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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-06 Daily Xml
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (16:40): Just recently, the Onkaparinga Collaborative Approach to the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OCA) launched its Mythbuster stickers project. I was very pleased to be one of those who participated in that launch. This has been a community based project, exploring people's ideas of what is behind domestic violence and why, despite all the tragedy it brings to our community, it still exists so much today.

I have been asked to put on the record some of the comments that I made during that launch. I told the story of how in 2006, as part of my parliamentary study leave, I attended a centre for violence research at the University of New York, and this was at the suggestion of some of the members of Onkaparinga Collaborative Approach to the Prevention of Domestic Violence who were aware of some innovative research there. This was quite an interesting experience for me. I had never been to New York before. I really did not know how to get around. I made my way by train and went up to the 12th floor of a very tall building with a central atrium, and I was really feeling quite trepidatious about what I was going to encounter.

I expected that I was going to be meeting two or three people. I went into a room to be greeted by about a dozen people who told me that they had come together because they had never met anyone from the first place in the world to legislate for restorative justice. I did not know that was us, but it was, when we legislated for restorative justice as part of our youth justice system. I acknowledged that New Zealand implemented the practice before we did, but I was assured that we legislated first.

I was also told by the researchers in this centre that they had great hope that Australia, and South Australia in particular, might be the first place in the world to make domestic violence truly a community issue. They pointed to the effectiveness of community education campaigns in Australia. They knew about the Grim Reaper campaign, they knew about our seat belts campaign, and they knew about our campaign to reduce smoking and were aware that, through a public campaign with television advertising and activity at all sorts of levels including sporting clubs, etc., Australia has been very successful in reducing the amount of smoking to one of the lowest rates in the world.

This institute considered that we also had the opportunity to lead the world in getting rid of domestic violence, which is a blight on the economy, our health system, but more importantly on individuals who are not only bashed but who lose their confidence and their ability to build strong relationships through their early experience of violence.

I am pleased now to be able to say that, in fact, there is a good chance that we will lead the world. The action taken by the Onkaparinga Collaborative Approach to the Prevention of Domestic Violence has brought many bodies in the community together, both government and non-government, to look at how we can work not only to effectively support and protect those who have been involved in domestic violence but also to prevent it.

There has been a history of public artworks and campaigns at the grassroots level to raise awareness of domestic violence. While the south might lead South Australia, I am very encouraged by the fact that Professor Donna Cross, from the Edith Cowan University, in a recent study of bullying found that South Australia has the lowest rate of all forms of bullying across Australia (22 per cent compared with 27 per cent), and the lowest rate of covert bullying in state schools in the nation (11 per cent compared with 17 per cent).

I hope that in a few years' time, a colleague will be able to visit the University of New York and be greeted by people who are admiring the fact that, through the legislative framework and community action, South Australia leads the world in preventing domestic violence.

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