A very informative and yet quite disturbing presentation by Lawyers Mary Foley and Marie Casey.

 

Mary started by saying, education needs to start as early as 5 years of age, it is too late when they reach their teen years.

 

Disrespectful and abusive behaviour towards women is learnt in those early years when young brains are developing, and they copy what they hear and see.

Marie then gave a presentation from the Legal Aid and Family Law for victim’s perspective.

These days there is a lot of advice given over the phone and then followed up afterwards.

 

Some disturbing figures – In the first 3 months of 2023, 4954 cases went to court in Victoria.

In 12 months 2021 – 2022 in the Barwon region alone there were 5100 cases of family and domestic violence went to court. A growth of 38% in 5 years.

Adolescence offending is rising rapidly due mainly to mental health issues.

Indicators that are red alerts and taken very seriously by police are,

 

Threat to Kill,

Choking,

Controlling Behaviour,

Excessive Jealousy.

Abuse can be

verbal,

physical,

sexual,

emotional,

phycological,

economical,

threatening 

coercive

and can be in many forms.

 

We all need to be a part of the answer.

Thank you to Pam and all at Highton Rotary Club for organising the night.