How To Use Musos To Raise Awareness Of Domestic Violence In Australia

7 September 2015 | 2:05 pm | Steve Bell

"Intimate partner violence has become the biggest cause of death and ill health in women under the age of 40."

Over the years Deb Suckling has experienced nearly every facet of the music industry as an artist, manager and label head, but recently she's turned her attention to even more altruistic concerns with the establishment of the #NotON campaign. Launched in May at the Queensland Music Awards, #NotON aims to use the music industry's platform to raise awareness of the shocking statistics in Australia concerning domestic violence against women, utilising male leadership to bring the point home (with the tacit understanding that most men in our community are not violent themselves).

"I asked the [Violent] Soho boys whether they'd wear a shirt on stage to help educate their young male fans and they were into it."

"It was one of those mind-blowing realisations I had at a gig," Suckling recalls. "We were at the Foo Fighters concert earlier this year, and it was just after Rosie Batty had been named Australian Of The Year and there'd been this amazing episode of Q&A all about domestic violence, which had resonated deeply with me as I'd had my own personal experiences with violence as a teenager growing up with a very aggressive partner. The next night we were at Foo Fighters in a box looking down at 50,000 screaming fans and I was chatting with Troy Cassar-Daley and the Violent Soho boys and I said, 'Wouldn't it be amazing if the music industry used this platform to address the issue of domestic violence?' I asked the Soho boys whether they'd wear a shirt on stage to help educate their young male fans and they were into it, and it all stemmed from that gig and looking at the influence Dave Grohl had over every person in that audience. If people use that platform to get the message out — especially in Australia — it could be a great platform to educate young people about just how bad it really is.

"It's a really simple idea, and once I put the idea out on Facebook and asked who would help out the response was simply amazing! Everyone threw their weight behind the project and it snowballed really quickly, and we ended up with about 100 bands — everyone from Pete Murray to Bliss N Eso, who had gone through their faux pas and since become ambassadors for White Ribbon — offer to wear shirts on stage and help push the idea on their socials. It's all about educating young fans and building awareness that it isn't on."

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After the campaign's initial success the focus became making #NotON an ongoing campaign.

"It was rolled out quite quickly, and we sat back after that and went, 'Wow, that was amazing, what do we do from here?'" Suckling tells. "But we've built up a wonderful relationship with White Ribbon who've offered strategic advice about how we can continue the project long-term and build on the fundraising aspects as well. Everything we do is geared towards raising awareness of the current statistics where intimate partner violence has become the biggest cause of death and ill health in women under the age of 40 — I just don't know if many people actually know that. Nothing's changed in so long, and it's starting with young men's behaviour — we need to let people know that it's just not on."