Eleanor Hall reported this story on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:38:00

ELEANOR HALL: Police are still scouring a farm in New South Wales where a woman and her three children were found shot dead last night.



There is no sign yet of her husband and police are not speculating about who fired the shots.



But it is yet another example of the violence against women and their children that is far too common across Australia and was highlighted in last week's launch of the Our Watch campaign.



While that campaign to prevent violence against women and their children has cross-party political support, some men are critical of the focus on women. Former federal Labor MP Garry Johns says the campaign ignores the even higher rate of violence against men.



But the Federal Labor Member for the Victorian seat of Gellibrand, Tim Watts, says men who criticise the focus on women need to grow up.



Tim Watts, you say that since becoming an MP you've been forced to confront the reality of men's violence against women in your community. Tell us a little bit more about that.



TIM WATTS: That's right. Men's violence against women is all around us. Every week a woman in Australia is killed by a partner or a former partner.



It affects all ethnic backgrounds, affects all classes and it affects all geographic regions.



And shortly after I was elected into Parliament, there are a series of very high profile incidents in my electorate that forced me to sort of start paying attention to this issue in more detail than I had in the past.



ELEANOR HALL: And were you shocked?



TIM WATTS: I was shocked. The pure scale of this issue, it's horrific.



When you think that one in three women since their teenage years have been exposed to violence, one in five have been exposed to sexual violence.



I just think of all the women that I know in my life, women that I respect and love, and I think about these statistics and I'm just aghast at the burden that people I know must be carrying.



ELEANOR HALL: So what was your reaction to the criticism by former fellow Labor MP Gary Johns of the Our Watch campaign to prevent violence against women and their children?



TIM WATTS: Look, it was very frustrating, but I can't say that it was particularly surprising.



Since I started speaking out on this issue this is something that I hear quite a lot from men.



You talk about the statistics, you talk about the prevalence of violence against women, and there seems to be an instinctive reaction on the part of some men to say, well, what about men?



It's clear that many men are murdered by men every year.



Now the point that I make in response is that that's no reason not to do something about violence against women.



ELEANOR HALL: It's interesting though, I mean, Gary Johns doesn't dispute the really terrifying statistics that every week in Australia a woman is killed by her partner or former partner, but he says that more than four times that number of men do die.



Does he have a point that the focus should not only be on women?



TIM WATTS: No. What he overlooks is that the causes of men's violence against women are largely different to the causes of general violence in our community.



Men's violence against women is a gendered crime. It's something… you can think of like rape. It's as much about control and power as it is about anything else.



There are a lot of misconceptions about men's violence against women.



People think it's driven by alcohol but in only 50 per cent of the cases when police are called, less than 50 per cent of the cases where police are called, is the alleged perpetrator not sober.



Many people think that violence against women is somehow like general crime in our community, but the reality is it's an expression by men of power over women.



Men who feel like they can't control the women in their lives and they're entitled to exercise power over them use this violence.



And for me the greatest example of this is the completely miserable fact that 20 per cent of women who have experienced violence against women first experienced it when they were pregnant.



ELEANOR HALL: And what does that say to you?



TIM WATTS: Pregnancy, it can be a threatening time for men, because they suddenly realise that they're not the centre of the world.



I've felt that as a father myself. You know, you can't be the centre of your partner's pregnancy.



Now clearly this is a trigger for some men who feel like they can or ought to be able to control and exercise power over the women in their lives. It's a trigger point for them.



The other really obvious sign this is about power and control is the extent to which violence spikes after a separation.



This is the most dangerous time for murders and deaths.



ELEANOR HALL: Is there also an issue that domestic violence, violence in the home, often occurs in front of children?



TIM WATTS: Yes this is very true.



Unlike male on male violence, about 60 per cent of domestic violence occurs in the home. Children are much more likely to be exposed to it.



You can understand the impact that this will have on children's development.



ELEANOR HALL: Do you think that that reaction from men that you're criticising - that's all very well but what about us - indicates that there is a problem that men feel emasculated as the role of women has become more powerful?



TIM WATTS: Frankly, I find it pretty difficult to understand a reaction - upon hearing the fact that one woman is murdered in Australia by a partner or former partner every week - the reaction that would be, well what about me?



If there is a injustice going on in our community of this scale, I can't understand why people just wouldn't want to roll up their sleeves and get on with it.



If men are feeling threatened by women being equal participants in our society, I think they need to grow up, to be frank.



I think that there is a danger that this issue becomes the front in the culture wars, and that would be a great tragedy if that was the case.



I can say in my discussion with people across the aisle in all political parties in Canberra that there's a universal desire to do something about this issue, and that means that when we hear views like those of Gary Johns expressed in the public debate, we need men standing up and saying that they're wrong and that we need to do something about it.



When men call other men out about these attitudes and the consequences that these attitudes have for the behaviour of people in our community, it can have a very big impact.



So I certainly feel that responsibility very keenly as a man myself, and as a public figure, to get this message out there.



ELEANOR HALL: Tim Watts, thanks so much for joining us.



TIM WATTS: Pleasure.



ELEANOR HALL: That's Tim Watts, the Federal Labor Member for the Victorian seat of Gellibrand, speaking to me earlier.