‘Stop it at the start’ campaign aims to reduce violence and encourage parents and teachers to rethink their language

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A national ad campaign aimed at stopping domestic violence before it occurs by challenging gender inequality will be rolled out from Sunday.

The “Stop it at the start” ads will air on TV and in cinemas, and will be accompanied by an online and print campaign.

The campaign aims to break the cycle of violence by highlighting pervasive negative attitudes towards women and by encouraging parents, teachers and other influencers of young people to rethink their language.

“We are trying to hit directly at that attitudinal and habitual behaviour that sits in the mind of particularly young men and boys,” the social services minister, Christian Porter, told reporters.

“They [the ads] are designed to confront all of us on our attitudes. They are confronting in the way we all get confronted from time to time when a trusted source tells us a home truth about some habit or behaviour we have behaved in perennially which is not good.”

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The minister for women, Michaelia Cash, said the government was taking a holistic approach to tackling domestic violence.

“Disrespecting women does not always lead to violence against women but certainly all violence against women began with that fundamental lack of respect,” she said. “That is what this campaign is all about.”

The campaign costs $30m and is jointly funded by the federal and state and territory governments.

It comes shortly after the government released a report that shows high levels of victim-blaming among young people.



Research found boys and young men were quick to externalise their behaviour, often blaming women.

The sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins – who took up her post on Monday – backed the campaign.

“Young people learn their values and develop their attitudes at home and at school and at university, and our research is telling us very clearly we need to urgently focus on the young,” she told the National Press Club.

“They showed a higher level of attitudinal support for violence against women than older age groups and they were also less likely to support gender equality in decision-making within relationships – that is they were more likely to believe that men should call the shots.

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“So this is not a matter of crusty old men needing to be moved on. We now have a new generation that is coming though that hold these attitudes.”

Labor and the Greens support the $30m campaign, which will be phased out over three years, but both parties want the government to reinstate funding cut to legal centres.

“If we don’t see those cuts reversed, then all of the government’s pretty words will be for nothing,” the Greens senator Larissa Waters said. “But it’s not just about bringing us back to where we were two years ago. We have to increase funding so that women’s refuges can be built, there is always space for women who need it, and there’s always someone on the other end of the phone when a woman calls a call centre for help.”

Labor wants extra funding put towards women’s shelters to cope with the surge in women leaving abusive relationships.

“It’s now up to the government to reverse its cuts to frontline services for women and children escaping violence, so that services can cope with the added demand a national campaign will create,” Labor’s spokeswoman on the prevention of family violence, Terri Butler, said.