Ceremony raises awareness of family & domestic violence

Speaking Up Now ... people gathered in Tesch Park to hear guest speakers including Val France, front centre, Cr Winston Johnston and MP Andrew Powell. 

Domestic violence experts and local political leaders have spoken out about the crisis gripping communities across Australia.

About 100 people gathered at a Candlelight Ceremony in Maleny’s Tesch Park Thursday May 20 to honour people who had died due to an act of domestic or family violence.

“I was grateful that our speakers were willing to travel and to support this local event and to deliver such high caliber speeches,” said Val France of Speak Up Now who organised the gathering as part of Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month.

Speaker Tania Felstead, a Red Rose Foundation advocate, said one woman a week was dying due to domestic violence at the hands of a current or former partner.

“These are women who have been loved and cherished,” she said. “They had a right to live and that right has been taken away. We are giving them a voice and we will continue to take action in their honour.”

Ms Felstead said many deaths were preventable as they were, in many cases, predictable.

“We want to bring these issues out of the home and into the community,” she said. “In the quest of safety for all. It is the least we can do for those women who have lost their lives.”

Div 5 Cr Winston Johnston said domestic and family violence was a terrible scourge on society. “The only way we can do something is to recognize it do something about it and try and help those who have suffered it’s consequences.”

Coordinator of Sunshine Coast Regional Domestic and Family Violence Service Stacy Oehlman said even one life lost to domestic and family violence was too many. “And unfortunately the numbers continue to rise,” she said. Ms Oehlman said suicides that occurred as a result of domestic violence were not included in those figures, nor were the incalculable number of acts of violence in homes that were not recorded or not reported to police.

Glass House MP Andrew Powell said domestic and family violence was an issue that demanded a bipartisan approach and he was proud that both sides of state politics recognised this and were cooperating on the issue. 

“There are many causes of family and domestic violence and we need to look at how to prevent them,” he said. “I hope we can start dealing with the roots of those problems not just the tragic outcomes.”

Pornography a major issue, says Wallace

Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace said one in six women will be victims of domestic violence at some time in their lives. “It was an awakening for me to see that family, domestic and sexual violence is so widespread in our community.

“Gentlemen, in particular, if we are going to change the cultures in this country it is by and large up to us.”

Mr Wallace pointed to the corrosive effect online pornography was having on young boys.

“What we now know is with the internet young people are being exposed to hard core violent porn from the age of eight. There is a cohort of young men who are addicted to pornography and with a weird and unrealistic view of what sex and relationships are about.”

He said hard core porn was having a damaging effect on the minds of young men and: “I can’t believe how the dots have not been joined, to date, between hard core porn and family, domestic and sexual violence.”

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