Canterbury-Bankstown leaders in domestic violence gather 2023 Domestic Violence Summit

Leading support agencies for domestic and family violence have united and called for a wide push to break down the stigma that comes with the area’s ever-growing rates of domestic violence.

The panel of domestic violence leaders at the 2023 domestic violence summit hosted by Canterbury-Bankstown council.

Southwest Sydney’s leading support agencies for domestic and family violence have united and called for a wide push to break down the stigma that comes with the area’s ever-growing rates of domestic violence.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council hosted a domestic violence summit on Monday where about 200 leaders in the field gathered to workshop solutions to combat the rising crisis.

A spate of horrific deaths, including Bankstown aged care worker Amira Moghnieh who was allegedly bashed to death by her estranged ex-husband, has reignited debate over whether enough tangible work has been done to deal with domestic violence.

According to Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), there were 1348 incidents of domestic violence related assaults and 224 sexual assaults in Canterbury-Bankstown in 2022.

Mother-of-three Moghnieh, 30, who was allegedly murdered at Bexley.

Bankstown Police Area Command superintendent Adam Johnson said his command attends to more than nine domestic violence calls in a 24 hour period, with more than 25,000 calls across Sydney’s southwest each year.

He said it was not the number of calls that concerned him, but rather the number that go unreported.

“It’s a good thing more people are coming forward but what underpins this is education for victims and perpetrators moving forward,” he said.

Superintendent Johnson said educating the community about “what won’t be tolerated” is key to addressing domestic violence, as some victims don’t want additional action to be taken by police.

“I understand it’s a big step for someone to come forward, we’re talking about potentially breaking up families … so sometimes it worries me when a victim comes to us, they’re at the end of their tether and it’s a breaking point,” he said.

The panel of domestic violence leaders at the 2023 domestic violence summit hosted by Canterbury-Bankstown council.

Leaders in domestic violence gathered for the 2023 domestic violence summit hosted by Canterbury-Bankstown council.

Muslim Women Association manager of Linking Hearts Nemat Kharboutli, which delivers crisis and transitional accommodation, said her services had operated at more than 200 per cent capacity.

“We have a wide range of families accessing our services, but we primarily work with women and kids … we help single mothers and we’re seeing younger women with younger aged kids,” she said.

Ms Kharboutli said to solve domestic violence in the Canterbury-Bankstown area, communities needed to work together to support services while building “culturally, linguistically, and religiously responsive” educational campaigns.

“We need to be aware that as we make women and communities aware of the prevalence of domestic and family violence, they’re going to start reaching out more,” she said.

“We need to make sure that our crisis services are supported to expand to this capacity as we wait for the cultural and generational shift to happen in relation to prevention.”

Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Bilal El-Hayek at the 2023 Domestic Violence Summit.

When it comes to dismantling the taboo on reporting domestic violence, Ms Kharboutli said communities needed to recognise domestic and family violence was not a cultural or religious issue, but an issue around “dominance, power and control”.

“When we start attaching cultural stereotypes or cultural nuances to it, what we’re actually doing is stereotyping communities,” she said.

“It’s (domestic and family related violence) actually related to their opportunity to have agency and choice and make choices for themselves in their life.”

Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Bilal El-Hayek said the day was a huge success, as it was the first time all community groups and women’s organisations had gathered in the one room to discuss solutions to domestic-violence.

“The three top priorities I took away from the organisations was education, both in schools and the community, funding and collaboration between services,” he said.

Mr El-Hayek said following the summit, the council would assess the recommendations and present them to the state government through a mayoral minute at the next council meeting.

“It’s important we work with our community to eradicate this problem … we need to look after one another,” he said.