Is it enough? Not even close, but at least it’s a start. More than 60 women have been killed in domestic violence incidents across Australia this year while one in six women has experienced some form of violence at the hands of a man. In the Wimmera, figures show there were 453 domestic violence incidents in Horsham Rural City, 196 in Northern Grampians Shire and 82 reports in Yarriambiack Shire in the 2013-14 financial year (the most recent statistics available). 

Alarmingly, one-in-four young Australians still don’t think it’s serious when guys slap their girlfriends during a drunken argument. Those kinds of statistics are unacceptable and indicate the country has a real problem on its hands. Perhaps Yarriambiack Shire chief executive and White Ribbon ambassador Ray Campling put it best when he labelled violence in the community as “pathetic and gutless”.

And the issue is not isolated to one location. Every town or city, no matter its size, is struggling to cope with this problem. 

On Monday, the Ararat Advertiser and other Fairfax Media mastheads are joining forces to support Our Watch in its latest campaign around family violence prevention.

Our Watch is a national (government-funded but independently run) organisation that seeks to change the culture and behaviours that underpin violence against women and children. 

Its latest campaign reinforces that violent and controlling behaviour is something that lives with the people involved forever - like a tattoo it is not easily undone.

To coincide with the latest Our Watch campaign, the Ararat Advertiser will launch an online landing page under the banner End the Cycle (stop family violence). 

The landing page will carry a base of content about family violence across Australia.

There will be information on what our readers (especially parents, teachers and community leaders) can do to help change attitudes. The End the Cycle campaign runs until White Ribbon Day on November 25.

- Luke Horton, Editor