Campaign continues to combat bullying

ON WEDNESDAY night The Northern Star held its third anti-bullying public forum, with more than 100 people attending to share their stories and suggestions.

ON WEDNESDAY night The Northern Star held its third anti-bullying public forum, with more than 100 people attending to share their stories and suggestions.

This forum focused on bullying in the workplace and was held at Southern Cross University.

The issue of bullying is rife in our culture and is one that causes pain and suffering for everyone involved, including family and friends. It also takes something away from the perpetrator, for while it may give them power for a moment, there will always be a cost to them in their own humanity.

Bullying is often done without thought or malice, sometimes through ignorance, thoughtlessness, stress, or even retaliation.

No matter where it occurs in our community – home, school or workplace – it is about the abuse of power in some form.

It is a complex issue because even the victim can become the perpetrator. Most of us will have indulged in bullying at some time. It is behaviour we see everywhere in our society today – on television, at the cinema, in the media, in politics, world trade, on sporting fields, and in our homes.

Bullying is endemic, but this does not mean we should continue to allow it to become acceptable or ‘the norm’.

I wish to thank all who attended on the night, and also the wonderful speakers who gave of their time freely to this important community issue. We will continue to keep you updated on the anti-bullying campaign.

Originally published as Campaign continues to combat bullying