Give Where You Live Foundations hosts powerful conversation

THE Give Where You Live Foundation hosted its fourth Conversations That Matter event last week, featuring Brittany Higgins as the keynote speaker.

Held on June 5, the annual event was attended by more than 300 people, with renowned journalist and event MC Mary Gearin opening the conversation by acknowledging the gravity and urgency of the gender-based violence crisis facing Australia.

“We have the stats. We know the theories. Now we need to act. We need to have these conversations – and we need to listen,” Gearin said.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than one in four women have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15, a reality Higgins confronted in her address.

Drawing on powerful data, her lived experience, the immense challenges of speaking out and the need for justice, support and systemic reform, Higgins delivered a powerful speech.

 

“I stand before you today not just as Brittany Higgins – not just as someone whose name became a headline – but as a woman who, like far too many others, was failed by the very system that’s supposed to protect us,” Ms Higgins said.

She warned of growing pushback against survivors and the idea of sexual violence as a serious, systemic, cultural issues and called for reforms that centre victim-survivors, uphold their rights and ensure they are not further traumatised.

“Like so many people, until I actually was forced to engage in the criminal justice system, I didn’t realise how brutalising it is to report a rape and how hard it is to navigate the legal system,” she said.

“We must reimagine the criminal justice system as a space where survivors are supported, heard and treated with dignity.

“I am not standing here today to tear down the legal system. I’m standing here to say: it wasn’t built for us. And it hasn’t evolved fast enough to meet the needs of a society that now demands better.”

The keynote speaker also highlighted the cultural drivers of sexual violence and the rise of online misogyny.

“Spend just 30 minutes on TikTok as a teenage boy with a fresh account, and you are likely to be served misogynistic, violent, or anti-feminist content.

“Rape culture has digitised. It has professionalised. And it’s targeting the next generation of boys at a rate we are unprepared for.”

 

Audience members were reminded that the work is difficult and uncomfortable, however it will be worth it, with Higgins asking people demand transparency, publish statistics and measure what matters.

Give Where You Live chief executive officer Zac Lewis said the organisation was proud to provide a platform for an important conversation.

“Conversations That Matter was designed to raise important issues we don’t always get to talk about as a community.

“These conversations can be confronting and uncomfortable – but they are essential if we want to create real and lasting change.

“At the Give Where You Live Foundation, we recognise the privileged position we hold and we’re proud to open spaces like this and elevate the voices of those with lived experience.”

A panel discussion on gendered violence also took place, featuring The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre chief executive officer Kerriann Campbell-Jones and SportsGrad founder Reuben Williams.

For anyone affected by sexual violence, support is available. Please contact The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre on 5222 4318.

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