Page 464 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 16 February 2005
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women endure is the biggest single issue affecting them and their ability to live the life that they deserve. As Ms MacDonald said, more than one in three women or girls are sexually abused or beaten in their lifetime. That statistic comes from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Perhaps Mrs Burke can engage with them and question their statistics, but my understanding of how those statistics are pulled together is that it is done through some quite comprehensive analysis of research in countries across the world.
A study last year by the Commonwealth Office for the Status of Women—this is the federal government—says that in 2002-03 the number of Australian victims of domestic violence would have exceeded 400,000, of which 87 per cent were women, and 98 per cent of the perpetrators were male. That comes from a document called The cost of domestic violence to the Australian economy: part 1 from Access Economics and the Office for the Status of Women 2004. So, again, that is some fairly up-to-date information that would just run holes right through Mrs Burke’s argument.
Another reputable agency, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has estimated that less than 20 per cent of violence against women is reported to the police. They are sort of saying that maybe we do not even have the exact statistics—that it is under-reported, not over-exaggerated as would be the case if you agreed with Mrs Burke’s line.
Again, that report from Access Economics found that the cost of domestic violence to Australia is around $8.1 billion, and nearly half the cost is borne by the victims of the violence and the other half is borne by other organisations—hospitals and other community providers who foot the bill for the rest.
Nobody is questioning that we have unbroken cycles of violence that affect generation after generation. You go and talk to anyone who is running a refuge in the ACT and they will say, particularly in some of the older refuges, that they have seen the grandmother, the mother and now the child, all come, as adults, through their service; and sometimes the young men who have been children in their refuges have reappeared as perpetrators of violence against their partners in years to come. A lot more work doe needs to be done there. It is about early intervention and supporting children who have been witness to domestic violence. I do not think any government has done enough work on that, and we need to do more.
We need to look at the role that schools play—and they do a fabulous job of encouraging appropriate behaviour and conduct. That is embedded in the curriculum. There is no doubt about that. They are bringing up citizens of the future. The document from Access Economics says that more than 180,000 children in Australia witnessed domestic violence in 2002-03. They are the sorts of figures that we are seeing there. The children are victims as well.
Mrs Burke asks, “But what are we doing in the ACT?” She has not come in here with solutions. I could not find any in her speech, although she did say she was bringing solutions and that we should look at the whole problem, not just part of it. Where are all the ideas? Well, I will run through just a couple that we implemented in our first term and the work that is continuing. The Human Rights Act has been enacted; the women’s plan has been launched; the policy framework Justice, options and prevention—working to make the lives of ACT women safe—
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