She just wanted the violence to stop

Charlie displayed a calendar of Indigenous teams from Central Australia with players linking arms and an accompanying personalised team message on domestic violence to go with each month.

Charlie also encouraged men to stay strong within their men’s groups; to take responsibility of men who have been incarcerated from their community; to visit them on the inside; and to encourage them to undergo anger management and life skills training during their period of imprisonment. When they are released Charlie encourages men to meet their fellow brothers at the bus or train station and take them first to their men’s group to reassure them that they are there for them - even before they are reunited with their families - as a preventative measure to limit the potential for reoffending.

Men from the forum agreed to promote a national campaign whereby they would start all their public addresses - immediately after they did the official acknowledgement of traditional owners - by saying they “are opposed to acts of violence against women and their children”. Minister Macklin and Human Rights Commissioner, Tom Calma, who joined the forum late in the day, endorsed the proposal of the public address and offered to be part of a national promotions campaign.

Men agreed unanimously that the best thing a man can do for his children is to love and respect their mother in a safe environment free from violence.

If Indigenous men can provide that safe and violence-free home environment for their families then we can, for our next generation, render obsolete the message from Professor Dodson’s 2003 National Press Club speech about the intimate relationship between domestic violence and the Indigenous community.