“We are in the midst of a family violence crisis.”
In an urgent appeal, state Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland is pushing for immediate action to tackle the rising cases of family violence in her region.
Ms Cleeland said violations of family violence orders were the top criminal offence in six local government areas of the Euroa electorate, with some towns seeing rates more than double the state average.
In particular, Benalla recorded nearly 300 offences last year, with its family violence rate nearly twice as high as the state average.
Equally alarming, the Mitchell Shire recorded more than 700 breaches of family violence orders, nearly twice the number of any other offence recorded in the area.
This troubling trend extends beyond these areas to Strathbogie, Greater Shepparton, Greater Bendigo and Campaspe, painting a grim picture of the state-wide issue, with about 54,000 breaches of intervention orders reported last year.
However, Ms Cleeland said despite these concerning figures, support from the Victorian Government was still insufficient.
Ms Cleeland underscored the major impact of these incidents on local police efforts and the community’s safety.
“Seymour and Benalla do not have dedicated physical points of contact for those experiencing family violence,” she said.
Recent budget reductions in child protection, family violence services and women’s initiatives have intensified her worries.
Ms Cleeland criticised the government’s priorities and demanded it confront the crisis directly.
“Our community doesn’t want matching earrings and colour-coded outfits, we need genuine support and funding to address the issue,” she said.
“We need bail reform – something that was once again raised with this government recently.
“We need support networks, we need dedicated local crisis locations, and we need to be heard.”