White Ribbon has another black mark against it

The idea that White Ribbon could possibly accept money from the proceeds of gambling must be counter to the values of the organisation. Financial stress is a key indicator of family violence and there is extensive research that shows the relationship between poker machines and family violence. Francis Markham's groundbreaking study shows areas with more than seven poker machines per 1000 adults have, after controlling for all other factors, 20 per cent more family violence incidents including verbal abuse and 30 per cent more family violence assaults.

Poker machines are a danger to public health – and they are particularly dangerous to women – 80 per cent of the family violence incidents in his data set were directed towards women. Fairfield Hotel, the proposed site of these new machines, would only be adding to an already saturated market. As at July 2017, Fairfield had 3841 machines, one machine per 43 people – almost double the state average of one machine per 81 people.

This governance implosion comes two years after scrutiny of White Ribbon's ambassador program. It was forced to distance itself from psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed for his remarks about family violence (the short version of what he said is that men are violent because women are increasingly empowered). Ahmed stepped down from the role (he was not sacked by White Ribbon). Other ambassadors have been dumped after incidents of family violence were uncovered. From 2200 ambassadors on its site in 2015, now fewer than 100 men are listed. Prominent men on the list include Tasmanian former federal politician Andrew Nikolic.

And the organisation, which focuses its attention on men, has colonised the day set to honour the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women in order to celebrate men who claim to do the right thing. The least White Ribbon could do is to change the date.

White Ribbon, it turns out, is a cookie factory, providing small treats so men can make public statements about their virtue. On November 25, men parade around with white ribbons on their lapels – but the grinding work of those who actually stop family violence doesn't have a day to commemorate that work. Women – and it's mostly women – labour away in private, on support lines, in hospitals, in counselling. They don't get cookies, they don't get ribbons and they very definitely don't get enough funding to help those experiencing violence. White Ribbon focuses on adult men – but the real work has to happen with children.

Which brings us to the governance of this organisation, which accepted the proposal from Fairfield Hotel. The board is chaired by Nicholas Cowdery, former director of public prosecutions, who did not return my calls. Libby Davies, the chief executive officer of White Ribbon, was unavailable. I rang several other members yet none was prepared to go on the record.

Who is on the board? One woman, Carole Molyneux, also a director of Racing NSW; and eight men, one of whom is Ian Carter, the chief executive of Anglicare WA, who surely must understand the impact gambling has on families. There are two vacancies on the White Ribbon board and according to one board member, some fine candidates are being considered.

So surely a donation as contentious as this must surely have gone to the board for approval? Surprisingly, at least one director claims the decision to accept this money did not and could not find any evidence of discussion within the minutes.

As corporate advisor Sue Cato of Cato and Clegg puts it, to accept a donation such as that, without board consultation, is "brave ... accepting money in those circumstances would certainly raise questions and taking money from the wrong places can make it a very expensive donation".

The damage to White Ribbon's corporate reputation is clear – but what makes this worse is Davies is backpedalling wildly yet she wrote in the letter to accept the proposal earlier: "We understand that the proposal to offer a monetary donation of $10,000 per year for five years is pending the successful application of Fairfield Hotel for an additional seven gaming machines."

Nothing clearer than that: "pending the successful application." Davies was planning to take money from the proceeds of a known vector of family violence.

Public health advocate and a director of the Alliance for Gambling Reform Susan Rennie is blunt: "It is contrary to the advice of the Public Health Association of Australia and what we know is that taking those donations and enabling the industry to make those donations, legitimises the industry and exacerbates the problem."

White Ribbon demands a lot of oxygen in the national emergency that is family violence – yet its track record is patchy. Federal MP Emma Husar, whose speech last year in the House of Representatives revealed her own devastating battle with family violence, is pretty clear on what she thinks about White Ribbon: "Advocacy, prevention and education is important but that shouldn't be funded at the expense of services which actually support victims."

The problem of family violence is bad enough without White Ribbon giving support to those who push gamblers.

Jenna Price is a Fairfax columnist and an academic at the University of Technology Sydney.

Twitter: @JennaPrice

Facebook: JennaPriceJournalist