FIXING domestic violence has become a priority for every confirmed and aspiring community leader in Australia during the past 12 months.
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Almost daily, we are confronted by a harrowing new story of family terror where women and children are victims of atrocities so often previously hidden from the public’s eye. It has taken the murder of young women such as Stephanie Scott and Jill Meagher to force authorities to take a deeper look into the dark world of domestic violence.
Yet domestic violence cannot be “fixed”.
Those who believe legislation or regulation designed to claw back alcohol or drug abuse, increase criminal penalties for perpetrators of violence or change court processing systems will provide a cure for our ills must know such efforts simply fiddle at the edges. It is our attitudes to each other and how we must recognise and change our behaviour that is core to making our homes safe. The conversation about gender equality progressed this week with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing a new cabinet, featuring many female members. For so long, Australian political leadership has been dominated by men; ingraining the attitudes of power and roles and responsibilities of our family structures.
Family violence is driven not by angry men and not by alcohol and not by drugs like ice. Family violence is underpinned by power; by disrespect and by accepting behaviour which is unacceptable. It’s driven by the put downs and the inappropriate jokes. By workplaces which value one over another for no other reason than their gender.
Next week, The Standard and Australian Community Media, a division of Fairfax Media, launches our End the Cycle campaign.
We are teaming with Our Watch, a national body committed to ending violence against women and children, to emphasise the importance of working across boundaries and borders to create awareness of this incredibly complex problem.
We are committed to pressuring government to act. We’re committed to getting the message into schools and to teenagers who can provide the momentum for societal and attitudinal change. We’re committed to ensuring those who aid and abet violence are held to account and we’re committed to educating our communities so you can help make a difference. We want to end the cycle of violence and it starts here.
