Ending Abuse in the Workplace

Beside sick days taken as a result of physical injury, victims also experience emotional exhaustion. An up-and-coming musician lost his career because he lost his capacity to remember the music. “I was a musician and I started to have real major problems with my memory. I couldn’t remember the notes. Every now and again I feel the virtuosic enjoyment of music that I had as a teenager ... I just find I get to a certain point and can’t go any further. To be a musician you have to be like an athlete. You have to get up there and maintain that level, but if you haven’t got money and haven’t got love, it’s hard.”

When Senator Jocelyn Newman opened the Australian Domestic Violence forum in 1996, she recognised that domestic violence has financial consequences for the community. 'The effects of domestic violence reach far beyond those immediately involved. Cold as it might sound, domestic violence is also taking a huge financial toll on Australian society. Financial arguments are valid. In some cases they are the only arguments which get the Doubting Thomases to sit up and take note. The bottom line for business leaders is that it makes good business sense to eliminate social problems like this. At the same time business can feel proud to show moral leadership in a sensitive and important area,' Senator Newman said. 

**Senator Newman's comments come from the National Domestic Violence Forum opening speech by Senator Jocelyn Newman, Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women, 23-24 September, 1996.

Go To Page: 1 2