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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3202 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

of this sort in this Territory before 1986 - the power was almost completely within the hands of the male in such relationships. It is interesting to me that so many people look back with nostalgia on what they perceive to be the good old days of the 1950s, 1960s and so on, when there was better discipline and there were a whole series of other things in place.

I do not look back on them in that way at all. I look back on the fact that this sort of legislation did not exist and that, in those circumstances, it was probably a very good situation for white males who were earning a good salary and who were kind people. It was also good for their spouse and children. But in a huge undercurrent in that society at the time there were very difficult circumstances for people who were very vulnerable and who were not protected. It is this sort of legislation that enhances that protection. That is why I wanted to take the time to congratulate Ms Tucker for bringing this forward. I hope that, as an Assembly, we will continue to work on issues like this where we can protect the most vulnerable in our society.

MS REILLY (11.49): I think it is really important that we have strong legislation in relation to domestic violence, because I think you have only to look at the statistics to realise that this abhorrent practice is continuing and continues in a number of homes. It is so easy for people like John Fahey and others to look at Canberra and say, "This is obviously a nice quiet society", because they see only the outsides of houses. But there is a failure to recognise some of the conditions in which people within this community live, much to our shame. As legislators, if we can do something to address that through having strong legislation, we should do so. I think it is an indication of how important this issue is and how it cuts across all of our community, particularly all women, when you realise that even magazines like the Women's Weekly, which you would not think would touch it, have recently had a questionnaire issued about domestic violence. It looked at the extent of the violence and at some of the things that women and children have had to suffer.

Without a doubt, our community and our society still do not recognise the equality of all members of our communities. That is what leads to the imbalance of power within personal relationships. That is one of the major factors in domestic violence. If we still have a situation in which the vast majority of men consider that women are beneath them and that women are their chattels, we will continue to have problems with domestic violence. We must work hard to counter that problem. We must ensure that the community goes beyond just having legislation. We must ensure that the legislation, once introduced, is implemented and that we do not have legislation that sits on a shelf and fails to be implemented in a strong way. Through being members of the Legislative Assembly, we have the opportunity to show leadership in the community. We can do it partly by passing legislation, but the other important point is to show our support for legislation such as this. We should ensure that it is used in the most effective manner possible. Without a doubt, the problems that are facing the ACT community at this time will continue to exacerbate problems within families; they will continue to exacerbate issues around women and their right to be full participants in our community.

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