In the Northern Grampians between March 2017 and March 2018, there were 96 charges for breaching a domestic violence order based on offences recorded by Victoria Police.
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Furthermore, there were 37 serious domestic violence assaults recorded by Victoria Police in the Northern Grampians during that time period.
To address these statistics, Lifeline has started running a domestic violence awareness program across Australia, with the program coming to Stawell later this month.
Lifeline Ballarat program manager Michelle MacGillivray will also be running the program in Stawell.
She said the program was about raising awareness of domestic violence.
“Running the course, we have noticed there are a lot of myths in the community about domestic violence, especially educating people about the full range of abuse,” she said.
“People in the workshop are often shocked by the statistics of domestic violence.”
One woman is murdered each week by her current or former partner in Australia, according to the most recent homicide statistics from the Australian Bureau of the Statistics.
The ABS data also revealed that one in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Furthermore, women were at least three times more likely than men to experience violence from an intimate partner.
“If we are going to empower community members to take steps to reduce domestic and family violence we first have to teach people to recognise the signs and forms of abuse that represent domestic and family violence,” Ms MacGillivray said.
“We need people to become familiar with the themes of power and control that are present in cases of domestic and family violence.
“We also need people to think about what they can do if they know someone who is experiencing domestic and family violence.”
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The domestic violence alert training, run by Lifeline, is recognised as one of the key initiatives under the Australian Government’s National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022.
Ms MacGillivray said the course was free and available to everyone in the community.
The course will be run on June 26 in Stawell.
She said people register by contacting Lifeline Ballarat on 5322 4996 or Lifeline.Ballarat@vt.uniting.com
- National sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling and information referral service – 1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732.
- National telephone and online support, information and referral service for men with family and relationship concerns – MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78.
- 24/7 crisis support and suicide prevention services – Lifeline: 13 11 14
