By Garry Howe
Cardinia Shire’s ground-breaking Together We Can campaign has been recognised at a national level.
The Collective Impact campaign – devised and spearheaded by retiring CEO Garry McQuillan two years ago – picked up awards at the National Awards for Local Government in the categories of Prevention and Community Safety and also Innovation.
The awards have been hailed as a win for the Cardinia Shire community.
“Men, women and children of Cardinia Shire ought to feel proud of their contribution to making our communities a safer place to live, learn, work and play,” Cardinia mayor Collin Ross said.
He said the awards demonstrate that Cardinia is on its way to reach its long-term vision of safe and peaceful communities.
“Together We Did It!” the mayor said, adding: “We have a long way to go”.
When launching the campaign in April 2016, Mr McQuillan said Together We Can was the first council-led initiative of its kind aimed at tackling family violence.
He shared the horrific numbers coming from police at the time.
“Let’s put a human face on those numbers,” Mr McQuillan said at the launch. “What they mean is that someone, somewhere in our community, is experiencing serious domestic abuse on a daily basis, often in front of their children.
The CEO said it was not acceptable. The work that has been done under the Together We Can banner since and the way it has been received in the community suggest a vast majority share that view.
The Together We Can model will now be replicated on the Mornington Peninsula.
The latest crime figures report a drop of more than 20 per cent in reported cases of family violence in Cardinia Shire.
As another indication of the success of the program, youth workers are reporting that young people are now self-identifying and disclosing family violence far earlier than years previous.
Formerly, young people would present to welfare staff with self-harming, alcohol and drug abuse and aggressive behaviours. It would take the workers often months of one to one support with a young person to identify that the root cause for their behaviour was due to unhealthy family dynamics.
The workers stated that the increased awareness of family violence seems to have helped young people to disclose their home issues to adults earlier. The subject is no longer a taboo and they are feeling safer to seek help to heal.
