Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I give my full support to this motion. In particular, I note that tomorrow, 25 November 2008, marks White Ribbon Day in Australia. I also note that, as the motion outlines, in 1999 the United Nations General Assembly declared 25 November the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and, as the motion sets out, the white ribbon has become the symbol for the day. I also note that the White Ribbon Foundation of Australia aims to eliminate violence against women by promoting culture change around the issue. I thank the member for Hindmarsh for bringing this motion before the House.

I want to start by mentioning Laos. I spent some time working in Cambodia and, as part of that, I spent time in Laos. Whilst I was in Laos, a seemingly peaceful country on the surface—although we do not agree with its political system—I was quite surprised and shocked to find that Laos had, by some reports, the highest level of domestic violence in all of Asia. I met people who had suffered severe domestic violence. The reason I raise this is that, in a seemingly peaceful culture, it was an example of a deeply hidden problem. It is a problem that crosses too many cultures. It is not about that one country; it is present in Australia. I just note that what I saw there and the people I met had a deep impact on me because they were setting out the hidden crime that was occurring. Make no mistake: this is a real and significant crime.

I want to focus in two stages on the problem of violence against women. Firstly, I want to look at home, at Australia and what we need to do. We know that the direct victims are women. In all parts of our society there has been and, sadly, there continues to be the problem of violence against women. The answer can only come in one way, and that is through shining a spotlight upon this issue. It is real, it is ongoing, it is tragic and it is unacceptable.

Against that background, we need to acknowledge the secondary victims of violence against women. Sadly, in so many cases, of course, they are children. I know contemporaries of mine who have grown up in families where there has been unacceptable violence against their mothers. It is, again, a profound issue which stays with children their whole lives. In many cases, the example is replicated from generation to generation. It is a terrible situation when the violence becomes intergenerational and is passed from father to son and the victims are women on either side—the partners of the fathers and the partners of the sons, respectively. In that situation, the answer again and again is to shine a spotlight on the problem. The combination of positive education, positive role models and letting it be absolutely clear that there is no tolerance of violence and no circumstance, day, place or moment when such violence is acceptable is where we must head in Australia—zero tolerance, zero acceptance and working towards a zero outcome in terms of any future violence against women.

Secondly, I briefly want to look at the international side. Through our aid program we have done a considerable amount of work. There has been continued and bipartisan support for that. I am pleased that the current government is continuing on the work of the previous government. I know in my formal role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs we were concerned, active and committed. We must continue to work as part of our aid program, firstly, by providing positive outlets for people and giving them a sense of hope, opportunities and a way forward and, secondly, by making sure that the education program about the specific problem is clear and unequivocal that nowhere, in no culture and under no circumstances is such violence acceptable. (Time expired)

See this speech in context