Women’s Legal Service Queensland CEO Nadia Bromley didn’t want to focus on numbers and statistics at this year’s Legal Profession Breakfast, she wanted to focus on conversations.
The Legal Profession Breakfast has raised more than $150,000 for the WLSQ, as it marked its 11th event on 21 November and featured a Generational Change Panel discussion at the Brisbane City Hall.
Nadia did share with the packed audience that one in five women experienced violence.
“No maths today (referring to her panel comments last year) because I actually think are talking about a generational change being a generation,” she said.
“The law has an really important role for people drafting laws, people enforcing laws, people supporting people have a really important role but actually generational change happens because each and every person does something.
“So I have to confess as we were filming the 40th anniversary documentary for the WLS, I was slightly disheartened because I heard the founder speaking, talking about the issues they were facing when they started the service. I thought ‘This is a conversation we are having today’. That’s what happened. It’s not that it hasn’t got better, it has.
“But the reasons it’s got better isn’t just the rules. People don’t change behaviours because of the rules, they change their behaviours because of social norms. They are reinforced by every single person.
“So the challenge I put out to everyone in this room is before you ask the question why hasn’t domestic violence stopped, what have you personally done? What conversations have you had in personal life? What behaviours have you challenged? What have you said to your kids? That’s how it happens.
“Literally it is a stupid thing to say but I’m saying it. If everybody did it, it would be gone, we would be there. An external system isn’t going to solve it for us. It is one thing, everybody can do it.”
Dr Young congratulated WLSQ on its anniversary.
Queensland Governor Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeanette Young AC PSM said WLSQ’s staff and volunteers delivered “each and every day” on the service’s mission to deliver accessible, legal and social justice.
“This incredible organisation, a lifeline for countless families, is itself supported by its highly skilled and committed management team compromising CEO, chair and board of directors. It is just wonderful to see so many esteemed representatives of the judiciary, the legal industry, academia and, of course, our parliament,” Dr Young said.
“Active together we can not only raise awareness around the societal affliction but more importantly do something about it.”
Dr Young said another focus of the event was to lift the number of free legal services to the “very substantial number of women requiring them”.
In 2023, WLSQ assisted more than 14,400 women, with the statewide helpline receiving 16,600 calls.
“Answering every cry for help must sometimes feel like an impossible task,” Dr Young said.
She also applauded the service’s 40th anniversary, saying “it has remained true to its humble beginnings with a strong emphasis on a holistic approach in support of its clients. Congratulations on this milestone.”
An educational video and materials were at the event.
The panel compromised Dr Freya McLachlan, who is a Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; Vanessa Fowler OAM, who is chair of the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation and co-chair of the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council; and Simone O’Brien, a domestic violence survivor and international speaker.
The panel discussed how technical or digital abuse was on the rise, with research showing the most common forms of technical abuse are monitoring or control, and this behaviour should be seen as “major red flags”.
Dr McLachlan said technology was a “double-edged sword” for young people as research had shown a link between tech abuse, or online harm, and offline harm, which is physical violence and emotional harm.
Vanessa urged the audience to “hold on to hope” and that societal and generational change to issues such as attitudes to wearing seat belts, drink driving and smoking indoors had happened and “taken decades”.
“Domestic violence is going to be that generational change. It might take decades as other similar issues have changed. Let’s hold on to hope.”
WLSQ CEO Nadia Bromley with WLSQ Chair Genevieve
Dee, Attorney-General Deb Frecklington, WLSQ volunteer
Hayley Walker and Minister for Women Fiona Simpson.
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