Government Award
The Government Award recognises an innovative and exceptional policy, project or activity by local or state government that increases awareness of, and/or community safety from, domestic and family violence.
Winner: St George Police Service for the Re-visit Program
The focus of the Domestic Violence Re-Visit Program is to re-visit individuals and families who have been involved in a domestic violence incident. The Queensland Police Service visits families after an incident has occurred, at a time when the environment is calmer and more stable to offer further referral to support services.
The re-visit involves a Police Liaison Officer, the responding Police Officer and a community Elder in instances where the family is Indigenous. As the re-visit usually occurs the day following the initial incident, it allows the Police Liaison Officer and the family to talk in a calm and safe environment free from high emotion and fear.
The project was conceived by the St George Police Service as a result of repeat calls for service to address domestic violence incidents. The project commenced on a trial basis after it was presented to the St George Negotiation Table in February 2008.
More than 70 per cent of all domestic and family violence incidents in the local community involved families who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. The Re-Visit Program was designed to address this alarming trend and to provide culturally appropriate follow-up to families in the local community.
As a result of the program, a 40 per cent decrease was reported in all areas of domestic violence incidents including new applications, breaches of domestic violence orders and calls for service. This reverses the trend over the previous five years of increasing domestic and family violence.
Highly Commended: Brisbane City Council for Transit Awareness Campaign — Signs of Abuse
The Brisbane City Council’s Transit Awareness Campaign Signs of Abuse used a cooperative approach to increase community awareness about domestic and family violence. Facilitated by the CEO Challenge, the campaign received donations and sponsorship from eight medium to large businesses within Brisbane. This enabled the See the Signs – Be the Solution advertisements to be displayed on buses and transit shelters, reaching thousands of Brisbane commuters and prompting many calls to DV Mensline.