I just read an ABC article entitled ‘Expert panel to tell government how to prevent violence against women and children‘ (28 May 2024).
The article begins by informing us that:
“A panel that includes strong critics of current government strategies to prevent violence against women and children will meet for the first time today” (28 May 2024). The panel will hand down its findings between July and September 2024.
Apparently “the federal government has faced significant criticism from the violence response sector following the federal budget” which promised, amongst other things, a rapid review of what’s currently being undertaken to combat DV.
“The rapid review will cost $1.3 million over two years and will be led by Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin, director of the Commonwealth Office for Women Padma Raman, and secretary of the Department of Social Services Ray Griggs.”
“And also making it not a women’s issue but an issue where we focus on the perpetrators of that violence.” Because all perpetrators are male, right?
“The group will consult with the states and territories, the national violence prevention organisation Our Watch, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and the National Women’s Safety Alliance.”
Two of these groups have blocked me from accessing their social media accounts – that’s a positive sign, right? (#sarcasm). So the group will be consulting widely – just not with any men’s or father’s groups, for example. Oh, but of course they’ll have a couple of token male feminists on board to present that winning sparkle of #inclusion and #diversity.
Nothing in the ABC article provides even a coy hint about the existence of ‘elephant in the room’ things like female perpetrators, male victims and/or bi-directional violence.
Nothing in the ABC article demonstrates that things have been learnt as a result of the umpteen earlier domestic violence enquiries? (Click here then scroll down to public inquiries)
Nothing in the ABC article suggests that the new approach will involve anything other than throwing more money at feminist NGO’s, who will – as sure as God made little green apples – come back the following year to demand that the government “gets serious” and “provides real funding support”? Nothing
#Sigh #FacePalm
Update: “On 23 August 2024, the Australian Government received the final report from the expert panel appointed to undertake a rapid review of evidence-based approaches to prevent gender-based violence. The report provides specific and practical advice to strengthen prevention approaches, and builds on considerable work currently underway in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. The report makes 21 recommendations across 6 key areas for action by federal, state and territory governments. The recommendations will be taken forward as a priority for discussion by National Cabinet.” (Source)
An extract from the final report, re: the “manosphere”:
“Further, the Review has been deeply cognisant of the rising threat of online misogyny and powerful algorithms that threaten to mobilise men against gender equality, including in the so-called ‘manosphere’. This has also been recognised as contributing to a rise in broader radicalisation. Online content remains increasingly unchecked and unmoderated, with young men becoming more isolated the longer that they spend time in these environments. Health experts are therefore advocating for the attitudes held up by the ‘manosphere’ to be considered criminogenic in nature, given that misogynistic beliefs are a significant predictor of most forms of violent extremism and violence against women.”
In contrast, no mention was made of the surfeit of misandric material available to women/girls online. And not surprisingly, word-searches on ‘female perpetrator’, ‘male victim’ and ‘bi-directional violence’ came up empty.
See also the following related blog posts:
Partners in alms: A primer on the ‘Domestic Violence Industry’
Was there a surge in domestic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic?
Public events & domestic violence myth
Australian taxpayer funded organisations that do little/nothing for men (other than demonising them)
I have written literally hundreds of pages of poems like this. Ranting about the bigoted insanity of Australia’s response to family violence. Here’s one.
A National Crisis
Now they call it a national crisis
26 dead women
Is a national crisis
The suicide of 2500 men
Each passing year give or take
A few corpses
Has never been deemed a
National crisis
The dozens of dead men
Killed in a domestic homicide
These past three years
Is not a considered
A part of this
National crisis
The crisis is real
In our country
The sickening narrative
Constantly rammed down
Our collective throats
Is the crisis
There is no one
Not one person
With a public platform
Who can or is willing to
Call out the lies of commission
And omission
Our society is marinating in
Each day
End violence against women
Read that statement
Then read it again
Now one more time
And then think
Then tell me if it causes
The slightest ripple
Of unease
A twitch of discomfort
It is so blatantly specific
And selective
In its moral certitude
And compassion
Any English professor
Will tell you such a statement
By implication
Tells us their concern
For violence inflicted on children
Or men
Is of secondary or
no importance
And how can anyone
Stand by such a position
And have the temerity
To believe they are virtuous?
A National Crisis
Watch the language
So similar to that used
Regarding Climate Change
Catastrophic weather events
Rather than the rather bland
But once adequate
Hurricane, flood, drought or cyclone
Language is the key
It defines us
We are on the brink of extinction
The doomsdayers chant
As they text on their phones
Go home to their flatscreens
In their airconditioned homes
They do not believe a word
They speak
Watch what they do
Women and their cucks march
And talk of terror and feeling unsafe
To walk the streets
Let alone rest their head
Upon a pillow in their home
For danger is lurking everywhere
But watch what they do
These same protestors
Bearing their pessimistic placards
And screaming their radical rhetoric
Will indeed be seen shopping
Attending the theatre
Screeching at Hens nights
Getting drunk in nightclubs
Next weekend
It is all a sham
A farce
Not the deaths of women
No
Any violent and sudden death
Is a tragedy
But the reaction to it
Oh yes
The manufactured, manipulative
Mendacious media
Will ensure these lives
So sadly ended
Will not be cut short in vain
They will serve a great purpose
And fill many pockets
And create untold jobs
And more draconian laws
Targeting one half of our population
One has to admire their work
They have won yet
That is not enough
For these haters
Winston Smith, Orwell’s
1984 protagonist
would see
a comfortably familiar situation
in today’s environment
as he once remarked
In this game that we’re playing,
we can’t win.
Some kinds of failure
are better than other kinds,
that’s all.
So, I write my rants
And share them with a select few
So any future reader
Knows where I stand
But knowing Big Brother
Will always win in the end
One final quote
From a character I admire
Says it all from my perspective
I don’t imagine that we can
alter anything in our own lifetime.
But one can imagine little knots
of resistance springing
up here and there—
small groups of people
banding themselves together,
and gradually growing,
and even leaving a few records behind,
so that the next generations
can carry on where we leave off
A National Crisis
Now they call it a national crisis
26 dead women
Is a national crisis
The suicide of 2500 men
Each passing year give or take
A few corpses
Has never been deemed a
National crisis
The dozens of dead men
Killed in a domestic homicide
These past three years
Is not a considered
A part of this
National crisis
The crisis is real
In our country
The sickening narrative
Constantly rammed down
Our collective throats
Is the crisis
There is no one
Not one person
With a public platform
Who can or is willing to
Call out the lies of commission
And omission
Our society is marinating in
Each day
End violence against women
Read that statement
Then read it again
Now one more time
And then think
Then tell me if it causes
The slightest ripple
Of unease
A twitch of discomfort
It is so blatantly specific
And selective
In its moral certitude
And compassion
Any English professor
Will tell you such a statement
By implication
Tells us their concern
For violence inflicted on children
Or men
Is of secondary or
no importance
And how can anyone
Stand by such a position
And have the temerity
To believe they are virtuous?
A National Crisis
Watch the language
So similar to that used
Regarding Climate Change
Catastrophic weather events
Rather than the rather bland
But once adequate
Hurricane, flood, drought or cyclone
Language is the key
It defines us
We are on the brink of extinction
The doomsdayers chant
As they text on their phones
Go home to their flatscreens
In their airconditioned homes
They do not believe a word
They speak
Watch what they do
Women and their cucks march
And talk of terror and feeling unsafe
To walk the streets
Let alone rest their head
Upon a pillow in their home
For danger is lurking everywhere
But watch what they do
These same protestors
Bearing their pessimistic placards
And screaming their radical rhetoric
Will indeed be seen shopping
Attending the theatre
Screeching at Hens nights
Getting drunk in nightclubs
Next weekend
It is all a sham
A farce
Not the deaths of women
No
Any violent and sudden death
Is a tragedy
But the reaction to it
Oh yes
The manufactured, manipulative
Mendacious media
Will ensure these lives
So sadly ended
Will not be cut short in vain
They will serve a great purpose
And fill many pockets
And create untold jobs
And more draconian laws
Targeting one half of our population
One has to admire their work
They have won yet
That is not enough
For these haters
Winston Smith, Orwell’s
1984 protagonist
would see
a comfortably familiar situation
in today’s environment
as he once remarked
In this game that we’re playing,
we can’t win.
Some kinds of failure
are better than other kinds,
that’s all.
So, I write my rants
And share them with a select few
So any future reader
Knows where I stand
But knowing Big Brother
Will always win in the end
One final quote
From a character I admire
Says it all from my perspective
I don’t imagine that we can
alter anything in our own lifetime.
But one can imagine little knots
of resistance springing
up here and there—
small groups of people
banding themselves together,
and gradually growing,
and even leaving a few records behind,
so that the next generations
can carry on where we leave off
Just want to say I posted the previous comment in the form of a poem. It was set out as a poem but became a huge slab of words with no new lines or breaks in the text once I sent it! I hope it doesn’t stay in that from or it will be unreadable.
Thanks. Most ambitious of you Mark. Am I able to view a copy elsewhere online to see where the line breaks should be?