A TERRITORY FIRST: LOCAL COUNCIL AND NO MORE CAMPAIGN LINK UP TO END FAMILY VIOLENCE

The NO MORE Campaign and the Barkly Regional Council, in conjunction with the Tennant and District Times, have teamed up to combat domestic violence throughout Tennant Creek and the entire Barkly region.

In what is a first for the Northern Territory, a formal partnership has been created between the NO MORE Campaign and the Council that will see the Barkly Regional Council incorporate a Domestic Violence Action Plan (DVAP) throughout the organisation and erect signs in seven regional communities that declare their intention to eradicate family violence from the region.

Barkly Regional Council Mayor Steven Edgington is concerned that domestic violence related assaults have increased by roughly 40 per cent in the Barkly region over the last 12 months and says that enough is enough.

“The Barkly Regional Council is committed to partnering with CatholicCare NT and the NO MORE Campaign to reduce family and domestic violence throughout Tennant Creek and the entire Barkly region,” Mayor Edgington said.

“We’ve had enough of our community be destroyed by violence, so by forming this partnership we can work together to end family violence in the Barkly region.

“Our Council is very pleased to be incorporating a Domestic Violence Action Plan throughout the organisation, as it’s our job in the community to lead by example and do everything that we can to reduce violence in our community,” he said.

Campaign Founder Charlie King said that partnering with a council was a first for the campaign and will make a significant impact in the community as the local government was standing up to say no more to family violence.

“We want all communities across the Northern Territory to be completely free from family violence, and we believe the Barkly Regional Council is leading the way for other local governments to do the same,” Mr King said.

“The partnership between the NO MORE Campaign and the Barkly Regional Council created a lot of interest at the recent Local Government Association of the Northern Territory annual meeting, so we hope other councils will follow the example set by Mayor Edgington and the Councilors.”

The Barkly Regional Council, the NO MORE Campaign and the Tennant and District Times will also launch ‘The Spirit of the Barkly Award’, which will recognise football players and others from across the Barkly region who demonstrate ways to reduce violence on and off the field.

The Barkly Regional Council will also erect NO MORE signage at the Burkiss reserve.

Readers of the Tennant and District Times will be reminded of the commitment to NO MORE family violence by seeing the NO MORE violence logo published in the Tennant and District Times newspaper every week.

The Barkly Regional Council and the NO MORE Campaign encourage you to take part in the NO MORE Family Violence March in Tennant Creek on Friday, 24 November 2017.