Webber Lecture 2015
We were delighted to welcome Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AM, Governor of Tasmania as our guest speaker at this year’s Webber Lecture which was held on Wednesday 20 May 2015. The Webber Lecture is an annual address delivered by a leading presenter whose topic is always one of ethics. The topic of this years’ debate was “Towards Ethical Relationships: addressing sexual and family violence”.
Her Excellency presented in her lecture that the confronting issue of violence against women requires more than a criminal justice response and that the key to tackling the problem is to dismantle the traditional gender stereotypes and roles so that healthy, equal and respectful relationships between men and women can flourish.
Her Excellency presented examples of society’s response to violence against women and how violence supported attitudes reflect broader social norms. Addressing violence against women, sexual violence and domestic violence needs to be tackled on multiple levels. Her Excellency discussed the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022 and The Line campaign which is informed by research commissioned by Our Watch. The research revealed that young people are struggling to work out what healthy, respectful relationships look like.
The lecture highlighted the importance of educating our teenagers about what a healthy relationship is and the need for a multi-phased, integrated campaign that includes a strong focus on schools.
We would like to thank Her Excellency for being this years’ Webber Lecture guest speaker and for raising further awareness of such an important issue in our community.