Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fowler for proposing this motion in support of White Ribbon Day, which is 25 November this year. White Ribbon Day is a day that has its genesis in the very thing it stands to prevent. On the afternoon of 6 December 1989, a student from the University of Montreal massacred 14 of his fellow female students. Such a horrific act traumatised Canada and brought the issue of violence against women to the forefront of its collective consciousness. In response, a group of men in Toronto decided to speak out and work to stop men's violence against women. In 1991, they initiated a male-led movement known as White Ribbon and the annual awareness-raising event White Ribbon Day.

Continued trauma from violence against women, the ever-increasing public awareness of the number of women and children affected by violence against them by men, and the willingness of men demanding that we all stand up against violence against women now sees White Ribbon as an international effort with actions by men and boys in over 57 countries. This year alone, 39 women have already died in Australia due to violence against them. Countless others are seriously injured both physically and mentally. Much of this violence is also directed at children, or at least done in front of them, causing lifelong psychological impacts on them as well. Indeed, in Western Australia more of it occurs in my electorate than in any other in Perth.

I'd also like to pay tribute to those women in this parliament, such as the member for Lindsay and others, who have shared their stories with the nation to bring further national prominence to the scourge of violence against women in our society. However, it shouldn't have to take this for people to know that violence against women is wrong. It is simple human decency that at least in words we try to teach and expect our children to learn from a very young age. Alas, despite all the words and rhetoric, any of us who are parents know that it's actually our actions and attitudes that make the difference.

The cyclical nature of domestic violence and violence against women is well understood. That a lack of respect for women begets violence against women is also well understood. But it is here that we have a breakdown, with not enough men willing and able to say to those that they see or know committing acts of violence that it is just not on. And so I'd like to acknowledge a group that gets little acknowledgment in this place, in fact gets quite the opposite most weeks: the CFMEU in Western Australia. Under the leadership of Mick Buchan and Joe McDonald, the WA CFMEU have been leaders in the Labor Party and the union movement in supporting paid domestic violence leave, campaigning against domestic violence, providing monetary and other support to women's refuges around WA, and supporting White Ribbon.

Despite what those opposite might think and say, unions do have a very positive role to play in social leadership in this country. In a time of declining union membership, when the union for industries are as male heavy as construction and mining, the CFMEU stands up and says to its members that violence against women is not acceptable. And not only does it stand against it but it also fundraises to support the refuges that support those victims of domestic violence. That is leadership; it is leadership by action. It's the leadership that makes us on this side of the chamber proud to be union, just as the actions of paid domestic violence leave across the union movement make us proud. While we can and should talk about such things in this place, the time for talking really should be over. The government should pull its finger out on paid domestic violence leave.

I would also like the government to consider a White-Ribbon-specific initiative. The White Ribbon Australia Workplace Accreditation Program recognises workplaces that are taking active steps to stop violence against women, accrediting them as White Ribbon workplaces. The program builds on existing gender equality and diversity initiatives, providing the tools to strengthen a culture of respect and gender equality at all levels of an organisation. The program supports organisations to respond to and prevent violence against women, whether it occurs inside or outside an organisation, through supporting women experiencing violence, holding perpetrators to account, supporting all employees to challenge inappropriate behaviour and strengthening gender equality within the broader community. Current White Ribbon accredited workplaces include the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy, the RAAF, a number of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australian, Tasmanian and Western Australian government departments, the NRL, Virgin Australia, and many, many others. I strongly urge the government and the presiding officers of this parliament to consider accreditation under the program.

There is one final piece of talking that is very important and it is this oath that, as a decent human being, I am happy to make and make often: I will stand up, speak out and act to prevent men's violence against women. This is my oath. My challenge to all Australian men is: will you take the oath too?

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