Carpentaria Shire Council is receiving a myriad of accolades for its ground breaking and highly successful ‘Domestic Violence—it’s not our game’ campaign.
Developed by Council through its Normanton Building Safer Communities Action Team (BSCAT), the campaign aims to tackle the issue of domestic violence in the local community and create a culture where domestic violence is not the norm.
Located in northwest Queensland, Normanton is one of two towns in Carpentaria Shire, with a remote community of 1,500 people. In 2006, this region had the highest domestic violence statistics in Queensland and before the campaign began, Normanton had the highest rates in the region.
Normanton BSCAT addressed these problems by creating the ‘Domestic Violence – it’s not our game’ campaign and by sponsoring the local Stingers Rugby League Team. The slogan was then adopted by the team, who also agreed to become role models in the community.
The team has adopted a no violence stance, with the penalty for violence being exclusion from games and ultimately the team.
Commercial advertisements featuring the players and the message are run on Imparja Television during the football season. The slogan is also featured on car stickers, a banner displayed at games and community events, the team’s jerseys and supporters’ shirts. The Junior Stinger’s jerseys also feature the logo.
The campaign took out top honours at the recent National Awards for Local Government, winning the National Award for Excellence for a small council. This is the fourth major award for this groundbreaking campaign, which has seen dramatic declines in domestic violence incidents and inspired other NRL and AFL teams to follow suit.
Since the campaign’s launch three years ago, not only has the number of domestic violence incidents more than halved, but breaches of domestic violence orders have dropped by more than 40 per cent and the community is experiencing a real cultural shift.
Stinger’s Coach Paul Stephens said having the footy players as role models has been pivotal in helping change attitudes. “Many of the players have had first hand experience with domestic violence,” he said. “These are people who know what they are talking about, so when they talk they get the respect of the people.
“It is fantastic to see the difference this campaign has had on the local community and I feel very proud knowing the project has been copied in other communities across Australia.”
Carpentaria Shire Mayor Fred Pascoe said the plan is to keep the program running long into the future.
“The more we can get domestic violence cut back, the more we can limit its impact on people’s lives, the more success we will have as a community, and the greater the future we will build for our children,” he said.
For further information contact Anne Pleash, Carpentaria Shire’s Manager Community Services, on (07) 4745 2228.
