Retired Newcastle Knights player Clint Newton only has to look at his two-year-old daughter Hope to know the importance of the White Ribbon campaign.
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He wants his daughter to grow up in a society where she can be assured of a respectful and secure relationship, free from domestic violence.
The White Ribbon ambassador was in Maitland on Tuesday to raise awareness of domestic and family violence.
He met with the team at Radio Rentals in High Street to congratulate them on signing up to the campaign.
“I have been a White Ribbon ambassador for four years,” Mr Newton said.
“I wanted to use my profile and standing in the sporting world as a vehicle to drive change.
“I heard about White Ribbon through a friend and it really resonated with me.”
The veteran league player said before leaving for England in 2007 he had never heard of White Ribbon Day, but now it was one of the more dominant social awareness campaigns in the country.
“It has been one of the biggest community issues for a long time, but it is such a difficult conversation to have with people,” he said.
“When I was younger I had friends who were affected by it in their family home.
“My partner Carly has also had her own experiences with domestic violence in the past.
“It is no surprise considering the fact two women per week die from domestic violence.”
Mr Newton agreed that violence in general was a predominantly male issue, that needed men to take a stand and cause social change.
He also said there needed to be less separation between domestic violence against a partner and violence against children.
“They might say ‘I don’t touch my children’, but having an abusive relationship in front of kids does count as being abusive to your children,” he said.
“It is completely unacceptable and we need to take a stand.”
Radio Rentals in Maitland will sell white ribbons in store.
Nationally Radio Rentals, part of the Thorn Group, has signed a four-year partnership with White Ribbon Australia.
