WHITE RIBBON DAY

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (14:56): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the activities that took place during the recent White Ribbon Day.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: This year, as part of White Ribbon Day events across the country, South Australia hosted a Men in the Mall event. As part of this event, the White Ribbon Foundation launched the My Oath campaign which asked all men to swear never to commit, excuse or stay silent about violence against women. Will the minister update the council about the White Ribbon Day event and the campaign?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The White Ribbon Day campaign is about engaging men in positive ways to prevent men's violence against women and encouraging men to examine and change the current attitudes and behaviours that might excuse and sustain the acceptance of violence in our community.

Having men step up and take responsibility to ensure that they and their mates will never condone violence in any way is a big step towards making this change. I hope the Hon. Robert Lawson is not suggesting that he supports violence.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: That is just disgraceful. If the honourable member is suggesting that there is any breach, he should be taking that matter to the appropriate authorities. That is why it was so wonderful to see so many men participating in the White Ribbon Day campaign and stepping up to sign the oath and become White Ribbon Ambassadors.

I am advised that 559 South Australians signed the pledge on White Ribbon Day last Wednesday (25 November 2009), and that oath was never to commit, excuse or stay silent about violence against women. These pledges will be added to the My Oath website and will join the other 7,378 Australians who have already signed the oath.

I am pleased to say that many of those who swore an oath were young men, as there was an increasing focus on involving younger men this year. Current White Ribbon Ambassadors, Julian—or Jules—Schiller from Nova 91.9 (who emceed the Men in the Mall event), and Gavin Wanganeen (the Youth Ambassador) played a very key role in engaging young men to sign the pledge. I understand that currently South Australia has over 100 White Ribbon Ambassadors comprising many prominent community figures.

Our most recent ambassadors include the Hon. Patrick Conlon; the Most Reverend Philip Wilson; Monsignor David Cappo; the CFS Chief Officer, Euan Ferguson; and Mark Haysman, the Chief Executive Officer of Port Adelaide Football Club.

Many of the White Ribbon Ambassadors participated in and supported the event by speaking out about violence against women, and these included the Hon. Jay Weatherill, the Hon. Ian Hunter, the Hon. Mark Parnell and Dr Duncan McFetridge. As many of you in this chamber have become involved and signed up as ambassadors, I would like to thank you and acknowledge the cross party support, which is most important. The success of the annual event depends on that sort of support.

Violence in our community is obviously never okay, and we must continue to do all that we can to eradicate it. Changing community attitudes and behaviours, with a strong legislative framework, can help us address the issue of violence against women. I am delighted that, with the passing of the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Bill 2009, we now have new laws to help reduce assaults and increase protection for victims.

The reform of sexual assault laws, which took effect earlier this year, and the new domestic violence legislation, will benefit everyone in South Australia by sending a strong message that our community will not tolerate such behaviour. White ribbon Day is an important example that shows us that, by working together, we can break the cycle of violence and abuse and, ultimately, reduce rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and family violence here in South Australia.