The Community Respect & Equality Summit taking place in Geraldton at the Queen Elizabeth II Community Centre on the 27th of May, will focus on a community-wide approach to preventing family violence in Geraldton.

The Summit will bring together local business and industry, with family violence professionals, advocates, survivors, researchers, educators, and trainers, and unite a single purpose; provide the inspiration, guidance and tools required to support local people, business and industry to take preventative action in their workplaces.

Beth Martin the Community Respect & Equality Coordinator at Desert Blue Connect said family violence is a devastating problem in the Geraldton community.

“Roughly three family violence incidences occur every day in Geraldton, however taking into account that 83% of women experiencing family violence from a current partner do not contact police, family violence incidences in our community are expected to be much higher,” she said.

“The Summit will focus on providing professional development on the primary prevention of family violence which aims to stop a problem before it starts.

“The best way to stop family violence before it starts is by working to change our community’s attitudes and social norms that drive family violence.

“Local people, business and industry play a hugely important role in making this change happen – by taking action to prevent family violence in your workplace you are taking action for the whole of community.”

Summit speakers include:
• Dr. Ann O’Neill, founder of the charity angelhands, survivor-advocate and Our WATCh ambassador;
• Damian Martin from Global Roaming Pilbara Foundation, former Perth Wildcats skipper and 16 Days in WA – Stop Violence Against Women ambassador;
• Audrey Walker from Our WATCh, Gumbaynggirr woman and Senior Practice Advisor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women; and
• Paul Zappa, General Manager of The Men’s Project – Jesuit Social Services.

The Community Respect & Equality Welcome Reception will take place at 6pm-8pm on the 26th of May at Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation. This is a free event and welcome to the whole community to attend.

The Community Respect & Equality Summit will take place at 8.30am – 5pm on Thursday the 27th of May at the Queen Elizabeth II Community Centre. Tickets are $110. Some subsidies are available, if you would like more information on these please contact info@communityrespectandequality.com.au .

The Unpacking the Man Box Workshop will take place at 9am-10am on Friday the 28th of May at Desert Blue Connect. This is a free workshop.
Registration is required for all events, with tickets available at https://communityrespectandequality.com.au/cre-summit/ or at the Desert Blue Connect Reception.