Page 1368 - Week 05 - Thursday, 26 April 1990
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in a private home, we hide. Mr Speaker, as a community we pretend that it does not exist.
Mr Duby: I don't.
MR BERRY: Well, that is something you do. It is very difficult for many in society to understand fully the effects of violence on women. Our cultural background trains men to respond to violence with violence and aggression. Women and children in violent situations undergo not only physical suffering but also continuing emotional battering which impairs their ability to partake fully of society and leaves them unable to defend themselves physically and emotionally, and they are scarred for life.
As the Leader of the Opposition has said, that two-thirds of the community hold the view that a woman who is beaten can always leave demonstrates a failure to understand the complex nature of domestic violence and its effect on the victims. In many cases those battered women are isolated and economically or emotionally dependent, and as a result they lose confidence in themselves. They have a natural aversion to breaking up their families; they may hope that the bashing will stop and, more importantly, they are often terrified that they will be pursued and punished further. It is not a simple case of packing bags and leaving. The breaking up of the family is a long, painful and drawn-out process, and for many the financial costs are prohibitive.
The fact that almost half of all female murder victims are killed by their spouses is forgotten when the issue of providing adequate support for the victims of domestic violence is raised; that this crime threatens the lives of its victims is ignored in the belief that it is simply a private matter.
How do we approach the problem? Today we heard some words, but one would hope that now that the Government has been flushed out to make some statement on the issue there may be some action. We have heard all of the things that the Attorney-General is going to do, but it would be nice if we were to see something come to fruition from those words.
How do we, as a community, respond to domestic violence? Perhaps the best way is to take advice from those with the most experience. I think consultation with just one area of the community is inadequate. We have to continue to change the community attitudes to this crime. We have to learn about domestic violence, Mr Speaker, and we have to ensure that education programs - both the existing ones and the new ones - get to all sectors of the community.
At this point I must say that the diminishing concern by the Government for education in this society is, and should be, of great concern to the rest of the community. These education programs have to find their way into all sectors of the community - to schools, if there are any left open,
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