Reception in support of Challenge DV Darkness to Daylight

Deputy Director General, Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety, Mr Arthur O’Brien; Co-Chair of the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council, Mr Bob Atkinson AO APM; Challenge DV Board Chair, Ms Jane Hedger and Members of the Board; General Manager, Ms Linda Smith and staff; corporate partners and supporters; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here this evening.

As proud Joint Patron of Challenge DV with my husband Graeme, I am very pleased to welcome you to Government House for this special reception to thank you for participating in and supporting Darkness to Daylight, and for the commitment you have all made, some of you for decades, to ending the scourge of domestic and family violence.

Every year, to mark Domestic Violence Month, you unite behind the simple but powerful mission statement that drives Challenge DV: We’re here to end domestic and family violence. That statement represents a remarkable change from the attitude that prevailed in Australia as recently as 40 years ago. At that time, despite growing recognition that domestic violence was a problem, there were no reliable data to reveal the true extent of the problem and it was still largely viewed as a private family matter.

Fortunately, this changed rapidly in the nineties with a range of different plans and strategies including here in Queensland where, in 1999, the then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Councillor Jim Soorley, took the advice of his Women’s Advisory Council and established an organisation to take action through workplace partnerships.

That organisation was CEO Challenge and, over the quarter of a century since then, its founders, Board, staff, and passionate volunteers and supporters have worked tirelessly towards the vision of a world without domestic violence.

Two of the most impactful changes in recent years have been the rebranding of CEO Challenge as Challenge DV, and the launch of the annual Darkness to Daylight run, supported by the ongoing dedication and generosity of Minter Ellison as the founding business partner, and of individual supporters such as Robert Reed – Rob’s solo overnight run from Maroochydore to Brisbane in 2014 was inspirational, and his epic 110 kilometre COVID lockdown run around his neighbourhood in 2020 has become the stuff of legend.

Challenge DV now has active and valuable partnership agreements with dozens of workplaces; with state and local government bodies; with universities, sporting organisations, community groups, and the media; and, importantly, with schools, and I am particularly pleased that representatives of two partner schools can be with us today.

The determined team of staff and Year 12 students from Mary Mackillop college raised over $10,000 this year, and St Teresa’s Catholic College in Noosaville has now chalked up a decade of participation in Darkness to Daylight, not only raising funds but making a documentary to spread the word and inspire other schools to follow suit.

Thanks to ground-breaking legislation, significant government investment, and strategies such as the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, the number of lives lost to domestic and family violence in Australia has declined since CEO Challenge was established 25 years ago, but barriers persist: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are disproportionately represented; refugees and women with disabilities remain vulnerable; funding is still stretched; services are overloaded; and societal norms and attitudes take generations to change.

But tonight, as a symbol of hope and of our support for Challenge DV, Government House will be proudly bathed in purple light, and you can be assured that you have the thanks of all Queenslanders for everything that you do to build a safer world for women and girls.

Thank you.