Bass Coast strides toward equality

BASS Coast councillors took an active step to eliminate family violence at its ordinary meeting on Wednesday.
Titled the Change for Sam Strategy – in memory of Cowes resident Samantha Fraser who lost her life to domestic violence – Bass Coast Shire Council called for greater police resources.
The strategy also called for councillors to lobby the State Government to provide an increase of $600,000 for organisations like Bass Coast Health, SalvoCare and Gippsland Women’s Health to deliver family violence programs and support services.
In Bass Coast, the rate of family violence is 25 percent higher than the state average.
The Change for Sam Strategy will comprise four key tiers which align with the Victorian Government’s Free from Violence Strategy.
These tiers include prevention, service response, system coordination and alignment, and practical support.
Mayor Cr Pamela Rothfield put forward the notice of motion calling for support for the strategy.
Cr Rothfield said the Phillip Island community was deeply affected by Ms Fraser’s death and this strategy will work to prevent family violence occurring in the future.
“There are two reported family violence incidents per day in Bass Coast and while there are a number of agencies and government organisations working to respond to these reports, their resources are stretched,” Cr Rothfield said.
“The goals of Change for Sam include improving current services and resources to better respond to incidences of family violence in Bass Coast.”
Cr Michael Whelan said the strategy was about changing attitudes to inequality.
In particular, he highlighted the overwhelming number of men who are domineering in relationships and the young boys who are socialised into these roles through aggression in sport.
“It is not acceptable that we condone this aggression. We all need to change,” he said.
Deputy mayor Cr Brett Tessari called for the increase of police resources.
“The statistics are a blight on our shire. We need to unite to break the cycle and get more police resources,” he said.
Cr Bruce Kent said Bass Coast deserved greater police presence.
“The government needs to hear the voice of the community. If an incident happened in inner Melbourne, they would have a concentrated family violence unit,” he said.
“You are treated like poor citizens. You need to speak up. If a serious incident occurs in Bass Coast, police could be tied up for three or four hours. That means there’s half a shift with no patrols. We need to stand up as a community and break this cycle.”
Cr Clare Le Serve congratulated council for becoming a White Ribbon accredited organisation and for supporting the Change for Sam Strategy.
“It is very sad. Those statistics are not something we should be proud of, but we should be proud that we have taken these steps.”

Taking action: Bass Coast Shire councillors Geoff Ellis, Bruce Kent, Stephen Fullarton, Michael Whelan, mayor Pamela Rothfield, deputy mayor Brett Tessari, Julian Brown, Les Larke and Clare Le Serve fully supported the Change for Sam strategy at last Wednesday’s council meeting.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Oct 23 2018. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry