Snap Community Vigil held at Council House
A snap community-led vigil at Council House was an eleventh hour plea for the City of Perth to keep the vital space open.
As the sun disappeared behind the 13-storey Council House building a community-led vigil came together with the concerning realisation there would be one less option for vulnerable women the next night.
At short notice, dozens of local residents, nurses in their scrubs, and members of our network joined us, to voice our final plea that the Safe Night Space remain open – for at least over the Christmas period, and until another location could be secured.
This vigil was the second community gathering at Council House.
At the first gathering – attended by hundreds of community service representatives –held on Monday, 20 November people were concerned but buoyed by a funding offer of $3.1 million from the WA Government to keep the service running.
It is disappointing that despite this, and the immense support in the community and amongst our sector, the City of Perth and Mayor Basil Zempilas have chosen to shut the doors, leaving 30 women every night with no safe place to find shelter and refuge.
Vigil Consensus
People at the vigil expressed their distress and show of solidarity not just about the facilities closure but that it could happen during the 16 Days in WA campaign with the theme Stopping Family and Domestic Violence: Play your part.
Once again the media presence and support has been incredible. All the major TV stations turned up, with channel 7 and 10 even doing a live cross to their nightly news bulletins, which were beamed to thousands of people watching the evening news across Perth and Western Australia.
Rod Evans Community Centre
Overwhelming Support/What Next?
The immediate priority is now to maintain the pressure and attention – and ask the City of Perth to reopen the Safe Night Space, until at least the Christmas period has passed, and ideally, Ruah have secured an alternative space.
We encourage you to share and sign the open letter to the City of Perth – which has almost attracted 1,000 signatories.
A @safenightspacewatch Instagram page has also been created!
At the time of writing a change.org petition to safe the Safe Night Space has attracted 22,863 signature, including thousands in the City of Perth electorate You can sign that here.
