Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to rise today, the 25th day of November, which is White Ribbon Day. In 1999 the United Nations declared this day to be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and a white ribbon became its symbol. It is with some sadness that we do have to repeat statistics about violence against women in Australia, because these statistics are quite shocking. We have heard them but we need to repeat them so that they can enter the national consciousness so people can truly appreciate and understand how serious the problem is. We see one in three Australian women experiencing physical violence in their lifetime and one in five women will experience sexual violence in their lifetime. Even more distressing perhaps is that almost one in four children will witness violence against their mother or stepmother. For children witnessing this sort of violence, we know it does have lifelong harmful effects and impacts on their future relationships.

The consequences of this violence, we know, are not just devastating to the individual, are not just devastating to the children around them, are not just devastating to the family and the extended family, but have very serious economic impacts. Each year it is estimated that violence against women costs $13.6 billion, a figure that unfortunately is expected to rise to $15.6 billion by 2012.

By acknowledging and supporting this day and by wearing a white ribbon, as members of parliament, we show a united front and demonstrate our personal commitment. That is a very powerful symbol to many out there in the community who, in spite of the varied opinions and attitudes they may have toward members of parliament, do look to us to provide some sort of leadership. Our commitment not to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women does give significant encouragement to many organisations out there in every corner of Australia, in capital cities and country towns, who try to raise awareness and discussion about this very important issue. The fact that we here in the parliament, including the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, made these important commitments and took an oath sends a powerful symbol to our community. I think that is very important.

Everyone out there—in every corner of Australia, no matter where they are—must know that violence against women is not acceptable in our society. It is not the answer to any problem. We need to empower women so that they know they do not have to suffer this sort of violence in silence. We need to present a clear message to children about what behaviour is not acceptable, under any circumstances, in our society.

I agree with what the Prime Minister said in his speech to the White Ribbon Foundation on 10 September, that this type of crime needs to have a light shone upon it in order to stamp it out. We know that crime and violence against women blossom in the dark when no one mentions it, or we pretend that it is not happening or that it is a private thing. It is easier for many people who are confronted by someone they know who is a victim of violence to pretend that it is not really that bad, or to pretend it is not happening or even that if enough time goes by the problem will go away. But we know that it does not. This sort of violence will continue to flourish unless men in this country acknowledge publicly that there is never any excuse for violence against women and there is never any excuse for ignoring it if we know it is happening.

Eliminating violence against women is an enormous challenge. It is like eliminating crime or getting rid of drug addiction. There will always be a small element within our community that engages in criminal and harmful behaviour. What is so insidious and upsetting about the incidence of violence against women is the widespread nature of it. Right across Australian society, right across every socioeconomic level, right across every ethnic group and right across every demographic you will find an element of violence against women.

I am surprised that the current government has changed the rhetoric on this issue and has established a national council to reduce violence against women and their children. I do not agree with the government choosing to replace the word ‘eliminate’ with ‘reduce’. It is hardly the language of a zero tolerance approach. I wonder what sort of message this sends to perpetrators—that it is okay if you reduce the beatings from four to two a week or to beat a woman occasionally? I am sure this was not the government’s intention. I am not implying that the Minister for Housing or the Prime Minister are tolerant in any way of this type of violence, but I do think we need to be very careful about the language we use. We need to talk about the elimination—in our language and in our speeches—rather than the reduction of violence. We know that language is an extremely powerful tool. There seems to be some anecdotal evidence that some young people feel, at some level, it is okay to hit a woman, particularly if provoked, and there was a recent study of some teenage boys which I found particularly disturbing.

White Ribbon’s website mentions the recent coverage of celebrity couple Rhianna and Chris Brown. The public response to this story demonstrated how young people still tolerate violence in their relationships, or even place blame on the victim. A US poll showed that nearly half of all respondents aged between 12 and 19 thought Rhianna was responsible for the incident. Research closer to home has shown that 29 per cent of young people believe that most physical violence that occurs in dating is because a partner provoked it. So I think that we do need to be very careful about the messages we send out and the language we use. Let us make it clear that violence against women is just not on. Let us talk about eliminating violence against women, not just reducing it.

This year there is a new and exciting campaign in which men are being asked to swear an oath never to commit, excuse, or stay silent about violence against women. Interested men who may be listening to question time or who may read this speech—or some of my colleagues—may swear this oath on the Net at www.myoath.com.au.

I do applaud the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, who have led by example and sworn the oath. I also applaud the member for Lyne, who recently appealed to male parliamentarians to be outspoken, get active in this campaign or become a White Ribbon ambassador. I congratulate and applaud all those men who have taken up, and those who will take up, the challenge and become White Ribbon ambassadors and those male role models, sportsmen and celebrities who have done so as well. I encourage all of Australia’s 10 million men, whatever their background and whatever their culture, to take up the challenge and swear the oath today to make a commitment to end violence against women.

This oath recognises that strong leadership from men is required to address this serious social issue, as indeed strong male leadership is essential to reform in other areas of society in which women are seeking change and improvement. It also, interestingly enough, underscores the importance of fatherhood and positive male role models for our children. In one of my other capacities, as shadow minister for early childhood education, I know how vitally important the early childhood years are in shaping the values, brains, emotions, character and behaviour of future generations. It is not just about literacy and numeracy or various learning skills; it is about life lessons that young children absorb so completely and that impact on their character for the rest of their life. Respect for women must be part of that early learning experience. As we know—and we see on television the ads about alcohol consumption and its impact on children—children learn by example. I am sure we can all relate as to why we are the way we are and why we do certain things the way we do. We learnt that through the role modelling we had as we were growing up—and children do learn by example. That is why it is incumbent upon every man in Australia to commit to a zero tolerance approach to violence against women. Young children need to learn clearly and unequivocally that hitting a woman is never right and is never justified—no ifs, buts or maybes. I would like to see a time when the big, tough alpha male has absolute respect for the partner, the woman, that he is with, when to be a real man is not to hit a woman, not to treat her like some animal, but to show respect for another human being. In my opinion, that is part of what being a real man is, to be confident enough about the person you are not to have to physically overpower someone who in most cases is not as physically powerful as you.

For boys in particular the best person to learn this from is their father. Many other men can have a role in being models, but the best person to learn from is their father. It is vital for men to step up to the plate and realise the importance of teaching these life lessons to their sons and reinforcing that attitude by their own example. The social capital that men provide to their families really needs to be properly recognised and valued. I do not think we as a community place enough emphasis on the social capital that both men and women provide in their caregiving and family-building roles. We tend to focus on economic productivity and future economic productive units in society, rather than on social capital. That is something that governments at all levels need to work towards.

As we know, there are some cultures in which violence against women is not only condoned but sanctioned by the state. The recent highly publicised situation of a Sudanese woman, journalist Lubna Ahmed Hussein, is a case in point. Ms Hussein was jailed for a day in September for violating Sudan’s clothing decency laws by wearing trousers in public. She had faced a punishment of 40 lashes. She was convicted in July. In September a Sudanese court ordered her to pay a fine instead, while 10 of the other 12 women arrested with her at a Khartoum restaurant on 3 July were lashed. After she refused to pay the fine, Ms Hussein served a one-day jail sentence. This type of attitude towards women must never be allowed to pervade society, and where it does in certain cultural pockets we need to help those in those communities to condemn this sort of behaviour and condemn violence against women in no uncertain terms. We should not have lower standards of acceptable behaviour towards women who happen to belong to a subcultural group within Australian society. I know I will probably get criticism for this sort of comment and someone will try and say, ‘There she goes again, making some cheap, hollow, two-dimensional political point. There she goes again; she’s trying to be racist.’ This is not about race; this is about standards: how we treat all women as human beings. We have seen Aboriginal society suffer because we have had lower standards of care and responsibility towards women and children in Aboriginal societies, because we were too afraid to state the obvious. In the same way we cannot be afraid to state the obvious and to provide protection, leadership and guidance to all women in Australia irrespective of their location and irrespective of their particular ethnic background.

I also take this opportunity, on behalf of the opposition, to commend and thank the many dedicated people at the White Ribbon Foundation who are very passionate about this cause, including White Ribbon Day Ambassador Andrew O’Keefe. I also acknowledge the very hard work and dedication of the members of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children, led by Libby Lloyd, a very fine woman indeed. Also at this point I join with the minister in congratulating all the men who have taken the oath so far today and have shown their support by wearing a white ribbon. We must eliminate violence against women and children, not just reduce it. Our goal should be to eliminate violence against women and children and anything else below this standard would be failing in our duties and responsibilities to, and leadership of, the Australian people.

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