Thursday 26th March I attended a rally in Adelaide, held on the steps of Parliament House, to publicly acknowledge the recent and past loss of lives due to domestic violence.
The aim of the rally, organised by the Coalition of Women’s Domestic Violence Services, was to lobby our politicians for tougher DV laws and more stringent legislation, and called for the urgent implementation of homicide reviews. Homicide reviews, where they are in use in other states & parts of the world, are known to contribute in a major way to decreasing DV related deaths.
The rally was well attended & major speakers included, among others, Attorney General Michael Atkinson, Minister for Women, Gail Gago and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Vicki Chapman, all of whom spoke passionately and offered acknowledgment and support.
The crowd was incredibly diverse, with women and men from many different cultures and every walk of life offering their tears and their voices.
After the official speeches, people were invited to place roses, purple ribbons or other acknowledgments on the steps of Parliament House in remembrance of those who have died as a result of Domestic Violence.
The goal is to hold a rally like this each time there is another DV related death in SA, the aim being to keep this important issue high on the political agenda.
I was able to photograph the event, and have posted a few images from the day below.
Larger images are displayed with watermark for copyright reasons
Image copyright © Marion Cullen. All rights reserved.
The rally kicked off with a performance by Standard Deviation
Coalition spokes person Ele Wilde addressing the crowd
One Minutes Silence for the women and children who have lost their lives
Speaker for the Vietnamese Community Van Le
Elspeth McInnes (behind TV camera man)
Attorney General Michael Atkinson
No matter what age, DV does not discriminate
Minister for Women Gail Gago
Hon Vicki Chapman Deputy Leader of the Opposition
A man in the crowd raises his roses in acknowlegement
Faces in the crowd
Laying Roses in Remembrance
Says everything really…..
Some of members of the wonderful team I work with from the Northern Violence Intervention Program (NVIP)
