The city's Quaker community is appealing for calm among residents as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The group had intended to host a forum for the discussion of peaceful resolution strategies later in the month, but due to gathering restrictions, it has had to be cancelled.
The Alternatives To Violence forum will be re-scheduled in the future once it is safe to do so.
It has been something Quaker and forum presenter Michael Bayles has been looking to bring to Wagga for the past decade. He expressed disappointment over the cancellation.
"I've always wanted to bring it to Wagga and now seemed like the right time for it," he said, ahead of the decision to pull the pin.
"People are getting more concerned with respect in general. It's being talked about a lot more."
The program Mr Bayles and his fellow Quakers are working from is borrowed and adapted from a rather unexpected place.
"A group of prisoners in America were concerned about the amount of violence among the new inmates, so they found a way to break the cycle," he said.
"A lot of the time the course is run in prisons and places where there is a lot of trauma."
Even in the absence of the fast-to-face meeting, Mr Bayles is still confident the peaceful principals and messages need to be heard now more than ever.
Especially as the nation continues to experience unprecedented panic-buying as a result of the COVID-19 uncertainty.
"[In the sessions] we work through role-plays and we could've even had one around toilet paper buying," Mr Bayles said.
"We could set it up like a situation in Chullora [Sydney] the other week when people were fighting over it. What would be a better way to resolve that?"
Related:
It comes after the prime minister Scott Morrison expressed his "disappointment" over "un-Australian" supermarket hoarding.
"On bulk purchasing of supplies, stop hoarding. I can't be more blunt about it," Mr Morrison told the nation on Wednesday.
"It is not sensible, it is not helpful and it has been one of the most disappointing things I have seen in Australian behaviour in response to this crisis."
Mr Morrison went on to label the panic-buying conditions as "distracting" from the larger issues surrounding the COVID-19 crisis.
"There is no reason for people to be hoarding supplies in fear of a lockdown or anything like this," he said.
Quoting from the recommendations of the The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), Mr Morrison advised "against the the bulk purchase of foods, medicines and other goods," and the "panic purchase of foods and other supplies".
In the midst of the ongoing health crisis, Mr Bayles and his fellow peace-keeping Quakers are spreading a message of resilience and hope the community will begin to support each other's needs more effectively.
"It comes down to listening to each other's concerns instead of demanding that 'I'm right'," he said.
It is their hope that the crisis may even promote grounds for Wagga residents to recognise their common humanity and become a more caring society in the future.
"These strategies would benefit any community at any time, but definitely now."