By Sahar Foladi
Walk Against Family Violence (WAFV) resumed for the first time since 2019 in City of Greater Dandenong on Tuesday 22 November.
Residents, community groups, Council officers and workers in the area took to the streets of Dandenong to say No to family violence.
The walk started at 11:30am at Dandenong Market and ended in Harmony Square where everyone heard from Orange Door support services for victims of family violence.
Mayor Eden Foster was also at the walk and said in her speech, it’s powerful to see the crowd’s support after a break.
“As a Council we take this cause very seriously and we are committed to taking a lead in our community when it comes to saying family violence is never okay.
“We also want to empower every member of our community to take a stand,” mayor said.
Keynote speaker, Tarang Chawla was also at the event and has become a vocal figure in campaigning against family violence and gender equality since the death of his sister Nikita in 2015 by her abusive husband.
“We all have a role to play. It comes down to community attitudes and to all of us as individuals. We don’t need to wait for Council, we don’t need to wait for politicians or sports people, or the media to talk about it.
“We can talk about it amongst ourselves to change the attitudes that contribute to the kinds of family violence that we’re seeing in Greater Dandenong,” Mr Chawla said.
Mr Tarang has childhood memories of days spent in Dandenong Plaza with his sister.
“Obviously for me it’s deeply personal, as my sister and I grew up side by side as brother and sister and I was in my mid to late 20s when she passed away.”
Mr Chawla believes in humanising victims in hopes it’ll help to show the cost of violence to the community.
“Sadly, Niki’s story has played out time and again in our society, but in coming together today we honour the victims of violence and start a conversation that will hopefully lead to change,” the mayor said.
According to Crime Statistics Agency, family violence is increasing. Family incidents recorded by Victorian Police have increased by 6.7 per cent between 2018- 2021.
The incident is where Victorian Police attended the incident and where a risk assessment and management report was completed.
