Adelaide Hills Council receives Honourable Mention at 2024 National Awards for Local Government
Since February 2023, Adelaide Hills Council has been committed to implementing Our Watch’s Prevention Toolkit for Local Government (the Toolkit), to prevent violence against women in its workplace and community.
The initiative which has been championed by Councillor Louise Pascale has included establishing an internal Working Group dedicated to driving engagement across the organisation around activities to prevent violence and improve gender equality.
Cr Pascale says family and domestic violence impacts all communities across Australia.
It is a long journey to empowering our communities to address and prevent violence against women and children. We have only been working pro-actively in this space just over a year and to receive an honorary mention at this stage is a huge endorsement of the work of our staff.
The Adelaide Hills Council has embraced the Our Watch Toolkit and our commitment to it shows other Councils around Australia how we can all be part of the solution, that we are not hopeless, and we can all be part of the change.
Mayor Jan-Claire Wisdom said to be recognised nationally for a key initiative is a significant step forward for all people in our community.
Everyone should feel safe and be free from violence. We are closer to preventing gender-based violence and improving gender equality.
CEO Greg Georgopoulos says the award is well deserved for the ongoing dedication of the working group over the past 18-months.
Council will continue to work with its partners to address and increase workforce and community awareness of the underlying drivers of domestic and family violence. This was initiated by Cr Pascale via a motion and fully endorsed by Council.
About the Award Category
The ‘Addressing Violence against Women and their Children’ category recognises local government initia-tives which: address underlying causes of gender inequality and power imbalances to eliminate violence against women and their children;
- support and advocate for women and children experiencing family and domestic violence and sexual har-assment; and/or
- raise awareness and create cultures and communities of respect, inclusion and gender equality.
Successful initiatives in this award category benefit communities by:
- preventing violence towards women by driving sustainable change in community awareness, attitudes and behaviours;
- supporting women and children who are at risk of, or experiencing, family and domestic violence, sexual violence or sexual harassment; and/or
- changing the attitudes and social norms that excuse or condone disrespect, sexual harassment and abuse.