Our guest speaker, Lauren Darley-Bentley was introduced by Past President, John Ferguson.
Lauren was born and educated at Dubbo before coming to Wagga to complete her secondary school education at Kooringal High School. Lauren has a degree in politics and international studies and is married with one child.
The text of Lauren's presentation follows:
First of all, I would like to say thank you to the Rotary Club of Wollundry for its investment in our vision for a whole of community response to Domestic Violence.
Your decision to invest the money from the 2015 Wagga Food and Wine Festival in an issue such as domestic violence shows you take your role in this community seriously and you do not shy away from uncomfortable issues. As an all-male club, your involvement shows leadership on this issue.
Why do we need to address domestic violence?
Well, first, let me define what I mean by Domestic violence.
Domestic Violence are ‘acts of violence that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship’. It may include physical, sexual, financial, emotional or psychological abuse but the ‘central element of domestic violence is an ongoing pattern of behaviour aimed at controlling a partner through fear’.
Domestic violence is a pervasive issue in all communities, ours included. It has severe short and long term consequences, predominantly on women and children, on their physical and mental health, employment, education and housing. In fact, it affects all areas of their lives and extends to the community in which they live, the country and economy.
To help you understand the enormity of this issue, let me read some statistics:
- A woman dies at the hands of a current or former partner almost every week in Australia.1
- One woman in three has experienced physical violence, since the age of 15.2
- One woman in five has experienced sexual violence.3
- One woman in four had experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner.4
- Women in Australia are three times more likely than men to experience violence at the hands of a partner.5
- More than half of the women who experienced violence had children in their care when the violence occurred.6
- DV is a leading cause of homelessness in Australia
I would like to pause here for a moment and let those statistics sink in a little. These are not just numbers - these are women – someone’s daughter, sister, mother, friend, colleague and neighbour. I’m going to read these statistics again, and as I do, I would like you to think about the women in your life and how these numbers relate to them. [read statistics again]
BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US HERE? IS DV really a big issue in Wagga Wagga?
In short, it is. As much as we would like to think DV is ‘out there’ and not ‘here’. DV is happening in our own backyard and has been for a long time.
Although local statistics are limited, we know that the DV rates in rural and regional areas are 1.5 times higher.
We know that Wagga Wagga is in the top third of the state for domestic violence related assault.
Wagga service providers and police also tell us that DV is prevalent in our city.
- The Wagga Court Advocacy Service recorded 357 police referrals in two months in 2015. 357 referrals in two months – that is 34 referrals a week.
- In 2014, almost half of the clients who accessed counselling by the Wagga Women's Health Centre (WWHC) experienced domestic violence.
- Senior Wagga police detectives tell us that 40% of police time in every shift is spent on domestic violence related crime. They also reported that there were 29 incidents of domestic violence in Wagga Wagga in one weekend in December last year.
Despite common myths, domestic violence isn’t just occurring in a particular suburb or within certain ethnic groups in Wagga.
DV occurs across all:
- socio-economic backgrounds
- religious beliefs
- level of education
- sexual orientation
- occupation
- community position, or
- cultural/ethnic background
I say it again, Domestic violence is a pervasive issue.
SO GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF ADDRESSING THIS ISSUE, what have we done with your money you may ask?!
- Wollundry Rotary, you have partnered with us, the Wagga Women’s Health Centre, and the Army Recruit Training Centre Kapooka to raise awareness of DV in the community and bring about a whole of community response to the issue. Just a small little aim!!!
- Given the size of what we are trying to achieve, we have designed the project as a 3-5 year project with three phases[this is outlined on the handouts]:
Phase one – is building the evidence, laying the groundwork and defining the issue. We need to understand what DV looks like locally before we can address it more effectively. The local statistics we have only tells us half of the story – they do not include incidents that are not reported. And the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) estimate that 58% of all domestic violence cases are unreported. That means we are missing a lot of information! Local research undertaken by a CSU researcher and I, will fill this knowledge gap.
Local research will tell us:
- How many in Wagga Wagga are experiencing, or have experienced, DV?
- The type of abuse are they subjected to
- It will tell us Wagga’s current response to DV and how effective it is
- And the challenges and gaps in our response
- It will tell us what the community understands about DV and their attitudes towards it
Phase two is focused on strategic planning. With the knowledge gained from the research in Phase One we are in a better position to respond to DV in a targeted and specific way that is appropriate for OUR community.
We will bring together representatives from across the community - business, local council, schools, university/TAFE, non-government organisations, defence forces, community and sporting groups –to develop a strategic plan – a whole of community response to DV in Wagga Wagga.
Phase three is implementing the strategic plan. It is hard to know at this stage what this phase will look like however it is likely to include:
- the development and roll-out of new prevention programs or increasing the scale of existing ones
- improving our response to domestic violence by filling gaps in service, streamlining, centralising or linking services
- establishing partnerships between non-government organisations and local police, magistrates and legal services to ensure a collaborative response.
So what have we achieved so far?
With the funds you provided we have been able to:
- employ a Project Worker (me!)
- design the project
- identify and engage a researcher from Charles Sturt University to lead the research
- apply for and gain ethics approval from CSU to conduct the first stage of the research
- meet key stakeholders and attend existing local and regional groups addressing DV to engage them on the project
- complete grant applications to fund the project
- engage the media to inform the community of DV and the project
These last six months have been focused on setting up the project.Although these activities don’t sound overly exciting - they are creating a strong foundation.
What we hope to see in the next six months is:
- the beginning of research
- The first stage of research will begin this month. We will be conducting interviews and surveys with those organisations that work directly and indirectly on DV in Wagga Wagga to identify what we as a community are already doing, where there are gaps, the challenges faced by services and what we need to do to do it better.
- Also in the next 6 months, we will complete another two ethics applications for the next stages of the research
- We will survey community members on their knowledge on, and attitudes towards, DV
- Also during the next six months we will hold a community forum to engage the community on the project and raise their awareness of DV in Wagga Wagga.
To Conclude
I would just like to thank you again for investing in our vision. It is a large vision -one that seeks to ensure all community members are safe and protected from harm, particularly in their own homes.
We are seeking significant change and this takes slow and steady chipping away at old attitudes and shining a light on this hidden issue.This vision may not bear fruit for a few years yet, but through your investment we have begun to build a robust foundation for a long lasting solution to DV in our community.
We are honoured to work with Wollundry Rotary. We hope that it will remain an ongoing partnership, one through which we can change the world for those people in our community who live in fear.
I would like to leave you with a quote, one that reminds me each day that we all can, and all have a responsibility to, change our world:
“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
Incoming President, Geoff Breust gave the vote of thanks to Lauren.
The Wollundry cricketers await the much anticipated clash with visiting Indian Rotarians expected in October at the International Rotary Cricket Week to be held in Wagga. Will the Indians come!?!
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