Zoe Moffatt
Melton woman Antoinette Braybrook, the 2022 Melburnian of the Year, is the chief executive of Djirra and co-chair of the Change the Record Campaign. Ms Braybrook is also a proud Kuku Yulanji woman.
Ahead of International Women’s day on Wednesday March 8, Ms Braybrook said governments needs to be called to action.
“[We need] Aboriginal women’s voices to be visible and heard… we need a greater investment by governments and to be a priority on their agendas,” she said.
When speaking about the future of women in Australia, Ms Braybrook said she’s been chief executive of Djirra for 20 years and is not seeing things get better.
“It’s a time for us to shine a light on Aboriginal women and the structural and systemic violence and racism that our women face.
“Aboriginal women in Victoria today are 45 times more likely to experience family violence and 10 times more likely to die from this violence.
“We need governments to start investing in… Aboriginal women’s self determination.
“If we keep doing things the same way, we are not going to get a different result.”
Ms Braybrook said she hopes governments will start investing in specialist organisations such as Djirra, which supports Aboriginal women and people who are experiencing or have experienced family violence.
Ms Braybrook will be the keynote speaker at the Macedon Ranges council International Women’s Day event at Kyneton town hall. The event is free to attend and tickets are available on the council website.
Details: bit.ly/3ETkIfb
