Motions

White Ribbon Day

Ms COOK (Fisher) (11:40): As the date of White Ribbon Day printed on the Notice Paper states that it is 24 November, when it is 25 November, by leave I move my motion in an amended form:

That this house—

(a) recognises that 25 November 2015 is White Ribbon Day;

(b) recognises the great work of White Ribbon Australia in raising the profile of the issue of domestic violence;

(c) notes that men play an important role in helping combat domestic violence; and

(d) encourages businesses, sporting groups and other community organisations to get involved with White Ribbon.

Today, I have the great privilege of moving this motion. White Ribbon Day is recognised on 25 November—the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women—and encourages all men to swear an oath never to commit, remain silent about or excuse violence against women. White Ribbon is Australia's only national male-led campaign to end men's violence against women. It is celebrated on 25 November each year.

White Ribbon Australia seeks to change the attitudes, behaviours and social norms that lead to and perpetuate men's violence against women by engaging boys and men to lead social change. Originating in Canada in 1991, White Ribbon is now active in more than 60 countries. White Ribbon encourages men to swear an oath to stand up, speak out and act to prevent men's violence against women. More than 172,000 oaths have been sworn to date.

I wish to share some statistics with the house today. We are all too familiar with the horrifying statistics which include: a woman dies at the hands of a current or former partner almost every week in Australia, one woman in three has experienced physical violence since the age of 15, one woman in five has experienced sexual violence and one woman in four has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner. Women in Australia are three times more likely than men to experience violence at the hands of a partner.

More than half of the women who experienced violence had children in their care when this violence occurred. Intimate partner violence is the leading contributor to ill health and premature death in women under 45—more than any other well-known risk, including high blood pressure, obesity and smoking. There is growing evidence that women with a disability are more likely to experience violence. For example, 90 per cent of Australian women with an intellectual disability have been subjected to sexual abuse. Indigenous women also experience disproportionately high levels of family violence.

The cost of violence against women and their children to the Australian economy in 2009 was $13.6 billion and is calculated to rise to $15.6 billion by 2022 without the right preventative action. Prevention requires us all to play our part, to be part of supporting women and their children who are experiencing this violence, to continue the national conversation in our local communities about what we can all do to challenge sexist and discriminatory attitudes about women, and to promote gender equality and encourage men to become part of the White Ribbon campaign.

Many of you in this place would be aware that the White Ribbon campaign is about recognising the positive role that men play in preventing violence against women. While most perpetrators of violence against women are men, most men are not perpetrators. The campaign is about harnessing these men to have conversations with other men that women cannot and should not experience this violence and to lead by example through primary prevention initiatives involving awareness raising and education and programs with youth. These can be conducted in schools, workplaces and across the broader community.

South Australia has always played a leadership role in social issues, and violence against women is no different. We are working very hard to ensure that our first response is effective, informed by the most up-to-date information and coordinated at the local level. It is influenced by initiatives such as the MAP Service (Multi-Agency Protection Service) and Family Safety Framework.

Our laws hold perpetrators to account and support vulnerable witnesses who have experienced sexual assault or domestic violence. Our workplaces recognise their role in supporting women, through domestic violence workplace policies. Our schools promote respectful relationships, through programs such as Breaking the Silence, an award-winning professional learning program for principals and senior teachers. The program supports them to embed models of respectful relationships in school culture and classroom activities. These models give students the opportunity to learn and experience respectful relationships, preventing the perpetration of violence against women and girls.

The program is independently evaluated and suitable for both primary and secondary schools. It supports schools to build on initiatives, policies and curriculum to promote the school as a respectful centre for education, a safe workplace and as a vehicle for community culture change. Schools participating in Breaking the Silence become White Ribbon schools. This becomes a very strong symbol in the community.

We need to harness the role of the public sector to challenge the attitudes and social norms at the heart of violence against women through the White Ribbon Workplace Accreditation Program. This accreditation program recognises workplaces that are taking active steps to prevent and respond to violence against women, accrediting them as a White Ribbon Workplace. Assessment of White Ribbon Workplaces against the criteria is undertaken by independent assessors. White Ribbon Workplace assessors are specialists with expertise in organisational development, business management, organisational change, quality improvement, gender equity and accreditation.

White Ribbon Workplaces are centres of respect and proactivity in relation to the safety of women in the workplace and are members of a truly leading-edge cohort, both nationally and internationally. The program is an award-winning initiative which is complementary to women's empowerment initiatives and strengthens the organisation stance in relation to antibullying legislation.

Violence against women and their children is preventable. In 2015, the 40^th anniversary of women's domestic violence services in South Australia, we must also acknowledge the work of women advocates and services in bringing this issue into public consciousness. The White Ribbon campaign in Australia has its foundations in this, and today works alongside sexual assault and domestic violence service to harness the role that men and the broader community can play to break the cycle. This requires work across the year, not just on White Ribbon Day. It requires us to speak out and act, to disrupt attitudes and behaviours, to ensure that we listen and believe women who share their experiences with us, and to challenge this culture of victim blaming.

A society free of violence is my vision. Nobody should go through the pain of the consequences of violence. Please do not be silent. Please do not be a bystander. As a campaign, White Ribbon is dependent on men taking the lead, taking control and bringing other men on the journey. This day, this campaign is not just about the ribbon: it is about how you act. I applaud the creators of White Ribbon. I thank the drivers of the current campaign in Australia and, in fact, worldwide, and I commend this motion to the house.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:48): I rise to support this motion and thank the member for Fisher for bringing it to the house; I think it is a very important thing to do. I have done so in previous years, and I am pleased to have others doing exactly the same sort of thing.

When you consider the statistics the member for Fisher has just shared with the house, this is atrocious stuff and completely unacceptable—and almost all avoidable. Whenever you have bad things happening that are avoidable, it is dreadful not to take action. We all have a role in that as members of parliament, and I think the White Ribbon Foundation is an international leader in this field. I am very proud to be a White Ribbon Ambassador. I acknowledge the fact that the member for Mitchell has recently become a White Ribbon Ambassador and that there are ambassadors on both sides of politics in South Australia. I think that is very important.

Interestingly, the White Ribbon Foundation recently changed its oath. The oath used to be to 'never commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women', and the foundation has just changed that oath to 'I will stand up, speak out and act to prevent men's violence against women.' I think that is a positive change for one reason specifically, and that is that the oath really does highlight the fact that it is a men's issue to change. It is overwhelmingly almost exclusively a matter of men committing domestic violence against women and children, not 100 per cent but pretty close. It is men who are doing this and it is men who need to lead the charge to stop it and take the greatest responsibility.

Of course, there are very good men and women working in this field all over my electorate, and I have expressly identified many of those people and organisations in this house previously, and I will not do so today. All over my electorate and all over South Australia there are people working incredibly hard to address this issue.

The White Ribbon Foundation, as I said, is an international leader, but we should also acknowledge any individual person who tries to make a difference within their own community because this is everyone's problem. It is all our responsibility to do that. It is completely unacceptable to have a woman dying every week from the easily preventable circumstances. It is completely unacceptable that one in three women will have been affected by domestic violence in some way and that it can easily be prevented.

White Ribbon certainly has some outstanding programs. As the member for Fisher mentioned, the school-based and the workplace programs are incredibly important. Over the last few months, all White Ribbon Ambassadors have been asked to go through a recommittal process, and that recommittal process includes a fairly thorough training and, to a small degree, testing process to be absolutely sure that White Ribbon Ambassadors understand the issues that they want to work for and the issues they want to fight against in their communities. I am very proud to have gone through that process. Every White Ribbon Ambassador that you see anywhere in the community from now on will have gone through that process.

I think that is important because, if you really do want to be a leader and if you really do want to make a difference in whatever area it happens to be, you do need to step up yourself and improve the way you go about it on a fairly regular basis. I think the fact that the White Ribbon Foundation is asking White Ribbon Ambassadors to do that is very important.

I think it would be entirely appropriate for this Parliament House to be a White Ribbon accredited workplace. I think that would be a tremendous development and something that we could all be very proud of. Whether it is members of parliament or other staff in whatever role people might happen to work in, we are all people and we all have a responsibility. I am sure we all feel exactly the same way about domestic violence. I put very firmly on the record that I think that would be a tremendous thing for Parliament House to do as a work place, and I will take this matter up with the Speaker and the President of the Legislative Council to see whether they feel that that is appropriate for this workplace that they oversee.

I would just like to provide some insight from a local perspective. When I say local, I am talking about the Yorke and Mid North district, which covers three of our electorates here. It covers Goyder, Frome and part of Stuart. I would just like to read part of an article that appeared today in the Port Pirie Recorder, entitled 'Big demand from victims of violence':

Domestic violence cases have flared to more than double the average rate in the Yorke Mid North district including Port Pirie.

The statistics are kept by UnitingCare Wesley Country SA and its Yorke and Mid North domestic violence services manager, Trish Rollins, describes the figures as 'astounding'…In 2014-15, the service reported that 230 women and children had experienced domestic violence.

But in the first quarter of this financial year—from July to September—145 women and children have been affected, more than double the quarterly average in the previous year.

The article goes on to say, in the context of what the reasons might be for those statistics:

'We have more women coming forward to identify that they are in domestic violence relationships,' she said.

I raise this because it affects my electorate, because it affects a few other electorates. It comments on Port Pirie, but I am sure this would relate equally well, unfortunately, to Whyalla or Port Augusta or many other regional centres. This is in the news today in Port Pirie, and it is real; it is important, and it is something that we all need to know about.

I would like to just talk briefly about the fact that the article raises: the statistics are going up in part because more people are coming forward. That is a double-edged sword, isn't it? It is a good thing that people are prepared to come forward, where previously they might not have been prepared to come forward. It is a good thing in that it gives us more knowledge and more understanding, and more facts and figures and statistics to deal with, so that the problems can be addressed more appropriately, more effectively. It is unfortunate that the numbers are growing, but maybe there is some positive news that we can all use within that growth in statistics, because the growth in statistics probably does not reflect a growth in incidence; it probably does, as Ms Rollins has said, reflect a growth in people coming forward as well.

This is a problem for all of us. I am not nearly as familiar with metropolitan Adelaide as other members here are, but I do know that it is a very serious issue in metropolitan Adelaide. I again commend the member for Fisher for bringing this motion to the house. I would also like to acknowledge the member for Reynell, with whom we jointly, recently, established the Parliamentary Friends United against Domestic and Family Violence group.

I urge all members of parliament to support and participate and engage with that group the best that they possibly can, because that group has been established to try to help members of parliament and other people connected to parliament—it is not exclusively for members; certainly staff are very welcome as well—to, firstly, improve their knowledge about domestic violence and learn more about what is actually happening and, secondly, improve their knowledge and engagement with people and services which can help them with regard to addressing domestic violence. Thirdly, it can help them move on to really making a serious solid contribution within the electorates that they represent. Having gained the knowledge from steps one and two, as I said, they can then go to their electorates and really make a difference, so I ask all members of parliament to actively and genuinely participate with us in that.

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (11:57): I will keep my remarks brief. I have spoken on these matters, like the member for Stuart, many times in this place. I do want to commend the member for Fisher on the motion. I know that many people in this place have direct experience of domestic violence. I count myself lucky, in that I am not one of those people, but I have some indirect experience of it through my work as a police officer, and late last year, my interest and my passion for it was reignited by the Coroner's report into the Abrahimzadeh case. If I stumble, it is because I am sleep deprived; you will have to bear with me, Deputy Speaker.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: Congratulations!

Mr ODENWALDER: Thank you; thank you very much. Yes, I do want to congratulate the member for Fisher and also the member for Stuart, who always makes considered contributions to these sorts of debates. Again, I will be brief. I know that the Premier and this government have done a lot of work in this area, in the area of domestic violence, partly in response to the Coroner's report, but also partly, I know, because the Premier himself is very passionate about this issue. There are several legislative changes which I believe we could consider in the future, and I have gone through those several times in this place. One of them is the introduction of a domestic violence disclosure scheme, which they are now trialling—or perhaps they have instituted—in New South Wales. In any case they have instituted it in the United Kingdom. It is called Claire's law in the UK, colloquially, after Claire Wood who was murdered in 2009 by a man she met on the internet—on Facebook I think—who had a long history of reported domestic violence, which this woman, Claire Wood, was unaware of until it was too late, obviously.

A Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme aims to create mechanisms by which potential victims can access offenders' history of violence and allow police, and other agencies, to proactively disclose information to persons at risk. I believe that in our case we could build upon the MAPS framework that the member for Fisher alluded to. I think MAPS is very good. I think it could be expanded, and there is a lot of room for expansion of MAPS, and I think the member for Fisher would agree there. They do great work on a shoestring, so I think a disclosure scheme could easily be linked to MAPS and I think it would fit quite well.

Any disclosure scheme, the one in the UK and I think the one in New South Wales too, involves two components, so there is a 'right to ask' and also a 'right to know'. The 'right to ask' is for potential victims or third parties concerned for another person's safety, and the right to ask police about a partner's previous history of domestic violence. The 'right to know' would give police the authority and the legal protection to proactively disclose information to potential victims in certain circumstances.

I know from experience, and from talking to police officers over the last year about this very matter, that they do that in an ad hoc sort of way. I think that ultimately they should be afforded all the legal protection to do that when they think it is necessary, rather than be challenged on it later on. In all cases, of course, there will be a series of checks and risk assessments so the police and other agencies could build up a picture of the potential victim and their partner.

The type of information which may be disclosed would need to be necessarily broad, but it could be based on convictions, it could even be based on charges, and I realise there are certain things to work through when you disclose information that is not based on court convictions. I understand that and they have got around that pretty well in the UK and I think it has been a very successful scheme there. The public and the police brass in the UK are extremely supportive of this and it will be interesting to see how New South Wales goes.

Again, I thank the member for Fisher, and there is important work being done by White Ribbon and also by our local domestic services. My Northern Domestic Violence Service does some excellent work, on a shoestring again, and I want to commend the motion to the house.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (12:02): I also rise to support the motion and recognise that 25 November 2015 is White Ribbon Day, and recognise the great work of White Ribbon Australia in raising the profile of the issue of domestic violence, and note that men play an important role in helping combat domestic violence and encourage businesses, sporting groups and other community organisations to get involved with White Ribbon.

As the member for Stuart rightly pointed out, there are some very key messages that come with White Ribbon Day, and they have really broken down into three key areas. They call domestic violence 'the greatest human rights abuse in Australia.' The facts and figures that come out with this are really alarming and, as someone who has not personally been involved with domestic violence, to see and hear some of the fallout from domestic violence is quite horrendous, and it is a big reason as to why I support this cause so strongly.

The figures that at least one woman dies at the hands of a former or current male partner every week in Australia is just abhorrent, and for one in four women to experience violence by an intimate partner as well is equally as abhorrent, and that is one of the key factors that is centred around White Ribbon Day.

The member for Stuart also talked about taking the oath, and I took the oath with him last year which sparked my interest to be more involved with White Ribbon Day. As he mentioned, I am in the process of being an ambassador for White Ribbon Day, and I will talk a bit more about that process in a second. He mentioned the new oath that the White Ribbon Day organisation has put forward:

I will stand up, speak out and act to prevent men's violence against women.

I think it is a very clear, succinct message and one that we must put out there to all people in the community, in particular men, to note, and just to be aware that something little that they do can make a very big difference. Again, the White Ribbon Day organisers talk about wearing the white ribbon on White Ribbon Day, and also beyond, to make sure that you show your support for the cause and the foundation of the oath that I have just read.

I thank the member for Stuart. He endorsed me as a White Ribbon ambassador which is part of the process. It is quite a lengthy process, but one that I would highly recommend to all who are interested in doing this. There are a few steps that you have to go through, including an online survey. The survey is absolutely fantastic and a great way, again, to make people more aware about the issue but also about what you can do to help with the issue and help prevent the issue.

I must really commend Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for his great awareness and his great push for awareness of this campaign to rid Australia of domestic violence. He has made it very clear in his time since coming in as Prime Minister that he sees it as a real scourge on our society, and he is doing a lot in that space to rid Australia of the domestic violence issues that we have. I commend him again on the work that he is doing at a federal level.

Another person who I would like to highly commend and we all know about is Arman Abrahimzadeh and the work he has done. I must say that I have followed him very closely through the media and now through social media. I think this young man is doing an outstanding job to bring awareness to all people about the issues with domestic violence.

I mentioned the fact that I have not been closely associated personally with domestic violence, but when you see and hear his story and see what he and his siblings have had to live with along that line and then what happened to his mother, Zahra, at the hands of his father in front of 300 people on a dance floor at the Adelaide Convention Centre, it is just gut churning and heart wrenching all at the same time. To have actually experienced and witnessed that, and what preceded that as well no doubt for him and his siblings, would have been quite horrendous. I am only feeling this from afar. To know what he felt and what he went through, I cannot begin to imagine.

I really commend him for the way he has stood up as a young man and now, of course, he is South Australia's Young Australian of the Year and a finalist in the national competition. We really wish him all the best in that. He would be a deserving winner if he were to be Australia's Young Australian of the Year. To see what he has done as far as bringing the cause to light and making people aware of his plight and how he works as a White Ribbon ambassador is truly commendable.

I do not really get amazed, but I am fascinated, and I love to see young people in our community making a stand and a difference. For someone like Arman to have been in this situation and for him to have turned what is such an incredible negative into such a great positive, and to see him take this opportunity to set up the Zahra Foundation Australia in memory of his mother and then to be out there educating people and pushing this message, is a great example of what South Australians can do and what people can do by taking an opportunity and making a positive out of a negative.

I truly commend Arman on all the great work he has done and look forward to following him and seeing more great work and supporting him, more importantly, in the great work he does in the future. It is truly commendable and I really do admire the work he has done as a White Ribbon ambassador.

I would also like to talk about some of the people who do wonderful work with domestic violence in my community and there are quite a few. As I said, I have not had a firsthand experience personally of domestic violence, that is, someone in or around me doing something along those lines, but since I have been in this job I have had my eyes opened to a lot of cases and scenarios that are out there and got closer to these cases than probably a lot of people in the community would like.

I have worked very closely with a wonderful social worker called Kerryn Morriss from the Salvation Army in Marion who has come into my office many times. We have had many conversations with clients of hers, but for security reasons I will not divulge their names or their cases. I can say that of the people who have been in my office who we have had chats with and, thankfully, have helped on a lot of occasions, they come to you with great despair, not knowing where to turn or what to do.

Kerryn deals with a lot of the cases that do not come before me. There are countless cases that she deals with and gets a great resolution, and she helps so many people in our community. Often when she comes to me is when she does not know where to turn. We have had some great success helping out there. People in the community do not realise or understand some of the jobs that politicians do, on both sides of the chamber. They see a lot of the bickering that goes on maybe in this house and a lot of stuff in the media, but they do not see the wonderful work that is being done. I am not saying that I am the only one doing it; I know that everyone in this house does lots of work in this area.

The work we have done with Kerryn has been outstanding. I have heard some horrific stories about women being abused by their partners, and moving from location to location to try to keep their kids safe and trying to keep a safe haven for the young families, which is what we all want, and trying to keep safe themselves, which is what we all deserve and which is our right. They have to do a lot of work to find a place, set up a home, as you could understand, only to be invaded again by someone they know, and most often abused physically, verbally or mentally.

It is just heart wrenching to hear these stories, but, again, as a small aside, to be able to help is really pleasing. That is some of the great work I know that everyone in this house does. Again, I stress that Kerryn comes to me only when she genuinely has nowhere else to turn. I cannot commend her highly enough for the wonderful caring work she does, and how she backs up day after day and deals with a lot of these issues is truly amazing. I thank her very much for what she does for our community.

I have talked about the Woodend Primary School as well, because in this motion we have talked about businesses, community groups, sporting groups all working in this area, and I want to sing the praises of the Woodend Primary School and the program that some wonderful teachers ran there, which was called #WeStandTall. They worked it into social media and they worked it in with their years 6 and 7 students. It was about breaking gender stereotypes to try to prevent future domestic violence, and they used social media with #WeStandTall.

Very much like the White Ribbon campaign, it was a mini campaign, I suppose, where they really stressed, particularly to boys in the class, making a stand and to be aware of this issue. If you look at the White Ribbon website you will see they talk about this. They run through a list of some of the issues that are out there. Often, when you think about domestic violence, you just think about physical violence between two people, but there is the emotional violence that goes with it and attitudes that go with it. As you look through their website, it is quite amazing to see some of the factors that play a part in domestic violence and factors that do keep women oppressed. That is really what this White Ribbon campaign is about: it about lifting those restrictions on people and taking them out of our society.

I commend this motion to the house. As a father of four children, two boys and two girls, I cannot stress again how important this motion and the White Ribbon foundation are for the work they do to make sure that young boys and girls are very aware of domestic violence and taking it out of our society and removing it forevermore.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (12:12): I would like to add my comments to commend this motion from the member for Fisher and to add my support for White Ribbon Day coming up and also White Ribbon Australia. I add to my comments last year, when I spoke about the importance of everybody in the community taking action on this issue. Over the past year, there have been some developments in my community in the electorate of Kaurna that I would just like to note for the house.

Over the last year, we have seen the development of the Aldinga/Sellicks Alliance Addressing Family Violence Working Group. They have been meeting since May this year to look at how we can take action to prevent family violence from happening, particularly in the Aldinga Beach and Sellicks Beach areas but also broadly across the southern suburbs. I have been lucky enough to be able to get to one or two of their meetings and to look at ways that we can take action on this issue in the south.

I am very pleased that tomorrow morning we have the inaugural White Ribbon breakfast in the Fleurieu region, and that is being hosted at the Victory Hotel. I will be there at seven tomorrow morning for that.

Mr Pengilly: So will I.

Mr PICTON: Excellent! Good to hear that the member for Finniss will also be there at the Victory Hotel. I think we are going to have a wide range of people from across the community coming along to share their support for ending family violence but also to help raise money. It will raise money not only for the White Ribbon foundation but also for a project to establish a photo voice project in the southern suburbs. That is going to help women affected by domestic violence not only by increasing awareness of the issue in the community but also to help those victims of domestic violence to use art and photos to express themselves and what they have been through.

I would also like to note that on 1 December in the south we have Lifeline's Domestic Violence Aware education session being run in the community. It is going to be at the Aldinga Community Centre. That will be an excellent opportunity for a whole range of people across the south to be educated on what to look out for and how to take action with regard to domestic violence. I know a lot of people are very interested in how, as a community, we can take action, so that seminar will be helpful.

I would like to briefly highlight the role of some people in the community who have been working on this through the Aldinga/Sellicks Alliance. I particularly note Malcolm Dean from Uniting Communities, who has been tireless in his work to get these projects underway. I do not think they would have happened without him, so I absolutely thank him. I would also like to note others who have worked hard, notably: Matt Adams, Craig Cooper and Emma Cadd from the council, Lauren Jew and Tracey Hill from the Aldinga Beach Children's Centre, Carly Hamilton and Richard Schirmer from Community Health Onkaparinga, Trish Dundon and Margaret Connelly from the Galilee Catholic Parish, Carly Zammit from Southern Domestic Violence Service, Belinda Pollard from Communities for Children Onkaparinga and Amanda Kemperman and Clare Daly from Uniting Communities. So, thank you to all of them for their hard work in the community on this issue. I also thank the Victory Hotel for hosting the breakfast tomorrow and for helping to raise money for this important issue.

It would be remiss of me not to note the hard work over a number of years of the Port Noarlunga Football Club on this issue, led by the very hardworking Tod Stokes. They have had a White Ribbon round every year for six years now. They are a very hardworking club, raising awareness particularly amongst men in the southern suburbs that this is everybody's responsibility and we all need to take action to prevent family violence.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:16): I rise to support the motion regarding White Ribbon Day. I note that this day will be held on 25 November 2015. In this motion we are also recognising the great work of White Ribbon Australia in raising the profile of the issue of domestic violence, noting that men play an important role in helping combat domestic violence and encouraging businesses, sporting groups and other community organisations to get involved with White Ribbon.

Domestic violence is a serious and sometimes fatal issue, which should never be taken lightly. At least one Australian woman is taken by this each week and the simple response is that this number is just too high—any life taken is one too many. The history of the White Ribbon campaign is a clear indication of how this issue can result in fatalities. On 6 December 1989, a man killed 14 of his female classmates. Further to this massacre, a minority of Toronto men came together and accepted the responsibility of speaking out against violence against women. This formed what we now know as the White Ribbon campaign, which is the world's largest and Australia's only male led campaign against violence against women.

Originating in Canada, White Ribbon has excelled in raising awareness and advocating against violence against women. This is evident as White Ribbon is now active in over 60 countries around the world. The campaign's commencement is signalled by White Ribbon Day, also known as the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women, which normally takes place on 25 November of every year and is followed by a 16-day activism program, ending on 10 December, which is known as Human Rights Day.

White Ribbon's campaign 'works through primary prevention initiatives involving awareness raising and education programs with youth, schools, workplaces, and across the broader community.' White Ribbon is of the belief that the safety of women needs to be made a man's issue too. Current funding arrangements for White Ribbon are made up of six categories, all with their own percentages, and they are as follows: 11 per cent being donations, 23 per cent partnerships and philanthropic organisations, 10 per cent from government, 2 per cent other, 30 per cent merchandise and 24 per cent events.

I would now like to speak about what people can do in order to assist the White Ribbon campaign, as the more who participate the more awareness violence against women will receive. Assisting the campaign in its simplest form could mean wearing a white ribbon or wristband. Another simple message could involve taking the oath, which can be done on the White Ribbon website; to date, over 173,104 people have sworn to stand up, speak out and act against violence against women.

Attracting others to the campaign is also another form of activism and awareness of White Ribbon, as is possibly even encouraging them to participate by wearing a ribbon, wristband or even taking the oath themselves or, lastly, planning to host a White Ribbon Day event or a guest promotion. All these contributions will raise awareness for this campaign and educate participants. I think education—and I will speak more on this later—is absolutely vital in combating violence against women.

Education, learning and advocacy are just some of the key initiatives towards tackling this issue. White Ribbon is about men standing up against domestic violence. The following points, listed on the White Ribbon website, could assist anyone wishing to pursue advocacy or support against violence against women:

1. Listen to women, learn from women.

2. Learn about the problem.

3. Learn why some men are violent.

4. Wear a white ribbon or wristband.

5. Challenge sexist language and jokes that downgrade women.

6. Learn to identify and oppose sexual harassment and violence in your workplace, school and family.

7. Support local women's programs.

8. Examine how your own behaviour might contribute to the problem.

9. Work towards long-term solutions.

10. Get involved with the White Ribbon campaign's education efforts.

When researching this issue, there is some very useful information on the White Ribbon website, but one piece of information in particular stood out for me, as I think it provides people with an insight as to what to do when presented with a difficult situation, such as a victim/survivor confiding in you about an ongoing or recent domestic violence case.

I often find myself thinking, 'What would I do in such a situation?' and, more so, 'What are the right things to say and do when presented with this kind of information?' I found some ideas that can be followed when presented with a domestic violence case. They are as follows:

1. Believe and validate the person's experience.

2. Affirm that the victim/survivor is blameless.

3. Enable the victim/survivor to regain control.

4. Accept the difference of opinion, be nonjudgmental.

5. Be supportive, encouraging, open and honest.

6. Give accurate information.

I will be attending a White Ribbon event in Murray Bridge at the Mobilong Prison tomorrow as one way to show my support for White Ribbon Day and its ongoing campaign. I was also a part of the Home Safe Home campaign, when the outside of my office was decorated with white balloons and I was pictured wearing a white ribbon, advocating my promise to domestic violence awareness, and on that day and every day to come I promised to support domestic violence prevention.

I would like to acknowledge the fact that other members of this place and the other place and I are involved with the Social Development Committee inquiry into domestic violence. We are told some heart-wrenching stories and far too many statistics of domestic violence are coming through during that inquiry.

I certainly applaud some of the programs that are attempting to educate our children and our young boys, our men and our girls in relation to domestic violence. I firmly believe that we need to have these education programs in place right throughout society. I know there are some perpetrator programs run through the Offenders and Rehabilitation Service, through the prisons, and that there are some other perpetrator programs run throughout the state. But that is after the event, and I think we need to make sure that these violent events just do not happen.

I certainly commend the work of groups like Our Watch and Say No to Violence and their programs educating the community so that we can have far better outcomes than always fixing up the crisis end of happens so often with cases of domestic violence. What I have learnt throughout the committee process is that it seems like most of the money is at the crisis end, whether it is for women's shelters or assistance to women in other ways. We have to keep that money there, but we also have to focus on the prevention because, in the end, that will save having to spend so much on crisis situations.

We also need to have strong men in all communities, and during the Social Development Committee hearings that means all communities, whether they be Indigenous or others. We have had submissions from the APY lands and Alice Springs in regard to domestic violence. We have had submissions from right across the state.

It needs strong men, no matter what their background, whether they are immigrants who have come into this country recently or the founding peoples, the Aboriginal people of this state who have been here for many thousands of years. We need communities where strong men stand up and protect our women, who are so valued by us, and we must make sure that this work goes on.

In closing, the member for Ashford and I will be in Darwin next week at a commonwealth parliamentary seminar and we will be presenting on this very subject of domestic violence to commonwealth nations and states, to keep spreading the word about what needs to be done to combat this evil against women and children. I commend the motion.