Mr Broad made the statement while urging the federal government to bring forward a commitment to start a national awareness campaign targeting domestic violence in Federal Parliament this week.

‘‘I think there is a legitimate discussion about having a domestic violence offenders register, just like a sex offenders register,’’ he said.

‘‘Name and shame these scum, and have GPS ankle bands for those who are repeat offenders.’’

Mr Broad said he wanted a national awareness campaign for domestic violence to be trialled in his electorate.

‘‘I understand the campaign is not expected to start until January 2016. I want that campaign to start sooner,’’ he said.

Mr Broad said he wanted the campaign to hit a nerve and tell men that domestic violence was not on.

‘‘I want to say to the offenders in my electorate, in a language that you can understand: you fellows cannot punch or kick your woman,’’ he said.

‘‘That is just not going to be tolerated. I want the national awareness campaign to commence sooner, I want a trial in my electorate and I have written to the Prime Minister to make this known.

‘‘We as a country can do better.’’

Crime Statistics Agency data shows Horsham has the third-highest rate of family violence in Victoria.

‘‘In my electorate, unfortunately, I have the local government areas with the second, third and fourth-highest rates of family violence in the state of Victoria,’’ Mr Broad said.

Horsham Police Acting Inspector Brendan Broadbent said the actual incidences of family violence in Horsham were not comparatively high with other areas.

He said the statistics were based on incidences per 100,000 people in a population.

‘‘We have a family violence unit in Horsham and all indications are that our data is trending lower,’’ he said.

‘‘Family violence is one of our main priorities  and that’s why we have put together family violence units in both Horsham and Northern Grampians police service areas.’’

In Horsham Rural City Council, there were 453 reported cases of family violence in 2013-14, equating to 2301 incidents for every 100,000 people.

Acting Insp Broadbent said since the family violence units were created last year, statistics had started to trend downwards.

‘‘We are managing victims much better,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re also managing perpetrators much better and linking them into welfare and anger management.

‘‘We are dealing with our courts much better.’’

Acting Insp Broadbent said family violence crimes were now followed through the legal system with the unit being able to provide more support to victims throughout the process.

He said there were still cases of relationship breakdowns leading to family violence across the Wimmera.

Acting Insp Broadbent said police were taking an approach that linked in with various agencies that dealt with family violence.

‘‘We are working with those agencies in a more efficient and effective way,’’ he said.

‘‘Our focus is not just on the offender, but even more so on victims of family violence and how we support them.’