During these last weeks we have seen two very different scenarios in Australia, and yet both have been driven by community sentiment allowing both movements to grow successfully with strong community and media support.
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The first announcement came from our newly minted PM Malcolm Turnbull, standing beside Rosie Batty. The PM announced a $100 million injection of money supporting measures around the prevention of domestic violence in communities, protecting our most vulnerable families.
The deaths of 63 women in Australia this year bears witness to the huge challenge our communities face as violence is perpetrated on our most vulnerable. This money is a good beginning.
Our prime minister places a strong emphasis on showing respect for women. He repeated the word ‘respect’ a number of times in his speech. This was his first major cabinet announcement since becoming PM.
It was a courageous Rosie Batty, the day after her precious son Luke was killed by his father, who fronted the Australian media to say: “this is everyone’s problem, not just the poor or lower socio-economic groups. Domestic violence takes no account of status, income or education; it crosses all sectors of our community.” It was a wake-up call.
Rosie Batty’s award as Australian of the Year was widely acknowledged as an excellent choice.
She has used her position to lead a strong push for more resources in federal funding for community legal centres, more refuges, more education in homes and schools on gender equality, the critical importance of supporting women and children who wish to remain in their own homes. There are many complex issues within this portfolio.
Rosie Batty is now turning her courage and considerable recognition and respect from the community to a different but also important cause.
There are many groups within our community who are calling for a compassionate response to asylum seekers locked up on isolated islands outside Australia.
Rosie Batty is calling on the new PM and the federal government to begin to tackle this major challenge to Australia – how to quickly and safely close down Nauru, Manus and Christmas Islands.
Rape. Let’s say the word out loud and clear.
That word strikes fear in any female’s heart, whether child or adult, and that is now a daily fear in refugee camps on these islands. At some future time the Australian government of the day will be forced to apologise and pay compensation to the refugees.
I can only imagine the fear women and children are facing on a daily basis on those islands. All we offer are cheaply constructed huts or tents, barbed wire fences, guns, daily threats both physical and emotional, and no answers to a future for these refugees...remember they are not illegal.
This week I detected hopeful signs of changes to those refugees’ lives. Our government is beginning to address the recently intractable problem of asylum seekers in camps on the islands.
We all live with hopes and dreams no matter how old or how difficult our lives are. To be deprived of hope is soul destroying.
Can we find a way out of this impasse and quickly? We don’t want to create a new generation of angry young people growing up bent on revenge. We need a positive outcome for these desperate people. Australia can provide that outcome.
