Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to support the motion before us and I thank the member for Fowler for bringing it to the House. I also rise to note the upcoming White Ribbon Day, the meaning and significance of this particular day and the ongoing violence and abusiveness on which it is focused, and the role that each and every one of us can play in ridding society of this blight. White Ribbon Day is a time to refocus on both the unacceptable violence perpetrated against women and what we ourselves are doing to prevent this so we can move toward a non-violent, non-oppressive society.

Over the course of 2008 and 2009, the Labor government commissioned response to violence against women was developed to combat and to eliminate violence towards women in Australia. That response is called Time for action. It set a framework of 117 actions of governments, collectively and individually, research and community service organisations towards the achievement of 25 strategies to realise six outcomes within a time frame of 12 years. The report has six outcomes that we all seek, and they are:

• Communities are safe and free from violence
• Relationships are respectful
• Services meet the needs of women and their children
• Responses are just
• Perpetrators stop their violence
• Systems work together effectively.

It is a very sad indictment of our society and those of nations around the world that these statements are so hard to apply to our very own communities, our very own neighbourhoods, our own circle of friends and the social and community services that we have created to serve us.

Of the 117 actions listed, 20 actions were prioritised within the response for immediate fulfilment. One such action was:

Recognising that most men are not violent towards women, encourage them to take a role in countering such violence and promote understandings of, and support for, expressions of masculinities that are non-violent.

White Ribbon Day ambassadors are men who assume a role in countering the violence and promoting non-violent expression. I am very honoured to be one of no doubt many members of this House and myriad White Ribbon Day ambassadors in our communities. I believe that there is no greater or more significant task that we have assumed over recent years than that of being White Ribbon Day ambassadors. The pain and suffering perpetrated on women and their children, the normalisation of abuse learned and passed on through such experiences from generation to generation and the debasing of people’s human experience are the manifestations which we pledge, as White Ribbon Day ambassadors, to strive to bring to an end.

We are reminded on White Ribbon Day that each and every one of us is in a position to do our bit to stop and to prevent that which we find so unacceptable and unconscionable. We should all be doing all that we can among our families, when we are raising our children, and guiding those close to us, our colleagues and those on whom they rely, within our social circles, our clubs and our congregations at all times and in all circumstances. We have the opportunity to set an example and to instil in our fellows what is right, good and just.

There is, of course, a tremendous role for professional service providers in both halting the perpetration of violence in the immediate discharge of their duties and preventing its recurrence within a context from which a person has been brave enough to emerge seeking help. I welcome the funding of the Women’s Services Network to build the capacity of service providers to support those victims of domestic and family violence within an early intervention and prevention model. I encourage all governments, federal, state and local, to give appropriate resources to emergency housing for use by women and their children who leave an abusive and violent environment.

People desperately need our help. They ask for our help. They plead for our help every day in our electorate offices. We need to acknowledge what that means in terms of service provision, face up to our responsibility to help people as and when they need and request it and fund the services, including emergency accommodation, so that they can make a difference. Good intentions are cheap but without effort and resources too often betray indifference. This is not the mark of a civilised society.

See this speech in context