Motions

White Ribbon Day

Adjourned debate on motion of Mr Gardner (resumed on motion).

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (17:24): I am very pleased to be able to speak, having signed my pledge this afternoon, which is now sitting proudly in my office. The member for Stuart is obviously to be commended on bringing this motion to the house. Violence in general is to be abhorred in our society, but particularly violence against women. It is good to be able to have the opportunity in this house to speak out on the matter. It is not a good thing in our society.

If we are ever to bring our wives and daughters in our society to the point where they are able to really participate freely and fully, as they should, it is important that they are in a safe and secure environment to be able to do that, where they feel free to participate and make the choices that are available to them and to take part in this life and in our society—this wonderful Western civilisation of ours—as fully and completely as they can. The most basic requirement for them to be able to do that is a safe environment: one where they do not feel threatened, bullied or intimidated, where they are not beaten or abused in such a way as they would then refuse to participate or in fact are hurt physically or emotionally. So many people have spoken so well on this topic that I will not hold the house—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You better, because the member for Little Para has gone for his notes.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: I will conclude by strongly supporting the motion and, again, congratulate the member for Stuart on bringing it to the house.

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (17:27): I am pleased to be able to speak on the member for Stuart's motion. I commend to anybody who was not present at the time or to anybody who is a casual reader of Hansard, as I like to refer to them—I know there are actually people who ask our officers to have the Hansard sent out to them—to ignore what I am about to say and go straight back to the member for Stuart's original moving of this motion. It was an exceptional speech.

Mr Picton interjecting:

Mr GARDNER: I am not saying that what I am about to say might not yet reach loftier heights than it started at, but the member for Stuart's speech was exceptional. I think anybody who has any regard for the way we conduct ourselves in this place can have a look at the way the member for Stuart did so this morning. This house recognises White Ribbon Day, which is of course tomorrow, but we recognise today as it is the last sitting day before—

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: The 25^th.

Mr GARDNER: Indeed, White Ribbon Day is the 25^th. We recognise it in this house as it is the last sitting day beforehand. We encourage all men to swear an oath to never commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women. I am pleased to have made that pledge. I am pleased to have applied and am hoping, at some stage, to become a White Ribbon Ambassador. It is an excellent organisation. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (17:28): I, too, took the pledge today proudly. I do not know if I can add too much to what particularly the member for Stuart has had to say and others, of course, who have made really valuable contributions to this. I just want to speak very briefly about some things I have been looking at in relation to this recently.

I was particularly moved by the Premier's response to the Coroner's inquiry into the death of Zahra Abrahimzadeh, and it caused me to look at some of the things that are happening in the UK. The UK Law Commission is having an inquiry into offences against the person, which is basically their assault laws over there, which are very archaic—more archaic than ours—and are in desperate need of some tidying up. As part of that inquiry, the Law Commission is looking at the question of whether there should be specific offences for domestic violence: domestic violence assaults and also domestic violence without actual violence in terms of coercive bullying and those sorts of things. So, there is a debate going on in the UK.

I would like the chance to talk to people, talk to my colleagues, talk to the Attorney, about whether it is a reasonable thing to look at, creating offences around domestic violence. There are arguments for and against. One of the good ones, I think, is that you can label it as such, you can compile statistics more easily, and you can allow the police intelligence sections and the courts to look at statistics more easily.

The other thing is that, rather than it appearing on someone's criminal record simply as an aggravated assault, or something similar, it will appear clearly as a domestic violence offence, so it gives notice to social services and other agencies. My lawyer fiancée has given me numerous arguments against such a thing, so I look forward to having those discussions as we go on. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (17:30): I also rise to support this motion and thank the member for Stuart for bringing it to the house. I was very delighted to sign the pledge this morning, with both the member for Napier and the member for Stuart also present. It is a pledge I have signed before, but I think it is good to continually restate commitment to it. Most recently, I signed it at an event at the Port Noarlunga Football Club. It was the fifth time that they had held a White Ribbon event at the football club, and I congratulate them on that, particularly the community development officer, Todd Stokes, who helped organise it.

All the players sign up their commitment, as do all the fans and supporters of their two teams. I think they were playing Marion that day, and there was unanimous support from across all those present to take action in their own lives to prevent violence against women. I think it really highlighted that domestic violence and violence against women is not just a women's issue; it is as much a men's issue. We all need to take action in our own lives to make sure that we do not tolerate it, we do not accept it, and we take action to stop it.

I would also like to support the action of the member for Reynell, who moved a motion that the Social Development Committee looks into domestic violence in South Australia and what action we can take as a parliament and as a government to help to prevent that. I believe that a similar inquiry is also underway federally. I hope that we can identify more measures that we can take to help prevent such violence.

Like the member for Little Para, I support the actions the Premier recently announced in this regard. I was lucky enough to represent the Premier at the Unmask the Silent Crime Ball recently at Adelaide Oval. The Leader of the Opposition was there, as was the leader of the Greens and perhaps other members as well. It was an excellent night not only to raise awareness but also valuable funds for the fight against this horrible violence. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (17:33): I very genuinely thank all members who have spoken in support of this motion, and I appreciate the government's support greatly. I know that everybody who has contributed has done so very genuinely, very earnestly and in their own way.

I did particularly appreciate the member for Bragg's contribution because she put forward some suggestions for particular actions which she would like seriously considered and which would go towards reducing domestic violence and impacting upon people's inclination towards domestic violence. The member for Mitchell also made the extremely important point that it is not just White Ribbon Day on 25 November that counts; it is a milestone that makes us think about these things in a more formal structured way, but every day, every hour, every minute it is an incredibly important issue.

I am a very proud White Ribbon Ambassador, and I know that there are other White Ribbon ambassadors from both sides of politics in our South Australian parliament and that they take their role very seriously. There are ambassadors from all walks of life, in fact, and at this point in time, while not any more important than the others, I would like to single out the South Australian police force's very genuine contribution in supporting the White Ribbon foundation. I know that the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and several assistant commissioners, all the way through the police force, do what they can to support the White Ribbon foundation.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Port Augusta Homelessness and Violence Against Communities collaboration which, about three years ago, nominated me to be a White Ribbon Ambassador. They do outstanding work in Port Augusta and have my full support.

In closing, one of the really important aspects of this issue—and we have dealt with this to the very best of our ability among all those members who have taken the opportunity to speak about the reasons why we think this is such an important issue—and one thing that really needs to be said is that the White Ribbon foundation does not have it in for men. The White Ribbon foundation highlights that this is an issue that men can contribute to fixing far more than women can, and it is a responsibility that we have.

Most men do not commit violence towards women but the men who do not and the men who do are the ones who have the greatest responsibility with regard to trying to stop this problem and have a positive impact upon the men who do, and I think that that is a very important issue. Most men do not commit domestic violence, but all men have a responsibility to try to stop it. As is in the motion, I very genuinely ask all male members of parliament to swear the oath. Many have today, as the member for Kaurna has just said, and I think that is an outstanding thing. As he said, some have done it for the second or the third time.

It is something to always keep close to your minds: to swear an oath and to have it in your heart and in your mind that you will never commit or excuse or remain silent about any violence towards any woman. That should be at the forefront of people's hearts and minds every day of the year, but particularly on 25 November, I ask members to support the White Ribbon foundation in their functions in any way that they can.

Motion carried.