Page 5744 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 November 2010
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I swear:
never to commit violence against women,
never to excuse violence against women, and
never to remain silent about violence against women.
That is my oath.
If people are interested they can go online and take that oath at www.myoath.com.au. I would encourage men particularly to go to the White Ribbon site and have a think about what is said there, because the central premise is a very powerful one—that men must take responsibility.
Often men find themselves in a situation where a joke will be made or some comment will be made, and perhaps historically people have felt uncomfortable and perhaps disagreed with it but they have turned a blind eye or not said anything out of discomfort. Well, the real discomfort actually comes in not saying anything, in not speaking up.
I think that the premise of peer pressure, of having the courage to say violence against women is not okay, is a very powerful force and one that I would encourage all men to use—to say to our mates, to our brothers, to our fathers, to our relatives and to our workmates that that sort of culture, that sort of behaviour, is not okay and it is a culture that we, as men, want to stamp out in our society. So on 25 November I would encourage as many men as possible in Australia to stand up, take the oath and swear that we are going to stamp this out in this country.
Australian National University music education program
Schools—musical performances
Inclusion art competition
St Thomas the Apostle—fete
ArtSound FM—open day
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (5.50): I look forward to swearing with Mr Rattenbury on the 25th and wish him a happy birthday on the same day as well.
On 29 October, in my capacity as shadow education minister, I was pleased to accept an invitation to attend the ANU music education program—“A Singing Odyssey”—at the Llewellyn Hall, and I thank Dr Susan West and her music education program team, including Nicole Mengel, Georgia Pike and Lauren Davis, for their invitation. I also offer my congratulations on their superb organisation of the “Big Gig: A Singing Odyssey”. It featured over 1,200 children from 11 schools in the ACT, from both government and non-government schools. The children and the many parents that came to watch the performance filled the cavernous Llewellyn Hall to bursting point for a wonderful celebration of song during National Children’s Week.
Apart from the large audience, viewers from around the world also watched the concert live, online, singing along with the performance and interacting via the internet with the audience. The participating schools included the Kingsford Smith school, years 3 and 4, who sang a rousing rendition of one of my favourite songs, Men of Harlech. Ainslie school, years 3 and 4, sang Awake, a native American song. South
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