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Women's conduct factor in violence: MLA

By VERITY DUNN
OVER-INDULGING women who drink too much and loose control are major factors in nightlife violence, according to ACT MLA Vicki Dunne.
Dunne, who is shadow minister for women, agrees there are problems with violence in the Territory, but thinks that women need to take more control.
“I think that one of the risk factors is that young women who are not used to drinking alcohol who overindulge and lose judgement and lose control…often with young women drinking in groups,” she said.
She says education about behaviour and attitudes should come from parents.
“It’s the responsibility of parents to equip their children with the way to think about how you plan your evening, how to conduct yourself, what your exit strategy is…and what is a safe approach to alcohol. I think that there is some role for schools in that.”
The executive officer and founder of Canberra Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC), Veronica Wensing, believes it is dangerous to ask what women can do to prevent a crime in the context of sexual violence. Ms Wensing says the community needs to concentrate on stopping the perpetrators committing the crime. “In the end we don’t hold a bank teller accountable for a bank robbery, so why would we hold a victim accountable for a rape?” she said.
Ms Wensing says the government can play a greater role in preventing crime through educational programs like the CRCC’s Respectful Relationships and to think further about anti-violence publicity campaigns.
In the context of nightlife violence, the ACT Liberals believe a regime of on the-spot-fines for inappropriate and anti-social behaviour needs to be enforced.
“The police are very keen to have that power, the government has changed the law but they haven’t given the police the actual physical tools to administer the fines . . . ,” she said. “For simple misdemeanours, we’d actually like to see the list of things that would attract an on-the-spot fine extended, because if you get a $120 or $200 fine it does make you think, it’s very immediate.”
Christine Gaffney was dancing at a club in the city with her friends on a Saturday night, when she was unwillingly pulled into a fight. She tried to defend herself from the two perpetrators, as they pulled her hair, bashed her head and kicked her in the leg before stealing her bag. Gaffney, 20, from Macgregor, says she didn’t realise what was happening or why.
“I don’t know how but I got caught up in it… then all of a sudden it just stopped and they took my bag. I was just in shock I didn’t even know what had happened. It was crazy.”
Accurate statistics about sexual violence are difficult to gather as less than 20% of victims report to police. But recent legislative changes in the ACT are assisting police in fighting the crimes. ACT Policing says even in the early stages the Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP) have had positive results.
The ACT Women’s Plan 2010-15 will be released at the end of March and is expected to contain more initiatives towards crime prevention.

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