Is Australia really that safe?
It’s funny how perception and reality can be two completely different things.
People perceive Israel to be this dangerous place, where you’re minutes from being struck by a bomb, and Australia to be this laid back beach paradise where everyone smiles and says no worries.
Reality though, as we see this week, is that our perceptions may be way off.
I have been to Israel three times. My husband works for an Israeli company, and he goes for a week at a time, and while he works, I go explore. I spend all day and some evenings wandering around, walking miles at a time. I’ve never been anywhere where I felt so safe to walk all over, or catch transport, or walk to a restaurant at night by myself. I love going back each time because I know I’m free to just relax and not worry about my safety.
I wish I felt that safe when I went back to Australia…
People think it’s safe, and yet, for a single female, it’s really not.
How many stories do we have now of a woman walking home and being stalked, raped and murdered?
The latest is Melbourne, but it’s happened in Sydney and Brisbane too.
Women visiting a country they thought they should be safe in, to find out they’re not.
Those are just the international news incidents. Then there’s the Australian women who experience this every week, but it doesn’t make international news.
It’s compounded by the fact that men are losing their minds over a Gillette commercial telling us it’s terrible to point out their faults, while another woman is raped and murdered.
The government needs to step up. We need better mental health access. We need better sentencing for offending. We need better monitoring of known bad actors.
The general public needs to do a better job of watching out for each other, and we need to point out bad behavior. We need to step up and correct people, even if they take offense.
See something, say something works for violence too.
My heart goes out to the family of Aiia Maasarwe. I’m sorry you lost your baby in my home country.
