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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-29 Daily Xml
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WHITE RIBBON AMBASSADORS

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:26): I rise today as a White Ribbon ambassador to remind the house that 25 November marks the day when we come together and have functions to promote the fact that everyone should speak out and act against violence against women. Today, I have my police ribbon on, to signify that it is Australia's Police Memorial Day, but also the white ribbon.

I tend to wear the white ribbon more often than just on 25 November, because it is one of those issues that is with us 365 days of the year. It is very important indeed, and I am glad to see that there are functions happening throughout the year too, that it is not just being reserved for 25 November.

Last month, a couple of other White Ribbon ambassadors—John Gazzola and Ian Hunter, in another place, along with Steve Georganas, the federal member for Hindmarsh—held a function in Old Parliament House. The Premier and the Governor attended that, as did a couple of other White Ribbon ambassadors, who spoke very well that night—Gavin Wanganeen and Sam Ciccarello, the CEO of Adelaide United Football Club.

White Ribbon, as I said, aims to change the attitudes and behaviours which allow violence against women to occur. It is all about actually getting men to speak up against the violence. I know, when I wear the white ribbon into schools, it actually provokes a bit of discussion. We can never start too young when it comes to changing people's attitudes towards violence against women.

I was really heartened to see the other night, when I was watching the Brownlow Medal, that many of those involved in the telecast, and a lot of the footballers, were also wearing white ribbons. Footballers can often get a bad rap—and some of it is brought upon themselves—in all forms of the game, but there are a lot of footballers out there setting a fine example, not only for their peers but for those younger footballers who look up to them as role models.

In the local football league where I come from, the Southern Football League, there was an outstanding initiative on 14 August, where Tod Stokes, one of the players down at the Port Noarlunga Football Club, came up with the idea, through his discussions and involvement through Club Connect, where club members are learning about depression, men's health, violence and other issues.

Tod is a trainer down there, and he and the players have sort of been involved in all these discussions, and it prompted him to get involved and actually initiate a White Ribbon event. His idea was that on this day, 14 August, his club, Port Noarlunga, would wear white armbands. Instead of the black armbands the players wear to signify death in the family, the players would all wear white armbands.

They contacted Aldinga, who they were playing that day, and they agreed to also wear white armbands. They took it to the Southern Football League. The Southern Football League thought it was a fantastic idea, so they actually got the message out to all of the clubs. So, on that day, every player in every grade in that league wore white armbands for the day, which I think is a fantastic thing to do for all of those young men—in some cases boys, in some cases older men—to go out there, put on the white armbands, to think about what it is that they are out there supporting and spread the message to the community. There is no better place to spread a community message than at grassroots football.

The member for Kingston, Amanda Rishworth, was there and read a message from the Prime Minister. It is great to see the federal government joining the South Australian government in putting money into combatting violence against women. The member for Reynell was also there as one of the local members of parliament. It is good for us to be out there showing support to people like Tod who have come up with this idea, as well as the President of the Southern Football League, who was also there.

One of the interesting things that happened that day was that all the officials—the field umpires, boundary umpires and goal umpires for the A grade match—were women. That is the first time that has ever happened at any football match in South Australia. Not only did they officiate, but one of the boundary umpires, who is a pretty handy athlete, also sang the national anthem.

We have some great talent down in the south, and we also really care about the issues that are important in our community, and the fight against domestic violence should always be at the forefront when we think about how we can make our community better.

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