Blue Mountains community says no to domestic violence at mayor's breakfast

At a mayoral breakfast on Friday (November 22) in the lead up to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Ms Wildman recounted to the Gazette the year she was fearful for her life.

The man started their relationship "very charismatic" she said, but he ended up trying to isolate her from her friends and "another side of him started to slowly emerge". When she chose to leave, he "became obsessed and acted like he owned me", stalking her at her workplace.

"It is something you do not forget and it has enabled me to be very sensitive of the effects that other women face."

But Ms Wildman said she also felt hopeful seeing a new generation of men be more respectful of girls and women.

A dozen male students from Katoomba and Winmalee High Schools joined community members at the event as part of the Blue Mountains community campaign against domestic violence.

The event is hosted each year by Blue Mountains Council with the Blue Mountains Coalition Against Violence and Abuse (CAVA) and was until last year connected with the White Ribbon campaign. That campaign is a global movement of men and boys working to end male violence against women and girls and was until October the nation's most recognised anti-domestic violence charity. White Ribbon Australia went into liquidation last month, but will carry on through Communicare. The event last week went on in the Mountains without the charity.

Mayor Mark Greenhill said there were "deeply appalling" numbers associated with domestic violence locally and further afield; and incidents were under reported.

In the Blue Mountains there were 229 recorded domestic violence assaults in 2018/19 according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

"Women are being killed across Australia in hard-to believe numbers - on average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner," he said.

"Men need to take responsibility for their behavior... domestic violence and sexual assault violates fundamental human rights. Each and every day we need to do better."

Guest speaker Suzie Van Opdorp represented Blue Mountains MP, Trish Doyle, the Opposition Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. She said Ms Doyle planned to continue the fight for more funding for court services and refuges. Demand for court advocacy services had quadrupled in the past five years, but funding had not, she said.

Another speaker, Mick Barrett from Belong Blue Mountains, said men needed to "transform how we do masculinity".

A Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District spokesman, Dominic Santangelo, said the district was working hard "to help men take responsibility for the health and broader social problem of violence against women".

"Today we'll have a presence at our three major hospital facilities - Nepean, Blue Mountains and Lithgow - and are into our second year of a project offering information support for fathers-to-be, as well as their partners, in a time of their lives that can present higher risks of the onset or escalation of violence."

Ms Wildman, from the Blue Mountains Women's Health and Resource Centre, now helps other women move on from trauma. She displayed a "safe village" art project made by some survivors of violence, comprising tiny houses hiding sometimes tragic stories.

"In the street you live often it is not all as it seems, inside it is sometimes very different," she said.

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