Frankston City Council, in Melbourne’s south east, is one of several Victorian Local Governments that has developed a strong and enduring partnership with Community Correctional Services in recent years. These partnerships allow people on community based orders to assist with Council projects. As well as repaying their debt to society, it helps develop community pride.
People undertaking community work, as part of a Court or Parole Board order, participate in a range of projects, including cleaning up parks, reserves and public land. They also maintain and create playgrounds around the city, such as the new playground in Wingham Park.
Frankston City Council Community Safety Coordinator, Bonnie Baird, said the partnership benefited the community. “Offenders do important work that contributes to making the municipality a cleaner, safer and better place to live,” she said.
Senior Community Corrections Officer, Warren Dunn, said the arrangement allowed workers to contribute to improving the City and, in so doing, develop community pride.
“What we have found is that people undertaking this type work do not like to see areas they have worked in trashed, damaged or neglected,” he said. “This is especially true of the playgrounds.” All those required to do community work as part of their sentence are carefully screened and assessed to ensure appropriate placement. Community safety is a paramount consideration.
Frankston is not the first Local Government to be recognised for such work. Melton Shire Council and Melton Community Correctional Services (MCCS) won the Partnerships with Local Government award at the fifth annual Community Work Partnerships awards last year.
General Manager Community Services, Emma Healey, said that Council and MCCS won the award for their joint program to help integrate offenders back into society by giving them the opportunity to contribute to their local community through volunteer work.
“The Melton Shire program ran on Mondays and Saturdays with teams of up to ten workers and one supervisor undertaking landscaping, tree planting, fencing and maintenance works at Mt Cottrell, Melton Equestrian Park and creeks and parklands across Melton Shire,” Emma Healey said.
