Musos Launch National Anti-Violence Against Women Campaign, #notON

31 March 2015 | 3:00 pm | Staff Writer

The initiative was soft-launched at last night's Queensland Music Awards

A diverse range of Aussie musicians such as The Grates, Courtney Barnett, Airling, Violent Soho, Urthboy and more have united to voice their support for fledgling grass-roots movement #notON, a new national campaign aimed at stamping out violence against women.

Airling in one of the #notON T-shirt designs

The initiative, created in conjunction with national charity White Ribbon Australia, was soft-launched at last night's Queensland Music Awards at the Brisbane Powerhouse, with evening co-host Sarah Howells introducing the campaign to a packed room of performers and industry personalities alike.

Opening act Yarwah were early visible supporters, each member wearing one of the campaign's T-shirts, with the ongoing presence of band member and co-host Fred Leone, aka Rival MC, acting as a regular reminder of the message underpinning the new movement: that violence against women is simply not on.

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Other Australian artists already actively lending their support to the movement include Boy & Bear, Reece MastinTroy Cassar-DaleyPete MurrayKatie Noonan, Bad//Dreems, Busby Marou, Bliss N Eso, HITS, L-FRESH The Lion, The Church, The Basics and The Choirboys, among several others.

"We are excited to have the support of the music industry via this creative initiative,Libby Davies, the chief executive of White Ribbon Australia, said. 

"It's so important to break the silence that surrounds men's violence against women. Hearing musicians lend their voices to the campaign helps to expand the reach of our prevention work aimed at changing the attitudes and behavior that lead to such violence."

The Grates (feat. Baby Grate) wearing #notON designs.

"As an industry with a huge fan base of young males, we are in a unique position to be able to start conversations about what is a real epidemic in our society," Murray said in a statement. "This isn't a disease that's hard to find a cure for — it's simply about increasing awareness and saying that we refuse to live in a society that tolerates the kind of statistics that Australians have been horrified by over the last few months."

Among those harrowing statistics are the fact that, on average, one woman is killed every week as a result of intimate partner violence; that domestic and family violence is the principal cause of homelessness for women and their children; that violence against women costs about $14.4 billion to the country's economy every year; that intimate partner violence is the leading contributor to death, disability and ill health in Australian women aged 15-44; and that one in five, or 20%, of women experience harrassment in the workplace.

For more information on the initiative, use and follow the #notON hashtag on social media.

artists pledging support to #noton

Airling
Alpine
Bad//Dreems
Benny Walker
Bliss N Eso
Bloods
Boy & Bear
Busby Marou
Courtney Barnett
Dallas Frasca
Dubmarine
Emma Louise
Grenadiers
Hannah Cameron
Hermitude
HITS
Isabella Manfredi
Jackie Marshall
Jasmine Rae
Jimblah
Josh Pyke
Katie Noonan
Katie Wighton
Kaylens Rain
Kram
L-FRESH The Lion
Lurch & Chief
Matt Cornell
Melanie Dyer
Packwood
Pete Murray
Reece Mastin
RY
Sahara Beck
Sarah Belkner
Sietta
Spookyland
Steve Balbi
Suze De Marchi
The Basics
The Beards
The Choirboys
The Church
The Grates
The Herd
The Last Kinection
The Medics
Thelma Plum
Thirsty Merc
Tim Steward
Troy Cassar-Daley
Urthboy
Violent Soho
We All Want To