Page 3694 - Week 12 - Thursday, 13 October 1994
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Madam Speaker, the ACT Work and Family Advisory Service, which commenced in August this year, will provide employers in the Territory's private sector with advice about the ways in which they can accommodate workers' family needs in the context of their workplaces. The establishment of the service will help dismiss the myth that workers' home lives and family responsibilities are left behind when they arrive at work. In this, the International Year of the Family, employers are being encouraged to look carefully at their workplace arrangements and policies, to ensure that employees' family needs are not put aside by outdated and restrictive practices.
Madam Speaker, members will be aware that one of the Government's key priorities is to ensure that women can live in a society free from violence against them. At the 1992 ministerial conference, the national strategy on violence against women was welcomed as a progressive framework for change. I was proud to be able to take the national strategy to the inaugural meeting of the Council of Australian Governments on behalf of the conference. The Council of Australian Governments, at its meeting in February this year, agreed to establish a working group specifically to survey responses by all State and Territory governments to the national strategy on violence against women. The working group noted that, while the rate of progress in each jurisdiction varied, there was a consistency in direction and in the outcomes being sought. The working group concluded that progress was being made in all areas on eliminating violence against women, with the possible exception of data collection at a national level.
In the ACT the Government is about to embark on a significant media campaign dealing with violence against women. The media campaign will consist of advertisements on commercial television, in the print media and on buses in order to present a clear message to the ACT community that violence against women and children is not acceptable and is a criminal offence. The campaign will encourage us all to take responsibility, as individuals and as part of the community, for violence and to act against it when we encounter it in our daily lives. As part of the campaign, two educational programs are scheduled to run in our high schools and colleges. The preventing abuse in relationships program is currently being conducted, on request, by the Domestic Violence Crisis Service. In 1995, Men Against Sexual Assault will conduct anti-rape workshops, again on request, in colleges and high schools. Madam Speaker, the awareness program also includes training for ACT Government Service employees. This training will enhance awareness of violence against women, particularly amongst those who provide services to victims. I am sure that members will agree that, in coming to grips with violence against women, it is important to consider the portrayal of women in the media and the effect that the media have in influencing society's views. The ministerial conference agreed to further work on this issue being undertaken by the Commonwealth-State Standing Committee on Women's Advisers.
Madam Speaker, the ACT Government's initiatives in the area of the status of women are held in high regard nationally as well as in the Territory. The Government will continue to build upon its already strong credentials in this area, both through local initiatives and by means of participation in national programs, to enhance the status of women in society. I present a copy of this statement, and I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
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