THE ROAD TO RESPECT By Danielle Galvin
The month of May marks Australia’s Domestic and Family Violence Awareness Month.
Cardinia Shire Council, together with various agencies and organisations in the region, have been champions for change in this space for some time.
A two day summit under the Together We Can banner brought together some of those key agencies in the region, from local police, frontline family violence workers, as well as various community leaders, and people with specialist knowledge and training.
Addressing the attendees, mayor Jeff Springfield shared council’s vision for change.
He said it was important to remember that “we are all owners of this movement”.
“We are all role models for equality and respect and our silence should no longer be encouraged.”
This sentiment was echoed in the words of Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Holland from the Dandenong family Violence Unit who said at the summit it’s a problem that society can’t “arrest its way out of.
It’s not just a law and order issue.
Similarly, as chair of the Victims Survivors’ Advisory Council Jennifer Jackson told attendees, it’s not just a problem that society can ignore or write-off as a personal problem between intimate partners or family members.
There were some key takeaway messages that were reiterated throughout the summit.
One is that the most dangerous time for a woman in a domestic violence relationship is the time between when she’s thinking of leaving and when she does.
It’s then that she needs extra support – without pressure to leave.
Some attendees noted that the first they or their clients had acknowledged or verbalised their abusive relationship was disclosing it to a staff member at a bank, fearful that their partner would drain bank accounts, immobilising them with nothing and no prospect to leave.
There was a powerful session on the second day of the summit elder abuse from Seniors Rights Victoria, and how that manifests.
There was also a forum on financial abuse and what that looks like.
One attendee shared that a client had been left with mounting debt – her former partner would drive up and down a freeway racking up speeding fines in a car in his former partner’s name.
There was a common theme there – that victims were unaware of their rights, snowed under by huge debt.
In the CALD community there are unique challenges too, cultural implications and sometimes language barriers, which can leave victims even more isolated.
Without a network and without knowledge of where to seek help can be dangerous predicament.
Wrapping up two-day conference, Cardinia Shire Council’s collective impact facilitator, said it was great to be together again, making change.
“It’s been great to reinvigorate Together We Can after Covid-19 and let people know we haven’t gone anywhere.“
On the first day of the summit, The Orange Door service system navigator Andy Young presented the keynote address to share how the community can access frontline services, and the importance of making the service available to the community.
“The Orange Door is not the answer, it is part of the solution,” Mr Young said.
He also shared an anecdote at an airport recently, when he and others witnessed a situation where a woman was being intimidated by a man, who appeared to be her partner.
He was proud that numerous people stepped up to call it out.
But the most important message was the reason behind the summit – to stop, end, and prevent family violence in Cardinia Shire.
The conversations are uncomfortable, difficult and harrowing.
There is so much more to be done, but change starts small.
