Western suburbs residents should reach out to their local councils as a step towards ending family violence.
That was one of the key messages from a leadership forum at Caroline Springs last Thursday.
The forum on strategies to reduce men’s violence against women and families attracted 135 influential people across the west representing business, sport, not-for-profit agencies and all levels of government, including Brimbank council.
Hobsons Bay council chief executive
Chris Eddy said that with statistics showing a woman was killed in Australia almost every week by a partner or ex-partner, “one of the most practical things that you can do after today’s forum is to give your local council a call”.
“Each of the councils in the west has a designated staff member who is an expert in this area and would be very happy to talk to you about any questions or ideas that you have,” he said.
“From April 2014 to March this year, there were 31 family violence-related homicides in Victoria.”
Mr Eddy was one of a panel of experts including Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Fiona McCormack, who said violence was a choice that thousands did not make.
