Blacktown in Sydney’s west is an area known for its cultural diversity, its council is made up from a culturally diverse group of people. Blacktown councillors are made up of eleven men and four women, I am sure feminists will point to this over representation by men and voice their accusations of a patriarchal society where men hold positions of power and use that power for the benefit of men to the exclusion of women. So if that is the case, why does Blacktown council support sex discrimination against men ?

Please read the letter to Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali and a PDF of his response is included below

My letter reads as follows

Councillor Stephen Bali, Mayor, Blacktown Council I note the following quotations from Blacktown Council website Mayor Bali and Mr Robertson have both committed to holding a vigil every time a woman is killed as a result of domestic violence. …”Blacktown Council’s call comes at the same time the union movement is campaigning for universal workplace entitlements and support for women experiencing domestic violence,” Mayor Bali said…..in 2014, in NSW there were 28,780 reported family and domestic violence-related assault offences[1] and 30 women were murdered by a partner or former partner[2]. I also note the objective of the white ribbon campaign. “Australia’s campaign to prevent men’s violence against women”. In contrast, the one in three campaign promotes the belief that up to one in three victims of domestic violence are men. I also note the following quotations from an article by Bettina Arndt published in The Australian Newspaper on Saturday 20 Aug 2016: “We must recognise the fact that domestic violence, in at least half of its occurrence, is carried out by female perpetrators. ”According to [Australian Institute of Criminology] AIC figures, one woman is killed by an intimate partner or ex-partner every nine days. One man is killed by his partner about every 30 days…….The fact remains that almost a quarter (23.1 per cent) of victims of intimate partner homicide are male — and we hardly ever hear about these deaths…….It is not serving our society well to downplay the fact female violence can also be lethal, towards men and towards children: women account for more than half of all murders of children (52 per cent). It is clear your position and Blacktown Councils position on the issue is to condemn domestic violence but only on behalf of one gender: women, you condone domestic violence against men you have embraced the divisive man blaming gender politics of the women’s movement and the white ribbon campaign and in so doing are promoting a culture of discrimination particularly against male victims of domestic violence and also against the wider male community. I ask you to sever your own and Blacktown councils connection with the white ribbon campaign, I ask you to cease the promotion of a culture of anti male sex discrimination in Blacktown and I would like you to note it is utterly unacceptable for a public official to use their position to promote a culture of discrimination against any section of the community they are supposed to represent. You should resign you are an absolute disgrace.

The promotion of sex discrimination by the white ribbon campaign is a national disgrace and should not attract support from our political and community leaders, or anyone else.

2017-04-03 Stephen Bali 2017-04-17 Stephen Bali Response

I call upon all the good and diverse people of Blacktown to stand up and speak out against discrimination of any kind being promoted by Blacktown Council. I call upon Blacktown people to vote these people out of office. I call upon all Australians to withdraw their support for white ribbon. I call upon all Australians to stand up and speak out against the promotion of all discrimination.

Adrian Smyth