THE West Wyalong Local Aboriginal Land Council is inviting members of the community for their annual ‘March Against Domestic Violence’ on Thursday August 14.
Running from 11am at the front of the Local Aboriginal Land Council offices and finishing at McCann Park at 2pm - the event was extremely popular in March last year and due to public demand is running again.
There will be service providers present on the day to assist those in need along with information booths as well as a BBQ lunch for attendees.
Marches like this are even more important given the troubling data from the regions.
Domestic violence (DV) rates in regional NSW are significantly higher than in metropolitan Sydney, with regional areas experiencing 30% higher rates of domestic assaults compared to the statewide average. Furthermore, these rates have been increasing in regional NSW over the past five years, with a 19% rise compared to a 13% increase statewide since 2018.
Certain regional areas, particularly in the western parts of the state, experience the highest rates. For example, the Far West and Orana Region has the highest rate of domestic violence-related assaults in NSW, often more than three times the overall state rate. Dubbo in the Central West and Walgett in the far west have been identified as trouble spots with high rates of DV while it's important to note that domestic violence is often underreported, with police estimates suggesting that only about 40% of actual incidents are reported.
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