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HORSHAM Rural City Council adopted a leadership statement to support the prevention of violence against women and children.
Horsham council’s human services manager Mandi Stewart said council has a leadership role in the community that can influence social and cultural norms in its interaction with others.
She said Horsham has the highest rate of family violence incidents in the Grampians region and has been in the top ten worst performing local government areas across the state in regards to family violence since 2012.
The statement focuses on creating a “safe, equal and respectful community” that supports the prevention of violence against women and children. It emphasised council’s role in the community, which can be used to help eliminate attitudes that support violence.
Councillor Josh Koenig said family violence against women and children was a significant issue in the Horsham Rural City area.
“In 2016 Victoria police responded to 78,000 family violence incidents, equating to 1500 incidents per week, 200 per day. And these were the only incidents that were reported,” he said.
“While 75 per cent of family violence victims are female, 77 per cent of perpetrators are male.
“One in three women experience physical violence in their lifetime and one in five experience sexual violence.
“In Australian one woman is killed every week by a current or former partner and more than half of women who report have children in their care.”
He said the statistics are important because Horsham ranked in the top five of family violence against women.
While majority of men are not violent, Cr Koenig said the issue needed to be addressed separately due to statistics.
“By adopting this statement we are not excusing female perpetrators we are just putting our weight behind the issue that women and children are primary victims of family violence,” he said.
Councillor Mark Radford said family violence impacted women, children and men.
“If this council is going to show leadership by having a positional statement on social issues then we need to be inclusive and encompassing and I am suggesting that this statement is not,” he said.
Horsham mayor Pam Clarke said the statement was developed by a group of agencies who deal with the issue on a daily issue.
“This is their statement that they are bringing to us for our ratification and our workings on how we need to behave as well,” she said. “It doesn’t just stop with females but it is the majority and we as leaders of this community say we will not tolerate the abuse.”
Crs Koenig, Pam Clarke, David Grimble, John Robinson, Les Power and Alethea Gulvin voted to adopt the statement while Cr Radford voted against the motion.