This week we have again been reminded of the tragedy of Australia’s domestic violence scourge. Declared earlier this year “a national crisis” by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, it is nothing less than a community catastrophe and our national shame.
Tragically, not a week goes by without another report of another woman being murdered or terribly injured, and sometimes their children, at the hands of a partner or former partner.
Perpetrators, commonly male, come from all occupations, cultural and socio-economic groups. Also evident is that this scourge is driven by entitlement, by anger, by stunted emotional growth, by immature needs and toxic masculine notions around power and control.
The perpetrators exercise this control through physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse. Such as by gaslighting, such as preying on insecurities, controlling finances (and removing financial independence) and isolating a person from family, friends and support. And regrettably, because so much of this violence occurs behind closed doors, there may be few signs of the abuse to outsiders, friends, neighbours and even family.
We must do more to address it. And we must do more to educate young men to make them more alert to the disturbing toxic attitudes and notions behind this abuse. That we so often see confronting evidence of misogynistic behaviours by boys and young men – in the press, in online posts, in shared media – points to our failure to change ‘masculine mindsets’ around entitlement, objectification and violence.
It also points to fundamental failures permeating the media, schools, our sporting clubs, families and communities around respect, around promoting respectful behaviours and around challenging the behaviours that feed this epidemic of shame.
Family and partner violence is a monster of our making, and we simply have to fix it.
It is up to us, to each one of us as parents, partners, fathers and workmates. We can choose to be silent, or we can choose to speak up when we see the poor behaviours, the disrespect and toxic notions that sit behind this scourge and that drive the violence and its dreadful outcomes.
It is everyone’s right, at work and at home, to feel safe always. The training we offer at ADA Australia can help address these behaviours and attitudes and help build a respectful, and safe, work environment. It is, in fact, no less than the law – every workplace has a legal obligation under The Act to provide a safe place of work.
Our 'Family and Gendered Violence’ training program puts a focus on building strong, respectful relationships, while creating conversation around unreasonable behaviours and anger management.
This program can be run as a two-hour training session or via our full day BEST LIFE: BEST WORK apprentice program (which can be part of your company’s induction process). (The full day program also includes sections on alcohol and other drugs, as well as mental health and suicide prevention.)
If you’d like to learn more about this program, or any of the other training programs we offer, please call ADA Australia on 1300 378 429 or email: enquiry@adaaus.com.au
Additionally, if this information raised any concerns for you, please do speak to your GP, they can help you back to good health, or call a helpline: LIFELINE 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue 1300 22 4636.