Page 1889 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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MR MOORE (11.15): I am most concerned at Mr Cornwell's regular and scathing attempts to undermine the women's and children's refuges in this Territory. I will join forces with him when he argues for proper consultation in planning matters in any area other than the one he has mentioned, and that is women's refuges. By their very nature, they are to be kept as ordinary and inconspicuous as possible, to blend into the neighbourhood and to provide a secret place; a refuge from violent abuse; a place where people can feel safe, perhaps for the very first time in their lives. To argue for an open and consultative approach when it comes to the establishment of these refuges is ridiculous in the extreme. Were your neighbours consulted, Mr Cornwell, when you decided to move into your street? The mind boggles at the questions that would have been asked and the answers. One of the questions might have been: Do you want a Liberal politician living next door to you?
I fear that most of this rhetoric by Mr Cornwell regarding women's refuges is inspired by an attitude based on ignorance and fear. Has it occurred to him that perhaps the very dysfunction of this particular refuge with regard to its neighbours may have been created by his earlier public remarks on the issue? Is he aware of the example of a violent ex-husband who moved in next door to a refuge in New South Wales, actually became part of Neighbourhood Watch, and then attacked his ex-wife and child? That man learnt the address from a tradesman who had worked there. The awful truth, and it is awful because we as men have to live with it and face it, is that our community is rife with criminal assault in the home. The most dangerous place for a woman to be in the ACT, given the statistics, is in her own home, as it is for children. I remind Mr Cornwell that the vast majority of perpetrators of this assault are men.
Rather than putting so much time and effort into trying to discredit these refuges and the work being done in them, I believe that it is time for us all to focus on the frightening social problem that results in our community needing those refuges. We can argue whether or not women on the run from violence, fearing for their lives, let alone freedom, are good enough to live temporarily in a suburban house with an above ground swimming pool when the social problems are dealt with. The topic in this Assembly should be: What are we able to do about this huge indictment on our society? What full-scale programs can we foster to address the real issue that approximately 45,000 people in the ACT, given statistics based on one in three women, have been, are being or will be abused sexually or in some other violent way, most probably in their own homes? What, Mr Cornwell, would you be arguing if the statistics were one in three men? I am sure we would be having a debate on law and order, not on whether these women's refuges should have amenities or be approved of by their neighbours.
I sincerely hope, for Mr Cornwell's sake, that not one woman has suffered directly from his discussions regarding the location of a refuge in the past, for if that has occurred he has promoted further violence against women. I stress that these women's fears are very real. They have already been attacked and expect an escalated attack by men whose concepts of relationships with women are confused with notions of ownership and power.
Mr De Domenico: Oh!
MR MOORE: I hear an interjection from Mr Humphries in response to that statement. That is what the problem is.
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