As reported in The Age, 29th April, 2005, government figures show while there are only about 300 women prisoners in the corrections system, that number has increased by 84 percent in recent years – triple the growth of the male prison population. Police Minister Tim Holding is quoted as saying: “If that growth had not been arrested, we would have had to go and build another prison, which is a very expensive way of meeting that challenge and doesn’t really deal with all of the underlying issues that might have been causing this change”.

What might be the underlying issues that might have caused this change? Any thoughts…

AFL clubs tackle sex harassment, violence

An exclusive in The Age, 1st May, 2005, reports that the AFL is set to launch and educational program for players and officials on violence towards women and sexual harassment.

All 16 AFL clubs will be required this month to attend workshops, which will be conducted by medical specialists. It is the AFL’s first practical response to the discussion paper released in December by its working group on violence against women and follows a number of sexual misconduct allegationsagainst former and current footballers.

It is expected the program will be extended to Australia’s 2500 community football clubs and half a million registered players.

Can you see this working? Any thoughts..