By Victoria Stone-Meadows
CASEY City Council has gone against the trend of neighbouring councils and opted for a private White Ribbon event rather than a public show of support for the campaign to end family violence.
City of Greater Dandenong and Cardinia Shire Council have confirmed they will be holding public events to raise awareness of issues surrounding family violence in support of the White Ribbon Campaign.
However, the City of Casey confirmed on 10 November that it will be holding an internal event with its staff members and staff from Multiplex; the company contracted to build Bunjil Place.
City of Casey Manager Community Safety Caroline Bell said Casey council is committed to addressing family violence in the municipality.
“The City of Casey strongly supports White Ribbon Day as an important day to pause and reflect on the issue of family violence,” she said.
“Council focuses every day on ways to prevent violence against women and children, in particular, by addressing the major driver of violence against women, gender inequality.”
However, when asked for details of how City of Casey was raising awareness of family violence issues in the community and working towards combating this with support of the White Ribbon Campaign, no answer was forthcoming.
“Details of how council will acknowledge White Ribbon Day will be provided next week,” Ms Bell said.
The City of Casey has some of the highest incidences of family violence in the state according to the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency which uses police data to aggregate crime statistics.
The Casey Municipal area had a family violence incident rate of 1,455.8 per 100,000 population in the 2015-16 financial year, an increase of 12.5 per cent over the previous year.
The state average for family violence incidents per 100,000 population for 2015-’16 was 1,061.8.
Newly-elected returning mayor Sam Aziz said he was unaware of any internal or public event for White Ribbon Day hosted by the council.
“I’m not aware we are having an internal event or what that entails,” he said.
Cr Aziz did however speak of his support of the goals of the message behind the White Ribbon campaign and other events taking place in the community.
“It’s one of our most important events in the year and helps to understand and recognise the problems we go through in terms of domestic violence,” he said.
“It also allows us to support and recognition of the victims and it is a critical day we all participate in.
“I understand the City of Casey participates in a number events and as mayor I attend an number of events; we certainly participate in a range of events and have a strong policy on combating family violence.”
