Catholic Care NT Violence Prevention Manager Narelle Gosstray says 20 Territory organisations have created domestic violence action plans, 30 days into its new campaign called the Stand, which aims to get businesses and community groups to say NO MORE to violence

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know the stand. It is no More, the
No More Campaign's most ambitious initiative yet and it is
a powerful community driven campaign honoring over ninety women lost
to domestic and family violence in the Northern Territory since
two thousand. Now you might recall about thirty days ago

(00:20):
we spoke about the launch which called on groups and
organizations to create ninety domestic violence action plans in ninety days,
each one a real commitment to change. So how are
things progressing thirty days in? We'll joining us on the
line is Norell Gostrae, Catholic here NTI's violence prevention manager.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Good morning, NoREL, Hey Katie, great to be chatting to
you again.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, so good to hear from you as well. Now
tell me how things at thirty days in.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, really good. We got off to a pretty flying start.
So we've got twenty domestic violence action plans already created
by allanizations throughout the territory, all across Darwin, Alice, Catherine
and some remote communities. So we're pretty excited where we're
sitting and just really really looking to get more people engaged.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well, twenty is awesome, and you know that is wonderful
that that number of businesses organizations have committed, you know,
to doing this for those out there listening this morning
who maybe don't know exactly what a domestic violence action
plan is and they're possibly hearing it and thinking, oh,
it sounds like something I want to be involved in,

(01:34):
but I don't really know what i'd have to do.
Just explain it for us.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, So, Katie, it's a really simple approach. A domestic
violence action plan is literally just a few simple actions
that your organization can take to help contribute to ending
domestic and family violence. It can take the form of
kind of any anything from free actions on a piece
of books paper in the shed at you know, at

(02:03):
the local mechanics, to a fully fledged policy. So it's
a really easy thing to do. And we've got heaps
of tools and resources on our website, which is the
stand dot org dot au. And yeah, we can, we
can provide support, we can come out and talk to
your staff, give them more information. And there's also you know,

(02:26):
plenty of plenty of ideas already out there of what
people can do.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
NoREL, are you able to tell us some of the
some of the organizations, some of the businesses that have
sort of signed on and it might like you know,
it might kind of motivate I suppose some of the
others or they might think, oh, hang on, I know them.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah. Yeah. So today we've had some really good support
from some of the cafes around town. So the Trader Win,
Alli Road and Matterbat Coffee have been putting their out
stand stickers on their on their coffee cups, hoping to
have another one next week, which has come about because

(03:03):
they heard the other ones. We're doing it most of
the organizations that have done them so far as social services.
So we're and I think we're having lots of really
good conversations with the businesses around town in Darwin particular,
but they're in developments. I can't really I don't want
to know out somebody just yet, but there's a lot

(03:25):
of really good conversations happening, Like you know, some people
in the construction industry. We do know that Impex is
doing one. They're one of our community champions, so that's
a much bigger organization. But we're also you know, whether
it's a mum and dad business or you know, it's

(03:46):
really for anyone.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah. Well, it's also like I guess, and please correct
me if I'm wrong, But it's also I guess, you know,
for those businesses sort of being able to stand up
and particularly some of those great male dominated industries stand
up and go, you know, we don't, we will not,
you know, in any way condone domestic violence, and we

(04:09):
want to stand up. And you know, some of them
might be thinking, they're not exactly sure how, but they
do want to support you.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Guys absolutely, and we know that we know that male
role models are really important for trying to get the
change that we're looking for. And so and I think
one of the things big things, Katie, is that a
lot of people think, well, I don't know what I
can do or how you know, what what is it
that we could possibly do? And so some of the

(04:36):
things that an organization could put into a domestic violence
action plan are really simple, and it's as simple as
ensuring that your staff understand it and feel comfortable about
accessing the DV leave that is a national offering these days.
You could do training for your support on how for
your staff on how to recognize, respond, and refer to DV.

(05:00):
You could do a fundraiser for one of the local
DV shelters like Dawn House or kasin booth YWCA or
even no more. You know, we'll put our hand up
as well. Yeah, but there's yeah, there's some really simple
things that you can include that don't take a lot
of effort but can make big change.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
And Norell, I mean, the fact is domestic violence impacts
a lot more families and a lot more homes than
what people probably realize as well, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Absolutely so. The statistics used to be one in four women,
and just recently there's more data that's been released at
say one in three, which you know, obviously it's not
a good thing. One thing that it might help that
data might tell us is that people are starting to
report domestic violence more. But what it also is saying

(05:51):
that it's pretty rife in our community and it's really
important to know, like the Northern Territory is the highest
rate of DV in in Australia. But it does not discriminate.
It can affect anybody's you know, any race, religion, gender.
You know, it's not just women. We know that the
majority and the more serious physical abuses against women, but

(06:15):
it really doesn't discriminate.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Norell if people are listening this morning, if businesses are
listening this morning, organizations, and they're thinking, this is something
I'd like to be involved in, you know, I want
to take the stand? Where should they go? How can
they find out more? Yet?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Really easy? So the stand dot org dot au. They
can go there to get information on how to do
a domestic violence action plan themselves. And on that page
there's three things they can do. They can email us
and ask for more information. There's already information on there.
They can email us ask for more support. They can
nominate an organization, So if you maybe are working for

(06:56):
a local business and you're not necessarily the decision maker,
you can nominate your business anonymously if you want to,
or put your name to it. And of course the
ultimate commitment, which is creating and submitting your own domestic
violence plan.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Well, NoREL Gostre, it is always good to talk to you.
We will catch up with you again, I reckon, what
do you think maybe when we hit the sixty days
and see how things are going.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, I think that'd be great.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Thanks Katie, good stuff, Good on you, Norell. Thank you
so much for your time this morning. All right, thank
you