On Friday 25 November City of Ryde Council staff took a stand with accountants, politicians, truck drivers, executives, nurses, community workers, police and survivors of domestic violence at the annual White Ribbon Day Breakfast, hosted jointly by the Council and the Ryde-Hunters Hill Domestic Violence Committee.
The breakfast is part of Australia’s only male-led campaign to stop men’s violence against women marked by White Ribbon Day, which is part of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Key speakers were White Ribbon Ambassadors City of Ryde Mayor Clr Artin Etmekdjian, and the State Member for Ryde, The Hon Victor Dominello.
Clr Etmekdjian said: “In choosing to support this cause, Council has elected to play a community leadership role in partnership with business, with community groups and individuals, to highlight the need for concerted community action to stop violence against women.”
The Mayor added that as part of the City of Ryde’s commitment for the City to become an accredited White Ribbon community, Council and its partners will be actively promoting the cause of ending men’s violence against women among staff and throughout the community during 2012 and beyond.
Mr Dominello also spoke with enthusiasm and passion to the one hundred strong audience, highlighting some sobering facts about modern Australia. He said that no matter how sophisticated we Australians may believe ourselves to be, the continuing prevalence of male violence against women in our communities served as a stark reminder that we still have some ground to cover before we can truly claim to be a ‘civilised’ country. He added that he was delighted to see such broad support for the White Ribbon cause and this gave him hope that together we can start to change the culture so that all women can feel safe on the streets and in their own homes.
