No rally for Shepparton... yet

By Bree Harding

Jul 10, 2024

Another round of rallies against gender-based violence will be held around the country this month, with the list currently void of a Shepparton location.

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In April, national community organisation What Were You Wearing? (WWYW) called for action by the government with its first series of No More! National Rally Against Gender-Based Violence events to put measures in place that would help to stop the killing after women were losing their lives through violence in alarming numbers.

At the time of the April rallies — the closest to Shepparton being in Nathalia and Cobram — 32 women’s lives had been lost to violence in Australia in 2024. Now, the tally stands at 49.

Dates for Victorian rallies have been made once again in Cobram, Bendigo, Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong, with the voices of Wangaratta’s residents joining the chorus this time on Saturday, July 27, at King George Gardens.

No More! Rally Against Gender-Based Violence rally. Many people brought home-made signs to the No More! Rally Against Gender-Based Violence at Cobram in April. Photo by Bree Harding

WWYW says it’s important to keep pressure on the government and awareness around the topic.

“We cannot have waves of activism every two or more years,” a post on its Instagram page reads.

“Change starts now and we won’t stop demanding it.

“It is the least we can do for the lost women, children and the victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence.”

WWYW is calling for domestic, family and sexual violence services, men’s behaviour change programs and women’s refuges to be funded properly by the government.

An estimated 400 people gathered for the No More! Rally Against Gender-Based Violence rally in Cobram's Federation Park on April 28, this year. Photo by Bree Harding

Additionally, it’s demanding trauma-informed training for first responders.

Essentially, the call is to create a safer country for women and children.

“As a husband, a partner and a cisgender Indigenous man, I will be at the rally,” one Instagram user wrote.

“Enough is enough. This is not a problem for women to solve; it is a problem that lies with men. We need to stand up to other men and call them out on their misogyny, abuse, and violence towards women.

“It's not all men, but it's always a man. Until all men acknowledge this and take serious action, we can never begin to heal as a society.”