Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. What is the significance of White Ribbon Day and the work of White Ribbon Ambassadors in taking action to stop violence against women in Australia?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and for his attendance at today’s event here in Parliament House. I also thank the Leader of the Opposition for his attendance and other opposition members also for their participation. I think I saw the member for Groom there and other members from those opposite.

White Ribbon Day is important because it is about one thing: how do we change Australian men’s attitudes on violence towards women? That is what it is about. This is not a matter of partisan politics anywhere in this place. Measures were put in place by the previous government on this and we are seeking to continue those and to expand them into the future. That is because it is a core priority for the nation that we deal with the attitudes of men on violence towards women.

In 2003, 10,000 white ribbons were distributed. Just three years later, in 2006, more than 300,000 white ribbons were distributed. And today hundreds of thousands of white ribbons will be worn by men and women across Australia because there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who are prepared to stand up against violence against women. Being a White Ribbon Ambassador is something I consider to be both a great honour and a great responsibility, and I believe I speak on behalf of all members of this place.

Today the results of a survey commissioned by the Australian government on community attitudes to violence against women were released. The National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey 2009 surveyed more than 10,000 Australians, men and women in equal numbers, the first survey taken since 1995. The survey shows that there has been a significant shift in the attitudes and beliefs about violence against women held by Australians. The vast majority of Australians agree that relationships must be respectful and free of violence. But the survey also points to the challenges that we face, and also provides a strong evidence base for the next steps that we must undertake in reducing violence against women. The survey reveals that the two strongest predictors for holding violence-supportive attitudes are being male and having low levels of support for gender equity and equality. This demonstrates very abundantly the significance of White Ribbon Day and the role of White Ribbon Day ambassadors. It is our gender, the Australian male gender, that is responsible; no-one else. It is men who are responsible and we must show leadership in stamping this out in the future.

The Australian government has committed to taking action against violence against women through the development of a national plan to reduce violence against women, to be released next year. Since the government has received the Time for action report prepared by the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children in April this year, the government has announced and acted on a $42 million package of immediate responses. This includes the Respectful Relationships program, the second round of which will be starting in schools and communities across the country in the new year.

Action is being taken in communities across the country. A few years ago the Normanton Stingers Indigenous rugby league team started their own community campaign to reduce violence against women. Under the slogan ‘Domestic violence—it’s not our game’ players and coaches agreed to be role models in the community by not engaging in family violence. If they broke this agreement they were banned from games and ultimately dropped from the team. The team joined the Imparja TV to run a local media campaign featuring players and that slogan. There has been a 55 per cent drop, I am advised, in reported cases of domestic violence in Normanton between 2006 and 2007. These are the sorts of practical measures which we are seeking to support across the country. There are many examples just like this where communities are taking the lead, are taking action to reduce violence against women.

Violence against women will only be stopped by positive action by men and women around the country acting to stop that violence. I commend the work of the White Ribbon Foundation and the work of ambassadors right across the country. And I would encourage all men, all honourable men—in which category I place all male members of this House—around the country who have not yet done so to take the oath, to swear never to commit, never to excuse and never to remain silent about violence against women. I commend the Leader of the Opposition for having taken that oath earlier today; it is an oath I have taken earlier this year myself in Sydney. I commend the actions of all honourable members who took that oath today in the ceremony we attended, and I would encourage that action on the part of all male members of this parliament.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition, on indulgence.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. On behalf of the opposition I thank the Prime Minister for his remarks and we associate ourselves with them. The work of the White Ribbon Foundation is of enormous importance and I join the Prime Minister in calling on all men, in this House and elsewhere, to take that oath and above all to recognise that we will only stamp out violence against women by not pretending that it is a private matter. That phrase ‘I don’t want to get involved’ or ‘It’s just domestic, it’s private, it has got nothing to do with me,’ that allows violence against women and children to go undetected, undisturbed, unpunished. We have to lead by example.

I ask every member in this House just to reflect on this: how often do you see men who treat women in a demeaning way or a violent way have learnt those habits from their own fathers? The reality is that when we as fathers treat women with disrespect, let alone with violence, it is the bad lesson that our children learn, and above all our sons learn. So this is a responsibility for all of us. I cannot commend the work of the White Ribbon Foundation enough. It does great work. And the Prime Minister, who is given to the occasional partisan remark from time to time, today paid respect and acknowledged the work of the coalition government when we were in government in taking action to combat violence against women. This is surely something that unites everybody in this House and should unite all Australians. The only response to violence against women is to stamp it out.