On 15th October, more than 150 people gathered at the Lismore Quad to ‘Reclaim the Night’, running since 1988 in Lismore, to speak out against violence and for a future where women and girls can live free of violence, harassment and fear.
Keynote speaker Magdalene West (actor and advocate) said that one in three women and one in five men experience violence in domestic or public places.
“We can fly an astronaut to the moon, but we can’t keep our women and children safe.”
“Sexual abuse and sexual violence runs rampant in our country. It’s in our towns, streets, schools and workplaces,” she said.
MC Mandy Nolan said after the speeches that we would have to walk on the footpath around the CBD and someone called out that we were walking on the street when Jenny Dowell was the mayor.
How macabre that four days later Dr Helen Haines MP was brutally attacked near her Victorian office and lost both legs.
