By JESSE GRAHAM
A VIRAL video asking young men to stand up against family violence has resulted in Yarra Junction’s Brendon Murphy being named Yarra Ranges Citizen of the Year.
Mr Murphy will today, Tuesday, 26 January, be awarded Citizen of the Year by the Yarra Ranges Council in a ceremony at the Yarra Glen Memorial Hall.
The award comes four months after the release of a video, featuring members of the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football Netball League (YVMDFNL) asking all men to take a stand against violence against women.
Switching from player to player, the men in the video said that every week, a woman was killed by her partner or ex-partner in Australia – “by a man who should know better, with mates who should know better”.
“The only number of acceptable deaths from domestic violence is zero,” Mr Murphy said in the video.
The video was watched and shared thousands of times by Yarra Valley residents, their Facebook friends, and media outlets.
Speaking with the Mail last week, Mr Murphy said being named as the Citizen of the Year was “surreal”, but that, in an ideal world, the video wouldn’t be necessary.
“I wish I didn’t have to make a video like that, but it gets to a point where you feel like you need to do something,” he said.
He said the video idea came to him, after he had been watching a current affairs program about a woman killed by her partner.
“It was just a bit of a moment, because at the same time … my daughter, who at the time was one-year-old, she’s just bouncing around on the floor,” he said.
“I just thought, geez, you know, you put your whole life into these children, and how heart-breaking to have someone rudely come in and … it’s just such a waste of life.”
The next step, he said, was to find his platform.
“At the football, it’s almost hardly spoken about, to be honest, unless there’s a special round or something like that,” Mr Murphy said.
“I thought, rather than go to the club, to go to the league and get all of the clubs involved – because you’ve got so many young men listening, and it turns out those young men listening were the ones sharing it, and liking it, and passing it on, and made it get much bigger than we ever thought it’d be.”
He said the impact of the video was that people saw their friends and team-mates speaking out – and they listened.
“Listening to your friends saying it is a lot more meaningful than listening to a celebrity saying it,” Mr Murphy said.
“All respect to celebrities that do say it – fantastic, because it’s a great message – but … I think when it comes from people you know, it hits you in the heart a bit.”
The success of the video saw Mr Murphy awarded $5000 from the Upper Yarra Community Enterprise to give to domestic violence services.
He said the money would be used for a secondary school competition, where students will be encouraged to make their own version of the anti-domestic violence video, to share the message further.
He said a YVMDFNL round was also being organised to raise awareness of respectful relationships.
Yarra Ranges mayor Jason Callanan said the council had a “commitment” to ending domestic violence, and commended Mr Murphy on his award.
“There’s a great range of people, and Brendan getting the Citizen of the Year is great,” he said.
“What he does, and what he represents is just fantastic, and it’s good to recognise that.”
