VIOLENCE against women is everybody's business and this was certainly the view of many at the end of the Violence Prevention – It’s Everybody’s Business conference in Bendigo this week.
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About 320 people attended the two-day conference at the All Seasons on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Keynote speaker and MC Clementine Ford, speaking to the conference at its close, said it had been "an amazing, inspiring, traumatic, emotional rollercoaster of two days".
"I hope like me, people feel buoyed at least by the support, and the knowledge that there are people willing to put in the hard efforts and to keep shouting and keep fighting," she said.
Women's Health Loddon Mallee chief executive Linda Beilharz gave the closing speech and said the event had been "profoundly reinforcing".
"It's been a significant reminder of the importance and the difficulty and the challenge but also the opportunity that we've got, because of the commitment that we've got, so we can go forward. And we will."
Later she reflected on what she said was a "very successful" event.
"I was really humbled by the number of people," she said.
"We've had a huge number of people and the most inspiring speakers, speakers who have developed our concepts around what’s important and how we can go about making a difference."
She said some attendees had travelled long distances to be at the event, including from places such as Mildura, Swan Hill, Tasmania, Fiji and New Zealand.
She said the conference's focus on prevention and the range of speakers put together were appealing to a wide audience.
"We've had one from Sydney who said she just hasn't had a conference like this she could to go to," she said.
She said while some topics had given rise to debates on the best way to approach things, there had also been "such a strong community about the core things we need to tackle".
Ms Beilharz said there were two major themes to come out of the conference, the former being increased focus on gender equality and respect for women.
She said the latter surrounded the issue of men's responsibility and “discussion about the role of women in bringing them to the table".
"It should be men taking responsibility, but there is a recognition of the journey that that takes," she said.
She said she supported keynote speaker Phil Cleary's call for a Royal Commission.
"He was talking about a Royal Commission around response to violence and we would add to that about the investment in prevention," Ms Beilharz said.
"Where there's been progress it’s been where money has been invested.
"So there’s passion and clarity about what we need but it’s money that makes it happen, it allows people to participate and things to be developed.
"A Royal Commission can look at where resources go and how the resources can be allocated to make that happen."
Ms Beilharz said Women's Health Loddon Mallee was planning to extend the conversation now the event had finished.
"Now we need to broaden that out... we will need to have more conversations," she said.
"We’re planning to run forums in the rest of the Loddon Valley Region because it is hard to come from some of those areas. So we need to keep conversations going."