Lesley Hewitt
I wasn’t going to write a Councillor Column this month as I’m currently on leave and out of the country. However, even in the USA I’ve been reading about the death and alleged murder of Hannah Maguire, a much loved member of the Clunes  community. My heartfelt condolences to Ms Maguire’s family and friends. Once again Central Highlands Rural Health, working with HSC have stepped up and offered counselling to those community members who need it.
It was only last month on the same day that the Shire was celebrating International Women’s Day that a young man was charged with the murder of Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy. And in February another young Ballarat woman, Rebecca Young was also killed.  All of these women have died, allegedly at the hands of men, in tragedies that could have, and should have been avoided. Their deaths didn’t need to occur, and are tragic examples of gendered violence in Australia, bought home to us all because they have occurred locally and in our region.
When is it going to stop? And what can we do about it? it. I’ve spent all my professional life working with adult and child victims of rape, incest and sexual assault  assault, family violence and child abuse, victims of all genders. There has been a range of prevention programs tried over those 45 odd years. But still it happens. But it’s not inevitable. And it’s not some other community’s problem. It’s ours. So we need to take responsibility, prompting respect and equality for women and girls. Calling out  misogynistic attitudes that allow violence against women to exist. Teaching our children and grandchildren empathy, communication skills and respect.
Sometimes in my council activities I get the feeling that people think I go on about gender equality and their response is a bit dismissive: “There she goes again.” Or “It’s sorted. We’ve addressed it”. What’s happened in the last two months in our region, show that it isn’t. We all need to step up and do what we can. We owe it to those women whose lives have been violently ended.
Cr Lesley Hewitt is a Daylesford resident and an elected councillor for Birch Ward.
Councillor Columns are a regular feature in The Wombat Post. We offer this space as an information channel from Council to the community. Councillor Columns are not subject to editorial review by our editorial committee but are published as we receive them from our elected Councillors.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline (131 114) or Beyond Blue (1300 224 636).
