Together We Can – a Year of Action

The event outlined the actions that came out of the community convention in April and all attendees were invited to sign the pledge.

Together We Can is a joint initiative between Cardinia Shire Council, Family Life, the University of Melbourne and the Australian Government’s Department of Social Services. Through the partnership, these organisations will work together to help the community address the growing family violence issue in Cardinia Shire.

Guest speaker, Kristy McKellar, is renowned in the family violence sector as a professional and family violence survivor, and has been involved in the Royal Commission into Family Violence. She spoke of her pride to be an ambassador for Together We Can and working with Council, Family Life and other support services to listen to victims of family violence and inform community leaders to take action.

Mayor Cr Jodie Owen said the pledge was a public declaration that family violence was not acceptable in Cardinia Shire and the community was committed to making change.

“It was with both pleasure and sadness that I signed the pledge at the launch. Pleasure, because I see the commitment and successes of our community to come together and align our activities. And sadness, because of the current high rates of violence against women and children in our shire,” she said.

“People who use violence and abuse others must be held to account. By coming together, we can tackle the terrible problem of family violence in our community.

“Ending family violence is not going to be easy; it will take a great deal of effort. But we can do it if we all work together. I thank everyone who attended this event and signed the pledge.”

Cr Owen thanked the community for coming together to stop family violence.

“Thank you for coming together on Tuesday and the community convention in April to show your solidarity in ending family violence in the shire,” she said.

“We have only just started on this journey. It will take a united and continued effort to successfully achieve our goal to keep everyone in our community safe and free from family violence.”

For more information visit togetherwecan.org.au or join the Together We Can Facebook group.

If you are experiencing family violence call the safe steps 24/7 Family Violence Response Centre on 1800 015 188.