Violence against women
Mike Jeffreys - 2CC Interview with Deputy Chief Police Officer Commander Steve Lancaster
1 November 2005
Mike Jeffreys: Australian men will be urged to stop violence against women, in a national awareness campaign. It's being launched today and men will be invited, asked to wear a white ribbon on the 25th of this month. White Ribbon Day is part of the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Commander Steve Lancaster from the AFP, good morning Commander.
Steve Lancaster: Good morning Mike.
Mike Jeffreys: What are you hoping to achieve here?
Steve Lancaster: Well what we're hoping to achieve is getting men to take responsibility to eliminate or to try and stop violence against women. And this is just not men themselves who are doing it, but actually taking a stance when they see other men or their friends or their family participating in this sort of activity. The whole concept originated in 1991 when a group of men in Canada decided enough was enough, and a male person went out and massacred 14 women. It was in 1999 that it was ratified in the UN and that's how it became an international day and we get the White Ribbon Day on the 25th of November, and that white ribbon is really symbolic of the fact that you are going to take a stance.
Mike Jeffreys: The old values said that a man who hit a woman wasn't much of a man, and he was likely to get condemnation at different levels from other men, but over the past few decades people have tended it seems to me to keep more to themselves; they're afraid of getting involved, they're afraid of the repercussions, they're afraid of how it will all work out for them. I guess that's what you have to work against to some extent isn't it?
Steve Lancaster: Absolutely, and that's what the campaign's actually about. We've got an advertising campaign which portrays just that; it's time now for men and for anyone really, not to sit back. If you sit back you might as well go in and join it because you're just allowing it to continue to occur, and statistically it looks dreadful. The Australian Institute of Criminology just surveyed 6600 women and in the past year; one out of 10 women claim that they were physically or sexually assaulted, 57% of women say they experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual assault in their lifetime, so statistically it looks dreadful and really you're right -- it is a time for people not to mind their own business, essentially to do something and I think everyone's been in that position where they've witnessed something, whether it be at a shopping centre or at a social occasion where they've seen that it's building up or there's actually a physical assault that's occurring in front of them, whether it be domestic or otherwise.
Mike Jeffreys: So let's presume you are at the mall, and you see something that's getting ugly, getting nasty or maybe even to the point of pushing, shoving and physical violence; what do you suggest somebody who wants to stop it, do?
Steve Lancaster: I think it depends on the circumstances; if they feel they can intervene or step in, and hopefully other people will also be witnessing the same thing and step in as well, they can try at least to control the situation at that time. Importantly get the police and there are also various other support networks around as well which police introduce or get involved in the whole process to try and get a long-term resolution to the problem.
Mike Jeffreys: Actually that is an interesting phenomenon isn't it; when something is happening that calls for intervention, and there are a fair number of people around, it just takes one to make some kind of move and quite often everybody else will come in and say yes what you're doing is the right thing and the sheer weight of numbers will then stop whatever's going on.
Steve Lancaster: Absolutely, and then you can many times, when people have been in that situation where they're on a train and you have youths who are playing up on a train or something like that, and people tend to sort of just ignore, rather than do something about it.
Mike Jeffreys: They just hope it will stop, it will go away and pray it's got nothing to do with them, but if one person makes a move then quite often everybody else will follow.
Steve Lancaster: Well that's hopefully what will occur and look, it's important to know we've got a number of White Ribbon ambassadors here who actually come forward and they want to get themselves actively involved in the campaign, that's spread across a wide spectrum of interests including rugby league and rugby union who are very supportive of issues with violence on women, and we've had all those sporting codes get involved and get behind that campaign. Commissioner Mick Keelty and the AFP and other law enforcement officers will all be wearing white ribbons on the day.
Mike Jeffreys: That would be 25th of this month?
Steve Lancaster: 25th of November, that's right.
Mike Jeffreys: That's White Ribbon Day, alrighty Commander, appreciate your time.
Steve Lancaster: I appreciate the time on your show.
Mike Jeffreys: Ok, Commander Steve Lancaster from the AFP.
Ends//