Hundreds march silently through Bunbury CBD to stand against family violence for White Ribbon Day march

Hundreds of people walked silently through Bunbury’s main street on Friday morning to show their support for ending family and domestic violence in Australia as part of the White Ribbon Day march. The silent march weaved its way through Bunbury’s CBD, starting at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery on Wittenoom Street, turning down Wellington Street, and moving along Victoria Street to come to a stop at Anzac Park. The crowd then gathered to hear from guest speakers who had professional and lived experiences with family and domestic violence who shared stories of the huge impact this “silent epidemic” has on Australian families every day. The White Ribbon Australia march invites men to be part of a movement to eliminate gendered violence and speakers at the event reinforce the core message that women’s safety is a men’s issue. In reflecting on his professional experiences, South West district police family violence coordinator Don McClean encouraged people to embody this year’s theme of “be the change”. “Family violence is ingrained in our culture,” he said. “Our traditional State beer is colloquially called ‘wife basher’, and the iconic Aussie singlet — a wife-beater. And it’s currently being sold on e-bay under that title.” Sgt McClean shared some of the nation’s most shameful statistics, including the fact intimate partner homicide is the most common form of homicide in Australia, and that one woman is killed by a current or former partner in Australia each week. “Between 2010 and 2018, more than ¾ of all cases reported involved a male intimate partner homicide offender killing their current or former partner,” Sgt McClean said. “The vast majority of these male offenders had been the primary user of domestic violence against the woman they killed. “Interestingly, in the majority of cases of a female partner killing her male partner, the female was also the previous primary victim in that relationship.” South West musician Gemma Heath performed the song Face Down, a song written by American band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ lead singer about his own experiences of suffering family violence as a child.