No More Violence rally to be held in Toowoomba in wake of number of alleged domestic and family violence deaths

In the past month Toowoomba has lost four lives to alleged domestic and family violence incidents, and the grief-stricken community needs to see change before more lives are taken.

Toowoomba has been left reeling after the devastating loss of three children this week to alleged domestic and family violence, with calls for immediate action against something that has plagued our community.

In just the past month, four lives have been lost to alleged DFV incidents in the Toowoomba region.

Louise, a Toowoomba mother of two, was allegedly killed by her husband in April and this week three children have died in a house fire with their mother currently under police guard.

A No More Violence rally in Toowoomba today is calling for action to make sure no more lives are lost to DFV.

Rallies are being held by the national organisation What Were You Wearing, in 18 cities across Australia.

Founder of WWYW and DFV victim-survivor Sarah Williams, said that generally DFV was an issue impacting people everywhere, and there was a need for more action in regional areas.

“We know what’s happening, you know there’s sexual violence, domestic violence everywhere,” she said.

“This (rally) shows how big of the issue this is, they’re obviously resonating with our content and they’re needing the support.

“It’s just concerning that there’s so many areas that don’t have access to enough support.”

What Were You Wearing, an organisation that fights against domestic, family and sexual violence is hosting 18 rallies across Australia this weekend calling for No More Violence.

Ms Williams said although DFV most commonly involves male perpetrators it doesn’t mean violence doesn’t happen in other relationships and situations.

No matter the situation she said it should be treated the same way.

“It doesn’t just happen in that standard of heterosexual male and woman relationship,” she said.

“It also goes two ways.

“It’s just as bad and there should be just as much punishment.”

Ms Williams said often when there is cases of DFV where the perpetrator is a woman, people use it as a scapegoat for male violence.

“A lot of men then come into comment sections and start saying see it’s not all men, it’s actually women,” she said.

“At the end of the day, men still are predominantly the perpetrators and we still have a men’s violence issue in this country.”

Queensland Treasurer and Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki said there are too many families in Toowoomba whose lives have been shattered by DFV and the issue needs to be addressed together as a community.

“We must confront the painful truth: the most sacred place in our lives — our home — is no longer safe for too many in our community,” he said.

“There have been too many conversations with loved ones of those killed in their own homes.

“Too many first responders bearing invisible scars of the horrors witnessed behind closed doors.

“We owe it to the memory of those we have lost – to demand better, to do better, and to make every home in Toowoomba a place of safety, not danger.”

Mr Janetzki said after the tragic death of three children this week, more needed to be done to protect victims and the government was implementing on-the-spot 12-month Police Protection Directions and tracking high-risk DV offenders.

Ms Williams and the team at WWYW have called for politicians to step up and they had six demands.

WWYW has demanded investment into prevention through education to teach people about healthy relationships and consent from a young age.

They were also pushing for reform in bail laws to make sure children and victim-survivors were protected during court cases.

“We need the bail laws to actually be prioritising the needs of survivors,” she said.

The No More Violence Rallies will also demand support through housing and homelessness strategies, trauma-informed training for first responders, consistent national affirmative consent laws, and increased funding for support services.

“We have seen barely any responses or acknowledgement of these rallies by Ministers and MPs across the country and its really really disappointing,” she said.

“All the candidates for Prime Minister, all the parties had not prioritised domestic and family or sexual violence.”

WWYW started a petition before the federal election calling for politicians to speak on these issues.

Ms Williams said several politicians started speaking about DFV after their petition got to 10,000 signatures but now it’s back to radio silence.

“I think it shows, was all of that just an election campaign or was it real?” she asked.

The No More Violence Toowoomba rally starts at 12pm on Saturday May 10 at Queens Park.

Originally published as No More Violence rally to be held in Toowoomba in wake of number of alleged domestic and family violence deaths