Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:57): On 25 November 1960 three sisters of the Mirabal family were assassinated in the Dominican Republic on the orders of the then Dominican ruler, Rafael Trujillo. In 1981, 25 November was designated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by the UN General Assembly in their honour. We must continue to rally around this cause, more than ever. In Australia, two in every five women have experienced violence since the age of 15, one in three has experienced physical violence and one in five has experienced sexual violence. Whilst many people think it is a complex problem that seems never-ending and unsolvable, it is not. People—and when I say people, I mean mostly men—should just stop perpetrating violence against women. It is that simple. And men of character need to stand up and continue to let their peers know it will not be tolerated. I ask everyone to join me in this endeavour.
