Campaign receives $1 million Government grant to help stop the Coward Punch
The Danny Green Stop the Coward Punch Campaign is thrilled to announce is has received a $1 million grant from the Morrison Government through the Proceeds of Crime to stop the scourge of unprovoked acts of violence and to educate people about the devastating effects of a single coward punch.
Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews MP joined Campaign Founder Danny Green in Perth on Wednesday to announce the new funding which will be allocated over a four-year period.
Four-time world champion boxer and founder of the Stop the Coward Punch Campaign Danny Green said awareness, intervention and education are critical to stop the source of vicious coward punch attacks.
“On behalf of the entire Campaign, I would like to personally thank the Morrison Government and in particular, Minister Andrews, for their recognition and support of such an important cause,” said Mr Green.
“As we know, through the findings of our world-class research in partnership with Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM), more than 172 Australians have needlessly died from coward punch assaults since 2000.
“Whilst it is very pleasing the numbers have fallen, they are still happening, and one death is one too many. A coward punch assault causes significant life-long physical and mental injuries so the need for awareness and education to change behaviour is essential.
“The fact is that literally thousands of people including the victims, the perpetrators, the witnesses, first responders and friends and family are all traumatised by coward punch attacks every year in Australia. It has to stop and this funding will help us do just that.”
This funding comes at a crucial time and will help the Campaign to spread the message through the community including schools and higher education, sport clubs and hospitality venues.
Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner and Coward Punch Campaign Board Member Christine Nixon likened the drop in coward punch fatalities over time to a reduction in the national road toll.
“Analysis of data from the National Coroners Information System shows there has been a remarkable reduction of fatal coward punch deaths from 2012 to 2018,” Ms Nixon said.
“This continued decline in deaths is important and can be likened to reductions over time in deaths on the road. Continuous educational, enforcement and environmental interventions are needed to reduce the road toll. This financial and political support of the Stop the Coward Punch Campaign will further contribute to the further reduction in this horrendous, often fatal, crime.”
According to Danny Green, the Campaign education package in conjunction with Cool Australia which was launched in February, features curriculum-aligned lessons raising awareness of the coward punch.
“Our education tool includes science lessons concentrating on forces and biology, drama lessons exploring elements of drama and the theatrical conventions used in the Stop the Coward Punch Campaign, a media lesson focussing on culture jamming, and health and physical education lessons exploring the roles of bystanders and upstanders in preventing violence,” Mr Green said.
“We started the Coward Punch Campaign in 2012 to raise awareness of the devastating impact of coward punches in Australia. This work intensified in 2019 with the inaugural Coward Punch Week. Our world-class research and education tool is central to our mission to end the coward punch.”
Since Danny and the Campaign started using the Coward Punch expression in 2012, the term has progressively replaced ‘one-punch’ and ‘king hit’ in the Australian vernacular to describe these deadly assaults. It has been used by judges and magistrates in handing down verdicts and sentences to perpetrators and is regularly quoted in associated media reports.
Boxing legend Danny Green is urging Aussies to Stop the Coward Punch
Listen to Danny Green’s full chat with Galey, Emily Jade & Christo below:
Exclusive first look at boxing champion’s ‘Coward Punch’ ad campaign
Written by Seb Costello
Boxing world champion Danny Green has slammed one-punch attackers as “extremely gutless cowards” ahead of the launch of his latest “Coward’s Punch” TV campaign.
“No one respects it. It’s unnecessary,” Green told A Current Affair, while discussing the issue.
In 2012, Green founded “Coward’s Punch” to campaign against street violence.
The organisation’s latest TV commercial features a distraught mother and father waiting in an intensive care unit, as their son fights for life.
As a nurse explains to the couple that the situation is terminal, the focus of the advertisement switches to the man who’s decision to throw a punch has effectively ended a life.
The new advertisement has aired for the first time on A Current Affair.
It’s a powerful snapshot of the type of tragedy that has affected families like Jon and Heidi Walker.
In May 2017 the Walker’s 22-year-old son, Jaiden, was struck in Melbourne’s CDB.
Five days later, Jaiden’s surgeon’s told Jon, there was nothing more they could do.
“I got up and ran out. I couldn’t deal with it. I remember just running down the hallway to where (Jaiden) was and I think actually shook him to try and just wake him up because I just couldn’t believe it,” Jon told A Current Affair.
“It’s been four years now. People say that it’ll heal with time. But it doesn’t. Every single day we go through the same thing. It just doesn’t get any easier at all,” Jon said.
Former Victorian Chief Commissioner, Christine Nixon, is a board member of the Coward’s Punch.
“I think what that campaign tries to say is: the consequences of your action can be that someone dies, that you take the life of another for a stupid act,” Ms Nixon said.
As Chief Commissioner Ms Nixon saw the full costs of street violence on society in terms of legal and medical resources.
“Those people I’ve seen who’ve survived the coward punch have had significant physical damage done, that in many cases they don’t recover from. That’s millions and millions in costs,” she said.
Green’s first TV campaign was in 2014.
New research shows that between 2014 and 2018 fatal “coward punch” attacks have dropped by 50 per cent.
Green said he will continue to campaign on changing the perception of these acts of violence.
“What’s not brave is someone thinking that they can walk up and crack someone, particularly when the person doesn’t know it’s coming, (the attacker) is so piss weak,” Green said.
If you would like to view the A Current Affair segment, click here.
Danny Green targets NRL fans in ‘coward punch’ advert during State of Origin
Danny Green has used the NRL’s State of Origin match in his hometown to launch a national week as part of his ongoing fight to call time on the coward’s punch.
The champion WA boxer last night kicked off the inaugural Coward’s Punch Week with the airing of a television commercial during the historic game in Perth to highlight the devastating consequences of senseless violence.
With the message reaching millions across the country, Green said to kick off the week-long awareness campaign during the “most-watched event of the year” was an “incredible opportunity to really, really hit home”.
“The demographic as well watching the State of Origin, is definitely the demographic we want to reach,” Green, 46, said.
Research by Green’s Stop the Coward’s Punch campaign showed 99 per cent assailants in reported attacks across the country between 2005 and 2011 were men, half of which are aged between 18 and 23. About 70 per cent of attacks were carried out between 10pm and 4am and 12 per cent resulted in death.
“The coward’s punch is a growing scourge in our community,” Green explains in the ad, which will also run on radio and online.
“Since 2001, over 100 lives have been snuffed out.
“Hundreds more have been injured. The coward’s punch takes lives and scars families, friends and survivors for life.”
Green said his fight against violence in the community was working, saying the term “coward’s punch” had replaced “king-hit” and “one-punch” in the Australian vernacular, adding it was being used by magistrates and judges in handing down sentences.
“Just having that simple, yet very powerful message attached to (assault offences) … you are going to be branded a coward for the rest of your life,” Green said. “It’s a very powerful deterrent for a young man.”
But Green said coward’s punches were still claiming too many victims and called on the courts to hand out tougher sentences.
Green said an e-learning tool was being developed which would be rolled out in schools, sports clubs and community groups later this year. Coward’s Punch Week will end on Friday with a fundraising dinner at Crown Melbourne.
Danny Green: Coward punch campaign sees phenomenal success
Danny Green says the campaign to change the language surrounding the coward punch has been incredibly successful.
The champion boxer, who has been the face of the anti-violence campaign for seven years, launched the 2019 Coward Punch Week during Sunday’s State of Origin game in Perth.
He tells Ben Fordham the campaign, which encourages people to use the term coward punch instead of ‘king hit’ or ‘one punch attack’, has really cut through.
“It’s really gaining momentum. Judges and magistrates are now handing down sentences referencing the term coward punch.”
“It’s such a basic, yet powerful tool that attaches such a negative connotation to a hideous act which is acting as a deterrent.”
Long term issues with split second punch
Boxing champion Danny Green is sick of the stupidity he’s seeing and wants to stop the coward’s punch.
The inaugural Coward’s Punch Week has been launched and Green says people don’t realise the consequences of a split second decision.
“People are losing their lives and being maimed and seriously injured forever, psychologically and physically. And it affects so many people,” Green told 6PR Breakfast.
Danny Green’s campaign to Stop the Coward Punch sees phenomenal success
In a boxing career which includes punching Anthony Mundine repeatedly, it’s incredible to think that Danny Green’s most important achievement is one of words, not violence.
Green’s campaign to replace the term ‘King Hit’ with ‘Cowards Punch’ has been an extraordinary success and the retired boxer has kicked off the inaugural Coward’s Punch Week, which highlights the devastating consequences of senseless violence.
“To change the vernacular in society in that short time, and to have now judges and magistrates handing down sentences referencing the term ‘cowards punch’, front page newspapers, lead stories, radio, TV using the term Cowards Punch, it’s so simple,” The Green Machine tells Marko and The Ox on Macquarie Sports Radio.
“It’s been a long road but to have that term replace those words which glorified the act, it’s a simple but powerful tool to attach a negative connotation to a hideous offence,”
