Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to note the very successful meeting that was held in Port Macquarie on 18 December of the Asia-Pacific Regional Standing Committee of Male Parliamentarians for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls. In September 2009 I got involved in the formation of this committee through the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development.

That group has designed a blueprint for action to drive its work in engaging men in the elimination of violence. One action arising from that blueprint was to establish national groups with the same focus to complement and shape this regional group at a country level. Countries represented at the establishment meeting were Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

In upholding commitments made at the September 2009 meeting of the regional standing committee, the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development launched a subcommittee in Australia, and that is the male parliamentarians for the elimination of violence against women. It was launched on 24 November last year and is co-convened by me and the very honourable Dr Mal Washer, the federal member for Moore. The parliamentary group has taken up this issue, as it is fundamental to any gender equity agenda and has deep implications for Australians, both men and women, in terms of achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights. I also put on the record for the economists that an economic assessment of this issue in Australia reveals that the cost of violence against women and girls to Australia reached $13.4 billion in 2009 and is expected to increase to $15.6 billion by 2021 if substantial work is not done on this issue.

As a member of this subcommitte I have pledged, as have many other male parliamentarians, to never commit, condone or stay silent about violence against women, to discuss the issues within my personal networks and family, to raise awareness of this issue with my constituency, to meet with members of community groups within my constituency to discuss and support this work on the issue, and to use my position as a national policy maker to ensure strong implementation, monitoring and policy outcomes on eliminating violence against women and girls.

I have also maintained a close relationship with the Asia-Pacific standing committee and was pleased, on 18 December last year, to host the second meeting of the standing committee in Port Macquarie. Friends at the local airport believe it is the first time over the decade that they have worked at the airport that they have seen a passport from Bhutan. That was an example of the cultural experience for members of parliament visiting a regional location like Port Macquarie. As well, it was a cultural experience for many in Port Macquarie to meet people from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Iran, Laos and the many countries now involved in this work.

As a group, the members of the 13 countries represented recommitted to further work and have now all committed in detail to doing the following: to be role models who speak up against all forms of gender based violence and who promote a zero tolerance approach, to actively engage with public awareness campaigns on violence and raise our voices in support of approaches to violence prevention that are led by men and boys, to advocate for other male parliamentarians to join the network, to enact and support legislative and policy changes that will have stronger outcomes for violence prevention and elimination for women and girls, to support work in partnership with community groups and NGOs to promote good practice and effective engagement, and to provide and share information across the regional network and within our parliaments.

Statistics report that in Australia one in three women and girls will experience physical violence from the age of 15, one in five women and girls will experience sexual violence in their lifetime and up to one-quarter of Australian youth will witness sexual or physical violence perpertrated against their mother or stepmother. We as a parliament have work to do. While in-principle support for the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children was received from all jurisdictions in mid-2010, it is imperative that a fully-funded and endorsed national plan which addresses all six target areas for action be rolled out, implemented and reported on through COAG. (Time expired)