Police and Rotarians are inviting people on the Northern Rivers to wear purple and join them in speaking out against domestic violence this Friday in Ballina.
The Rotary Club of Ballina-on-Richmond is to again lead a march through local streets calling for an end to domestic and family violence.
Rotary District Governor Dave Harmon says he was personally touched by domestic and family violence some five years ago, prompting him to organise a community walk in Ballina in 2019.
The tradition has since continued and expanded across the country, with Rotary clubs leading and or participating in community walks in Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Melbourne, Launceston and many regional centres.
A national campaign against domestic and family violence officially started on 25 November and is to continue until 10 December, with a national day of action planned for Friday 1 December when the marches are to happen.
More than one woman per week killed in domestic violence on average in Australia
Perhaps one of the most significant marks of the Rotary marches is the inclusion of police as active participants rather than supervisors.
Fifty-eight women are reported to have died as a result of domestic and family violence in Australia so far this year, a figure published before NSW Police today declared the arrest of a 40-year-old man accused of murdering a woman in her forties known to him.
Officers says they found the woman’s body in an inner West Sydney unit late Saturday night after receiving reports of a domestic incident there.
Local police on the Northern Rivers, particularly officers working within the Richmond Police District, have posted on social media each year for the past few about their marches through Casino calling for an end to domestic and family violence.
But awareness of and indignance over the issue has arguably strengthened across the region since the violent killing of 64-year-old Lindy Lucena in Ballina in January.
Police found Ms Lucena with significant head trauma in a Ballina laneway in the early hours of 4 January and later charged her partner, 66-year-old Robert Karl Huber, with murder.
He was reportedly on bail for several charges related to violence at the time of Ms Lucena’s death.
The case against him is ongoing.
Police on the Northern Rivers arresting domestic violence offenders every day
More than half of NSW court time is focussed on domestic violence matters, Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith told a media conference in October, with police involved in most cases.
‘We respond to 140,000 cases of domestic violence [per year]’, Assistant Commissioner told media, ‘that’s 12,000 frontline officers, 3,000 detectives, 430 prosecutors, all committed to dealing with domestic family violence, which is a seven-day-a-week operation’.
A four-day NSW Police blitz targeting the most dangerous domestic violence offenders in the state last month led to the arrest of 421 people, including around 30 on the Northern Rivers in the Tweed/Byron and Richmond Police Districts.
The blitz was the fourth as part of Operation Amarok, an intelligence-based policing strategy led by each region’s Domestic Violence High-Risk Offender Team that has so far led to more than 2,300 offender arrests across the state.
The operation has included more than 19,000 Apprehended Domestic Violence Order compliance checks, and more than 5,500 associated bail compliance checks.
Speaking to Bay FM’s Community Newsroom* after the October blitz, Acting Assistant Commissioner and District Commander of Richmond Police District Superintendent Scott Tanner said officers on the Northern Rivers had probably arrested around a hundred offenders in total as part of Operation Amorok.
‘This is on top of the day-to-day work that we do every day in responding to domestic violence,’ Acting Assistant Commissioner Tanner said, ‘I can confidently say that there wouldn’t be a day go by in the two police districts where somebody’s not being arrested and charged for domestic violence’.
Domestic violence linked to homelessness
Police have partnered with all five NSW Rotary Districts to stage November’s anti-domestic violence campaign.
Rotary District 9640 Governor Dave Harmon says Rotarians are in a unique position to help raise awareness, educate youth, support organisations helping the victims of family violence and to promote positive and respectful relationships.
‘Domestic and family violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women and children,’ Mr Harmon says, ‘when statistically a woman is at more risk of serious injury by someone known to her in her own home than by a stranger on the street, we have to admit we have a serious societal problem’.
Mr Harmon is to emcee this Friday’s post-march rally at the Ballina Indoor Sports Centre.
Speakers are to include NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner Dr Hannah Tonkin, Acting Commissioner Tanner, domestic and family violence lived experience speaker Meg Vallentine.
The march is due to start at 12.30pm in the La Balsa Plaza carpark from 12.30pm, with speeches to start at 1.30pm and participants planning to wear purple.
* Mia Armitage is also executive producer of Bay FM’s Community Newsroom
