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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-10 Daily Xml
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:03): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the new domestic violence laws and anti-violence campaign.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Community awareness and education campaigns play an important role in our community in changing community attitudes. Just this morning I received an invitation from White Ribbon Day, saying:

Hi Ian,

Tonight, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched White Ribbon's 2009 Campaign, featuring prominent Aussie men such as Rove McManus, Keith Urban, Adam Goodes and Hazim El Masri. Join them in swearing never to commit, condone or remain silence about violence against women. Our goal is to have one million Aussie men sign up to the pledge by White Ribbon Day 2009. Be among the first to be part of this nationwide movement to make violence against women to be a thing of the past.

Eager as I was to be among the first to commit and to swear, I did so and got this very quick response:

Ian, thankyou for swearing to...

never to commit violence against women,

never to excuse violence against women,

never to remain silent about violence against women

This is my oath.

I will continue to quote from the White Ribbon campaign—and I assure members opposite that, by so swearing, I hope not to contravene the restrictions that they are living under currently with their new leader. The statement goes on:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has labelled violence against women the most prevalent violation of human rights on the planet. And Australia is far from immune. Currently, one in three Australian women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Every single one of us knows a woman who has suffered its effects, whether we know it or not. These women are our mothers, daughters, our wives, our girlfriends, colleagues and friends. By supporting this campaign you are helping to ensure that Australia becomes a safer place for all women, and their children.

Community awareness campaigns are all well and good, but they are even stronger when backed by supporting legislation. My question is: will the minister provide more information on the proposed new laws and the anti-violence media campaign that she launched earlier today?

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) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and his ongoing interest, passion and commitment to this particular policy area. I congratulate him on becoming a White Ribbon Ambassador. It is, indeed, a very important role to be undertaking, and I certainly encourage all other men in this chamber to consider doing likewise, if they have not done so already.

In 2005 many of you may remember that the state government launched a Women's Safety Strategy, which was a multistrand approach to dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault in our community. I am pleased to be able to tell members about two new important elements of the strategy which have been launched today. The first aspect is the tabling of new laws which are designed to tackle domestic violence, which will be introduced in the other place today; and the other is a community education campaign aimed at bringing about behavioural change, particularly in young people.

The new bill will form a major legislative plank in the Women's Safety Strategy. I cannot tell you how much these new laws mean to me as Minister for the Status of Women. They are the result of much time and effort and a great deal of dedication involving a number of people across government and non-government sectors. We should feel very proud to have reached this point, and I would like to thank not only the Attorney but each of those individuals involved for their hard work and commitment in bringing it to this point today.

The bill will give police greater powers to take immediate action when individuals and their families are threatened with violence. Under the new law, we will no longer have a situation where women have to wait until they have been assaulted more than once before a court order can ensure that the offender has to stay away from the family home. Of course, we know that those court orders often take quite a deal of time to process and put in place.

Homelessness is one of the most distressing outcomes of domestic violence. It is the intention of the new bill that we give women legal backing to allow them to stay in their own home rather than having to flee to safety. It also specifically protects children from witnessing or being exposed to abuse in their home, because we recognise that breaking the cycle of abuse is an absolutely vital step for their future safety.

This welcome legislation is a combination of intense public and stakeholder consultation beginning with a discussion paper prepared by Ms Maurine Pyke QC at the government's request and following her recommendations in other developments around Australia, particularly Victoria. We have also had a very good look at their legislation.

I have talked before about some of the ways that we are acting decisively against abuse and violence. However, we need a suite of strategies because the law alone is never enough to change behaviour and people's attitudes. We can have the best legislation in the world, but we have to change people's attitudes about violence in order to be really effective.

We know that community education campaigns can work—we have heard a very good example outlined by the Hon. Ian Hunter—and can ultimately make a real difference in people's behaviour. Good examples of that are the seatbelt campaigns as well as the anti-drink-driving campaigns.

Our anti-violence campaign aims to inform, educate and ultimately reduce rape, sexual assault and domestic and family violence in South Australia. The campaign incorporates a number of things, such as community education grants targeted at educating and informing a broader community, particularly more marginal groups; providing information materials to workers; increasing awareness of our legislation; and a media campaign entitled 'Don't cross the line', targeted at young men and women aged 18 to 25 to encourage awareness and discussion around what constitutes respectful relationships.

This morning I launched the media component of the campaign at the annual Domestic and Family Violence Action Group conference. A range of really thought-provoking advertisements will air on local and regional television and radio stations as of tomorrow, and I understand that the radio ads will also be translated for Aboriginal communities in the north of the state, as well as in culturally and linguistically diverse languages of people for new and emerging communities. These ads show that, when it comes to domestic violence and sexual abuse, there is simply no excuse and it should not be tolerated. They are fairly confronting advertisements, I have to say. Someone said to me that the squirm factor is high, and I guess that was intentional. We have market tested these advertisements and have received very positive feedback from that.

The second stage of the media campaign will involve the placement of posters in gyms, pubs and clubs and also in the Hindmarsh and AAMI stadiums. An integral part of the campaign is a website that provides further information about legislative changes, respectful relationships and where people can get help. The South Australian focus on anti-violence is complementary to the work of the National Council, which recently released the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children.

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