Principal's Report

We need to watch the language we use!

I am sure you were equally appalled to learn that more than half of all Australian university students were sexually harassed on at least one occasion in 2016.  Recent findings released this week in a landmark survey by the Australian Human Rights Commission also disclosed that women experienced harassment and assaults at disproportionately higher rates than men; almost a third of harassment took place on university grounds and residential colleges were a particular area of concern. For more statistics please refer to the link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-01/uni-sexual-assault-hrc-report-released/8762638. 

However, the survey results by 30,000 students across the country sends an even clearer message. We must do more to encourage our boys to make girls safety a man’s issue.  The impact of violence on women is not always sexual; it can be physical and psychological.  It must stop.  This is the purpose of White Ribbon Australia whose vision is to create a society in which every woman lives in safety, free from all forms of  abuse.  In 2015, I took the White Ribbon Oath that I would stand up, speak out and act to prevent men’s violence against women.  Now I ask for all males in our community to follow. Conversations need to be had by families around gender equality and domestic violence.

If we truly stand by our belief in nurturing ‘Confident Futures’ then it starts with a commitment at College to stamp out derogatory terms to describe women.  We must be ever alert of the way we treat each other on an everyday basis and we must be determined to role model such values at home and at school.  The language we use around women and girls defines our mindset and the respect we will later demonstrate in our lives. 

Dr Andrew Hirst