Cairns Mayor, Kevin Byrne has threatened to lead a vigilante group and “call to arms” if violence on the streets of Cairns is not dealt with by the Government. Minister for Communities, Warren Pitt, clearly sees violence as a “whole-of-community issue”, not just the responsibility of government. Police call for sense and ask people not to take matters into their own hands because charges of assault will await them. Read the full story in The Weekend Post, January 13, 2007.

Whose responsibility is street violence? My consistent view supports Minister Pitt’s belief. Addressing violence and repeat juvenile crime is the responsibility of all of us. Early intervention, communities of family focus, skill based activities for young people and alternatives of leadership are things we can all act toward if we are serious about making a safe community.

Violence does not beget violence. Sexually abused children do not all grow up to become sexual predators. Many make choices to not enact their own traumas. Physically abused children do not all grow up to be domestic violence perpetrators or street thugs. They make choices to not subject others to the way they were abused as children. But, frustration, poverty, disempowerment and fear do act as contagions of violence. These are the issues that whole of community can work on.

Cairns City Council states that Cairns is the “safest tropical destination in the world.” Really? The Far Northern Police region reports the highest rate of sexual offences in Queensland and Cairns is oft reported in local media as a violent and unsafe city. Mayor Byrne's call to action confuses me. He advertises Cairns as the “safest tropical destination in the world" and encourages community engagement as a two way street, yet he calls for citizen vigilante action. Is he perhaps suffering the contagions of violence?

Can Cairns can violence? Yes, if we all pull together. I’ve had enough too. I want tougher sentences for repeat offenders. I want to live here and I want our children to be safe. However, I will not support Mayor Byrne in his threat of violent vigilante action. Safety is a community responsibility and violence is hardly responsible or a sign of evolved problem solving.

Thumbs down to both the thugs who terrorise and to our civic leader for encouraging further violence. I’m still deciding if I’ll rename our esteemed civic leader as Mayor Burn or Knight Mare. Which do you prefer and why?

Australian Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali ridicules nation of convicts and suggests that Australian women and children should share the blame for acts of sexual violence against them. In October 2006, the leader of Australian Muslims created an outrage with his raping comment comparing "women who wore make-up and dressed immodestly to meat that attracted cats."

Now, in self imposed exile in his birth land of Egypt, the shrieking sheik suggests that he has more right to live in Australia than the decedents of colonial convicts. He claims that because he paid for his passport he has a greater right to reside here.

Referring to the English as the biggest liars of all Westerners, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, is at risk of alienating two countries: Australia and England. Having lived and worked in both countries, my professional experience informs that crimes of a sexual nature are considered serious crimes and breaches of human rights in both countries.

The Mufti’s position allows him many rights and responsibilities. I wish he’d exercise them. Sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and rape are against the law in the West, including both England and Australia. Under the criminal code, the perpetrators of sexual offenses are FULLY responsible.

No matter what a woman or child wears they are never responsible for what a sexually deviant person does to them. Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali’s suggestion that “Australian law guarantees freedoms to the point of insanity" is partially correct. He’s allowed to re-enter our country because he is an Australian citizen and he has the right to sprout archaic, inflammatory and oppressive statements of patriarchy as the spiritual leader of his Australian people. Thank goodness many of them are smarter and more spiritually advanced than he is.

Thumbs down to Mufti Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali. His comments supporting rapists make him a domestic terrorist in my view. A metaphorical incestuous head of his family, Australia would be a better place without him.

What’s your views?

Advertising watchdog, Reuters, has metaphorically knifed coveted fashion house Dolce & Gabanna. In a 2007 fashion campaign Dolce & Gabanna take “life imitating art” one cut too far. Recreating the early 19th century Napoleonic period of art, Dolce & Gabanna defended themselves by claiming that their fashion images emphasized the theatrical effects of the genre.

Advertisements of gun and knife wielding male and female models (including models with gun shots to their forehead and chest) in a Napoleonic gangland warfare genre do little to encourage world peace and child safety. Dolce & Gabanna are in a perfect position to use their corporate social responsibility in a way that few of us can. Their market profit, influence and trend setting style could positively market child abuse prevention. Instead, they have inadvertently condoned violence and provided a message that wearing their clothes makes you tough: a killer.

The sexually provocative ad history of Dolce & Gabanna concerns me. These current visual graphics of trendy, beautiful people weilding knives and guns, threatening others and supporting injured peers, may send a message that sex with violence can be beautiful and trendy. When forced on another person, sex with violence is totally unacceptable, against the law and deserves the harshest penalities measured.

Thumbs down to Dolce & Gabbana. They have not displayed corporate social responsibility in this instance. I was going to replace my sunglasses this week and a beautiful Dolce & Gabbana pair were my choice. Because of this irresponsible advertising campaign, I will not now buy Dolce & Gabbana.

On an up note, a local, male, radio announcer suggested that perhaps the models should have been given a fork because they all look like they need a good meal. Well done to him. His comment aided the plight of people struggling with eating disorders and the insane belief that real people look like Dolce & Gabbana models. How fantastic to have a normal bloke speak out and indicate that model art is not model life.

Child abuse prevention requires effort from all of us, even from marketing campaigns designed to increase sales, profit and set fashion trend.

Corporate Social Responsibility is not fashionable but it is smart, stylish and well performing.

I’d like to hear about small business: the people who act out their corporate social responsibility without realizing what it is. Feel free to share a story about how you, or somebody else, contributes toward child abuse prevention. I look forward to reading your comments.