THE NEWCASTLE and Hunter White Ribbon Committee is proceeding with plans for its annual breakfast that raises funds to fight domestic violence, saying it expects to be unaffected by the collapse of national body White Ribbon Australia.
Local committee chair Mark Weber said former Newcastle MP Bryce Gaudry and Jon Chin decided when they formed the local committee 12 years ago that it would be aligned to the international campaign, not the national body.
"That [the international campaign] was going to be our focus," Mr Weber said.
"We didn't want the message to be lost along the way with White Ribbon Australia stepping in between the international and local level."
White Ribbon Australia announced on Thursday its decision to close. Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants is handling the liquidation.
The charity - which promoted the international White Ribbon movement that aims to engage men and boys in working to end male violence against women - registered an operating loss of more than $840,000 last financial year and has recently cycled through four directors.
"This decision became necessary following an analysis of the organisation's future sustainability," it said.
Mr Weber said the closure was a "shame".
"I know that over the past few years there was turmoil happening and there was a shake-up needed to address a few things internally through the structure, but the whole program closing was a little bit surprising."
He said the closure was "not going to have a massive impact on us".
"All our activities will be continuing, the breakfast is going ahead [on November 29]... and we'll continue doing the work we do," he said.
"We're also looking to increase our number of regular and annual events to support more services."
In the Hunter, four women have been found murdered this year.
Mr Weber said there needed to be a "multi-pronged" approach to stopping violence, including assisting men to see the behaviour as a problem and to seek help for it.
He said men could also be victims of abuse, but were perpetrators in 93 per cent of cases.
"That's the reason it has to be a male led response."
