Ribbon a call for change

After the recent death of an Aboriginal woman at the hands of her partner, an ochre ribbon was used as a way to symbolise the call to end family violence in the Mid West this week.

Aboriginal Family Law Services chief executive Mary Cowley said it was the loss of life and startling statistics that prompted the need to say enough is enough.

“The ochre ribbon is a symbol that the Aboriginal community will not stand for family violence anymore,” she said.

“The current system is not keeping our men, women and children safe.”

The AFLS launched the Midwest Ochre Ribbon Day Campaign last Wednesday.

The campaign aims to draw awareness to the issue and to focus on the need for safety and investment in the future of Aboriginal children and the culture.

The project stems from recent statistics from the WA Ombudsman in a review of family and domestic fatality, which portrayed an alarming picture for the Aboriginal community.

The review states 46 per cent of people who died in family violence incidents from 2012-14 were Aboriginal, compared to being just 3 per cent of the population.

Mrs Cowley, said it painted a pretty clear picture of the cause for many other social issues.

“These statistics show just how effective the billions of dollars spent on reducing domestic violence actually are,” she said.

“There are other statistics we should also be alarmed about — did you know that of all children who are in out-ofhome care, 52 per cent of those are Aboriginal children.

“Or our high incarceration rates of Aboriginal youth — these are issues that all stem from the home environment and are a ripple effect from family and domestic violence.

“The Government needs to take a microscopic look at these regional communities instead of just dealing with the issue as a whole.

“But we as a community are the ones who can change these statistics by taking responsibility for the actions of ourselves and our families.”

Closer to home, in the Mid West and Gascoyne district there have been 1044 domestic assaults in 2014-15 reported to WA Police.

Mid West Gascoyne family protection unit co-ordinator Sergeant Jeremy Ashworth-Preece said an enormous amount of police resources were tied up by domestic violence reports.

“I’d say about 50 per cent of our police resources are dealing with family and domestic violence in Aboriginal families,” he said.

“The ochre ribbon is designed to show we are talking about this and we won’t be silencing the violence.

“It’s an issue that as a whole, the police, community and AFLS can work together to abolish.”