere else.

Overlooked and treated like they have nothing valuable to contribute.

I have heard about being marginalised, women being intimidated, women being belittled, women being diminished, and women being objectified. That's not OK.

I have heard that women, when offered a job take the salary offered because they don't feel they can ask for more, whereas the blokes do, and they get it. That's not OK.

Whether this is unconscious deafness and blindness, or whether it is wilful malevolence that is behind all of this, it must be acknowledged, it must be called out, and it must stop.

That is all our job, it's my job, it's my ministers' jobs, it's my members' and senators' jobs, it is your job.

This is not something that is of a scale that any government can simply change, it is something we must change as a society because we know it happens all over this country.

But for me and my house, the house I work in here, then we must take responsibility. It's our problem here, it's our responsibility here, and I'm committed to dealing with that.

We must do better in this place, all of us.

And in our country we must do better.

Now forgive me the indulgence, forgive me this indulgence. I want women to have at least the same opportunities and the same voice and the same safety as men in this country.

I have the deepest of vested interests. Criticise me if you like for speaking about my daughters, but they are the centre of my life.

My wife is the centre of my life.

My mother, my widowed mother, is the centre of my life.

They motivate me every day on this issue.

They have motivated me my entire life. They have taught me the values and the faith has sustained me every single day in this job, which is why I am here. I owe them everything.

And to them, I say to you girls, I will not let you down.

To the many other women who are in this place, who have shared their stories with me, I thank you for your feedback, your honesty, your support, your counsel, and your courage.

I know there are plenty of women who work in this building today, whether they be members or senators, or ministers, shadow ministers, staff, journalists, who say why should I bother? Why should I bother? Why shouldn't I just walk away?

There has never been a more important time for women to stand in this place.

I want to see more women in this place. I have done many things to get more women in this place and I intend to do more.

I have put more women in my cabinet than any other prime minister ever has before, and I look forward to doing more.

I need women to stand with me as we go about this, as we stand together, I need them to stand in this place, I need them to stand right where they are, I need them to continue to blaze that trail right here in this place. I admire their courage and I call on it."