White Ribbon Day Partnership 2015
Many thanks to Judie Pettitt (Chairperson – Zonta Club of Rockhampton – Advocacy Committee).
Once again the ZONTA Club of Rockhampton partnered with the Women’s Health Centre in supporting the Centre’s White Ribbon events for 2015, a breakfast in Rockhampton and a lunch in Yeppoon. The Centre organised the events and the program for the day with Zonta identifying opportunities to promote its Zonta Says No campaign throughout the program.
Central to the program was the presentation delivered by two of the districts’ three newly elected White Ribbon Ambassadors: Lewis McKee at the breakfast, and Nigel Hutton at the lunch. Both the Centre and the Rockhampton Zonta Club through its advocacy program have been lobbying men in the community to take up the challenge and join with us to speak out about violence against women but it took Zonta member and Manager of the Centre, Belinda Lindel’s practical push to help Lewis, Nigel and Ron Van Saane to go through the ambassadorial process. What’s great is they have committed to working closely alongside both organisations.
Colin Strofield, Presiding Magistrate of the Specialist Domestic and Family Violence Court recently established by the Premier of Queensland in Southport, accepted our invitation to be the events’ keynote speaker which astounded both Belinda and me. Colin is leading the one-year trial of the Court in response to the ‘Not Now, Not Ever’ report recommendations made by the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence, chaired by the Honourable Quentin Bryce, and initiated by the former Queensland government. And to top it off, the Centre received a personally handwritten introduced & signed letter from her to be read out at the events commending the contribution of the Centre for the service and advocacy it engages in.
For the Zonta Club of Rockhampton, Colin’s presence was an endorsement of the Advocacy Committee’s identification of the law and DV magistrates’ court system being a serious block in ensuring that women affected by domestic and family violence receive a fair hearing and appropriate retribution from the justice system. What’s also promising for us and the Centre is that Colin has offered us an open invitation to contact him at any time should we need to, and to come back next year to discuss the findings of the evaluation of the trial.
Another highlight was the setting up the rooms for these events. It added a dynamic and lighter touch to the events making them interactive and even flag waving! Thanks really need to go firstly to the Women’s Health Centre staff that decorated the room with White Ribbon bunting but also provided a photo booth opportunity where male participants could hold up a White Ribbon oath poster and have their photo taken. This was then matched by the Zonta Rockhampton Club’s many bright orange cut out hands attached to a bamboo stake that Helen and Rosalie and her school students had helped make, and that became spontaneous flag wavers on a number of attention seeking occasions.
