A Melbourne teenager is set to save the BSafe program from closure due to Victorian government funding cuts.
Thirteen-year-old Nikolaous Palatsidis was so outraged by the funding cuts the family violence program has had to endure, and it’s impact on victims, he has taken it upon himself to try and save the program.
When Palatsidis first heard that the BSafe program was going to suffer from funding cuts, he raised $4000 to try and stop this and hopes that people will follow suit and pressure the government to restore funding.
“When I found out the state wasn’t running it, it was so disappointing,”
Palatsidis told Neos Kosmos. Palatsidis wants this program restored as he says “family violence is something that affects women, children and the whole community”.
The BSafe program works like medical alerts that call emergency help with the press of a button. Over 70 women in Victoria and more than 140 children have come to rely on this program in the past three years.
If a woman is faced with a violent ex-partner showing up at her house, she only has to push a button to alert a call centre. Phone operators then ring 000 and give police all the woman’s details.
The alarm also has a recording device so when it is activated it records sound so the woman and her family have proof that the ex-partner has breached an intervention order.
Rachael McKay, BSafe project officer said this system “reduced breaches of intervention orders”.
