“I swear never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women” will be the pledge men across the region will take on Wednesday.

Wodonga acting sergeant Braithe Gibson said he’d “had enough” of attending domestic violence incidences and wanted men across the region to take the pledge as an act of solidarity.

“We encourage everyone to take the oath,” he said.

“It’s a males’ issue, we are dominantly the perpetrators and men need to get involved in dealing with it.” 

Albury domestic violence liason officer Alicia Langman said the message from men, to men, was the most important of all, to set an example for their peers. 

“White Ribbon Day is about the male perspective,” she said. 

“It’s about educating the community as a whole and letting people know it shouldn't be acceptable whether you’re a victim or a perpetrator,” she said.

She said police attended about 150 domestic violence call-outs every month, ranging from cases where no charges were laid to serious incidences of assault. 

“Numbers are increasing all the time but that's not to say that the actual domestic violence is increasing within homes,” Constable Langman said.

“It’s becoming more of a reported issue.”

There was a 72.8 per cent increase in reporting to police in Victoria of family violence incidents between 2004-2005 and 2011-2012, according to a report by the Victoria sentencing advisory council.

White Ribbon ambassador Mark Byatt said community support for ending domestic violence was stronger than ever, after the success of the White Ribbon ball earlier this month. 

“That was an outstanding success, with over 200 people getting behind the White Ribbon movement and grabbing hold of it from a regional point of view,” he said.

He said the campaign to end domestic violence in this region had been steadily gaining momentum for years, after a sports-based campaign moved into workplaces, homes and the wider community. 

“We started the journey about three or four years ago with a focus on sporting clubs,” the Wodonga councillor said.

“We’ve taken it into the male domain which is where the responsibility lies and needs to be.

“Whatever we can do to create awareness, educate the community and provide as best we can avenues for some support to victims is a huge success.”