ACT Senator Katy Gallagher is keen to hear from women and girls in Canberra about their safety. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Labor’s Senator for the ACT Katy Gallagher has launched a survey asking Canberra’s women and girls to share experiences and ideas about public safety.
The campaign is called Safe. Everywhere. Always and is asking for suggestions about what needs to change when it comes to women’s public safety in the national capital.
It asks Canberra women and girls directly how safe they feel, how public safety concerns might influence their behaviour and if there are any particular geographical areas or locations of concern.
“I, like so many Canberrans, was sickened and angry to hear of recent incidents of men’s violence against women in our community,” Senator Gallagher, who is also the Federal Minister for Women, said.
“Women should be safe, everywhere, always and the fact that they are not is just not acceptable.
“I want to hear directly from Canberra women and girls about their experiences and ideas to help shape the government’s response to this issue.”
The survey was launched following the recent Mulligan’s Flat support walk to “reclaim the space”.
Hundreds of people, mostly dressed in pink, joined a bushwalk in the Mulligan’s Flat Nature Reserve where a woman was allegedly attacked by a teenage boy days earlier.
Speaking on ABC radio Canberra on Monday (23 June), Senator Gallagher said the survey was directed at women of all ages.
“A lot of women have reached out to me around concerns about their safety and concerns about their daughter’s safety,” she said.
“And it has been heightened … because of the alleged attack that occurred around Little Mulligan a month or so ago.
“But there’s always been an underlying engagement with me on women in Canberra on this subject.
“And I thought I needed to try and reach out and put it out there and actually get some feedback from younger women, from older women, from women from different backgrounds, through a simple survey about how people were actually feeling.
“Because I think you can look at statistics and data and that tells you one part of the story, but people’s own experience is an important part of this. And I want to understand a bit more about how women are feeling.”
The survey will run for five weeks until 25 July, and is available at this online link.
A summary of key findings will be made public following the survey’s conclusion, alongside a list of commitments and proposed next steps.
Senator Gallagher said responses would make a “real difference” and would help inform decisions made by Canberra’s leaders and policymakers.
“I’m sure there are things that we can do,” she said.
“I’ve learned that in public life – been around long enough to know that people have good ideas and sometimes things that they’re worried about aren’t things necessarily that government or the public service are thinking about.
“And so, I think this is an opportunity for people to have a say. I imagine what my daughter who’s 17, almost 18, what she’s concerned about is quite different to what I am concerned about.
“So understanding that a bit across the city as well.”
YWCA Canberra also runs a survey for women, called Our Lives: Women in the ACT Survey, with a broader focus.
CEO Frances Crimmins has encouraged women and gender-diverse residents to complete that short survey too, which is open until October.
“We really want to capture women in primary care roles, women living with a disability, women who are recent migrants to Canberra, to make sure we’re getting the breadth and depth of the diversity that makes up Canberra,” Ms Crimmins said in May when launching this year’s survey.
The YWCA survey covers areas such as housing security, financial stability, experiences of sexual harassment and discrimination, and hopes for the future.
The Safe. Everywhere. Always survey launched by Senator Gallagher is specifically targeting views on women’s safety in Canberra’s public areas.
If this story has raised concerns, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT on 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 02 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
