Merely mentioning the country conjures up images of the Outback, Koalas, Kangaroos, or perhaps Sydney Opera House and Melbourne. The friendly, laid back nature and Aussie accent may come to mind so it is is surprising to read about a “Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Behavior Change”.
What on earth? Has down under gone upside down? It was touted as a program instituted because of violence against women with the claim being homicides for that group were up. Certainly this kind of violence is not something to tolerate and no one is going to celebrate an increase in homicides of any kind, but was this a requirement based on fact?
Looking at the homicide rate for Australia clearly shows a downward trend since the 90’s – 50% less, in fact. Seventy percent of homicides committed are actually against men. This means the special department was developed to address less than 30% of cases as the percentage of homicides attributable to violence against women is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the 30.
Given the numbers, it is hard to fathom the need for such a thing, let a lone the assumption all men have violent tendencies towards women. If any other group had been singled out in this manor the outcry would be extreme with protests and possible riots. The fact there have been none seems to suggest they may not be as prone to violence as this Parliamentary group assumed. Once again, optics and emotion have displaced logic and sense turning things upside down in the land down under.