Shining a light on family violence
The community will take to the streets on Saturday night to raise awareness about family violence.
The Shine the Light event will involve a walk, starting in Ward Street at 6pm, travelling from Pynsent Street and then along Firebrace Street before a presentation at Horsham Soundshell.
The Wimmera Committee Against Family Violence invites the public to join the event, which allows participants to grieve for those affected by family violence, share messages of hope and ensure the people behind family violence statistics are not forgotten.
Last year’s event attracted more than 100 participants, and organisers are hoping for greater support this year.
The Wimmera Committee Against
Family Violence vice-chair Shane Podolski said police and Country Fire Authority, CFA, personnel would again join the event.
“The police do rolling stops, block all the roads, and CFA have all their torches, fire engines behind us, the whole lot – it’s pretty spectacular,” he said.
Mr Podolski said Horsham Mayor Robyn Gulline and Member for Lowan Emma Kealy had been invited to speak at Horsham Soundshell, where there would also be a presentation to pay tribute to victims of family violence, plus a sausage sizzle for participants.
He said what started as an online event with people holding a photo saying they stood against family violence had now turned into a larger community event.
“We also have an awakening tribute to the reported cases in Horsham – in 2022, we had 511, and in 2023 there is 635, so it’s actually gone up,” he said.
“So that’s just to raise awareness of we’ve got that happening – and that’s only reported. So what’s not reported?”
Mr Podolski said the fact that 27 women had been murdered across Australia this year would be a focus of the presentation.
He said he hoped protests about women’s safety in capital and regional cities at the weekend would translate to more people attending the Horsham event on Saturday night.
“I think people, because nothing was actually done in Horsham or the Wimmera, will come along to show support, especially with what’s been happening in Ballarat and then the violence against the women at the Bondi Junction shopping centre,” he said.
“The honest truth is, and I say this every year, I wish I didn’t have to talk to you. Family violence should be going down, it should be zero, and then the committee won’t have to do all this work, we can just not be there.”
Mr Podolski said he hoped greater education of youth would result in lesser incidents.
“By changing that mindset, hopefully we can stamp out these bad behaviours that have been going since man was created, really,” he said.
“It’s the kids who are in that environment picking up that bad trait. So it’s about breaking the cycle from the start.”