This morning in Toronto the Zonta Club of Hunter Newcastle Inc, supported by Lake Macquarie City Council, and attended by local Police and community organisations, launched their 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

The Zonta Club have partnered with local knitters from various community groups to create these beautiful and colourful tree wraps you can see if you stroll along the Toronto Foreshore for the next 16 days until 10 December.

1 in 3 women experience violence at the hands of a current or former partner.

One woman's life is taken every week by domestic violence.

On average, police are called to a domestic violence incident every 20 minutes!

These statistics are horrifying and completely unacceptable in our society.

Protecting our wives, sisters, mothers and daughters against violence is not just the right thing to do, it is essential we also set an example and make noise to show we do not tolerate this kind of abuse in our communities.

I commend Zonta and all the volunteers and collaborators who helped make this event a poignant reminder of the work we still need to do to protect our women and girls.