Hume is a hotbed of family violence in Melbourne’s north and west.
According to Crime Statistics Agency figures, Hume had the greatest number of “family incidents” in the western metropolitan region in the 12 months to December 31, 2014 when 2965 incidents were reported.
The seven municipalities in the region are Brimbank, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Maribyrnong, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham.
Maribyrnong had the least number of family violence incidents last year: 848. The statistics reveal that in just five years the number of reported family violence incidents in Hume has almost doubled.
In his submission to the Family Violence Royal Commission, Western Metropolitan MP Cesar Melhem has called for harsher penalties for first or early offences.
“The state has no obligation to show leniency towards men who hit women,” he said.
“The state has every obligation to protect women from being abused.”
He said the figures were a stark reminder of the fundamental inequity that existed between men and women “in spite of the fashionable, complacent view that feminism is over and gender equity is done and dusted”.
Women’s Health West, one of about 22 service providers in the region, has reported that it is “stretched beyond capacity” with 735 referrals to the service from police in April alone, compared with 708 for the entire 2006-07 financial year.
Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire’s submission to the royal commission aired his concerns about adolescents’ access to “hard-core” pornography that “exposes them to extreme sexual and violent behaviour at a susceptible age”.
In the submission of Thomastown MP Bronwyn Halfpenny to the commission, she called for a legal aid service in Thomastown and an easily accessible women’s refuge in the area.
The Royal Commission on Family Violence is due to provide its report and recommendations to the state government by Monday, February 29, next year.
