Community leaders brainstorm forum to solve Bundaberg DV crisis
With domestic and family violence spiralling out of control in Bundaberg, police have gathered community leaders from all walks of life to brainstorm a solution to the problem that threatens to overwhelm our police resources.
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About 50 community leaders assembled at a community forum in Bundaberg on Thursday night to brainstorm solutions to a domestic violence crisis that is spiralling beyond the control of police and support services.
Bundaberg police, in partnership with domestic violence support service Edon Place, invited representatives from local sporting groups, state departments including health and education, Bundaberg Sugar, Bundaberg Canegrowers, church groups and the media to the forum.
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In a sobering and shocking introduction, Chief Inspector Grant Marcus told the group police were being called to domestic and family violence incidents more than any other offence in 2022-23, the first time on record.
Police are responding to up to 10 domestic violence calls per day, with each incident taking up to four hours out of every shift per officer called to the incident, Inspector Marcus said.
With data for the current year showing a worsening trend, Mr Marcus said domestic and family violence was becoming such a drain on police resources that law enforcement in other areas was suffering.
“Domestic and family violence is a very complicated issue within our community, and to police it is just as complicated,” Mr Marcus said.
“It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, and as a result of that our resources are spending way more time on that, as opposed to spending time on other issues that we should be looking at.
“And it’s at the point where we really need to do something about that in this community, so that policing can focus on other areas that are just as important.”
The increasing burden on police meant a more holistic approach was needed, with the engagement from leaders at the forum yielding some promising ideas for preventing family and domestic violence in the community.
“There’s no one single answer or solution to this issue, we need a whole a community approach, “ Mr Marcus said.
“Tonight was about talking to community leaders and getting their ideas and thoughts and hopefully getting a commitment from them to try and to develop a community in the Bundaberg region to be free of domestic and family violence.
“They brought some really good ideas together, and it’s about going away now developing a community based action plan and hopefully putting that into fruition.”
Edon Place chief executive Lyn Booth said her service had seen a corresponding increase in referrals, both from police and also self-referrals as victim-survivors were becoming increasingly aware that violence in the home including emotional and psychological abuse was unacceptable.
Behavioural change programs run by Edon Place have had some success through educating DFV perpetrators as to what behaviour is unacceptable, but the growing scale of the problem meant that more community support was needed.
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“It’s really important because we’ve tried a number of things over a number of years, and we have an increased number of domestic and family violence cases in the Bundaberg region,” Ms Booth said.
“We need to bring the community together to support and collaborate around what can we do as a community to stop the violence.”
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