DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS BAD!

Domestic violence is bad!

That's the astounding message being pushed in the Government's new television commercial. It's part of a $14 million campaign against domestic violence.

The arty-farty-shot commercial features a set of liberal types (no surprises that the ubiquitous Labour supporter Russell Brown makes an appearance ) informing us all that domestic violence is 'not okay'.

Really? I never would of guessed.

It's an irritating commercial because it plucks domestic violence out of the social and economic environment in which it exists, and suggests that domestic violence is largely the behaviour of dysfunctional individuals.

What about the impact of economic policies that have lowered wages in this country, increasing the economic pressure on individuals and families? What about the devastation that over a decade of free market policies has wreaked on working class communities?

Surely this kind of massive economic stress has been a catalyst for domestic violence?

But the government is hardly going to fund a television commercial that suggests that its economic policies have also contributed to domestic violence.

As an aside, none of the individuals who appear in this commercial are struggling economically. They've all done well under this Labour Government - some of them are certainly in the top tax bracket.