Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that 25 November 2012 marks White Ribbon Day, the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women;

(b) recognises that:

(i) statistics show one in three women in Australia has experienced violence since the age of 15 and one in five has experienced sexual violence,

(ii) all forms of violence, including physical, sexual, financial and psychological, are unacceptable,

(iii) the social and economic costs to Australian families and all Australians that stem from domestic violence and violence in the home are devastating, and

(iv) men's involvement in the reduction of violence against women in Australia and across the world is imperative, both in speaking out against it and in teaching the next generation of Australian children that it is under no circumstances acceptable;

(c) acknowledges that:

(i) all women, regardless of their status, deserve to live their lives free from the trauma, despair and impaired health that violence can inflict on them,

(ii) whatever a person's circumstances, the role of government is to keep them safe from violence, and

(iii) the work of thousands of women and men across Australia in agencies and through domestic violence services does help keep some women and their children safe;

(d) congratulates the more than 54 000 men who have pledged through White Ribbon to never stay silent on violence against women; and

(e) encourages all Australians to purchase a white ribbon and wear it on White Ribbon Day to highlight that violence against women is simply not acceptable.

Question agreed to.