By Ann Marie Angebrandt
A TOTAL of 450 pairs of shoes will be lined up on the steps of Parliament House today (Tuesday) to protest funding cuts to domestic violence support services in the West.
The shoes will represent the number of women the Western Women’s Domestic Violence Support Network (WWDVSN) helped last year.
“We want politicians to walk in the shoes of the women we help,” said network coordinator Geraldine Ellawalla.
“No one does what we do and can provide the same long-term support.”
The 12-year-old organisation was stripped of its $152,000 budget in June as part of the State Government’s new integrated approach to family violence services.
The group trains volunteers with first-hand experience of family violence as part of a long-term strategy to reconnect battered women and children to employment, education and community life.
With intensive lobbying over the past three months through several politicians, including Footscray MP Bruce Mildenhall and Tarneit MP Mary Gillett, the group has managed to claw back $58,000 from the Department of Human Services.
It has also been given a one-off grant of $21,000 to run a support group for the coming year.
But Ms Ellawalla said it’s still not enough. In 2005-06, the organisation received 450 referrals, requiring at least its original funding back, she said.
“Given that we’ve been unable to resolve this, we are now planning a protest on Parliament,” she said.
