Men who live in Alice Springs Town Camps are taking strong action to make their communities a safer place by working to reduce domestic and family violence.
Seven men from Tangentyere Council’s 4 Corners Men’s Council are the first to graduate after undergoing training in identifying family violence and its associated risks.
The men are leaders from Alice Springs Town Camps and will be using their new skills to support men to say No to domestic and family violence.
Graduate and 4 Corner’s Co-ordinator Chris Forbes said he was more confident in speaking up and taking a stance against violence after undertaking the training.
“We learnt to recognise the signs of domestic and family violence, the different forms it takes and what we can do to support people who are affected by violence,” Mr Forbes said.
“We need to get it out there that not all Aboriginal men or town campers are violent. Men feel we have all been put in the same basket and labelled aggressive when that is far from the truth.
“You don’t get rid of all the apples on the tree because one is rotten – it’s the same for Aboriginal men and we have to make sure government and the community sees and understands this.
“By doing this training we are showing we don’t think violence is the way to go and we will say no.
“We are showing we are loving, caring family members that want to make a difference and make our town camps safer.
“We’ll be getting out there telling other blokes to come and do this training, get on board because we need more blokes standing up against violence.”
Maree Corbo, Program Manager of Tangentyere’s Family Violence Prevention Program, said the seven men deserved to be applauded for their decision to proactively deal with issues around violence in the community.
“This isn’t aimed at men who use violence as is more usually the case with men’s domestic violence courses,” Ms Corbo said.
“This training was developed because the men wanted to have the skills to get out there in their communities and promote messages of non-violence and to lead by example.
“It’s a very brave move that’s been driven by the town campers themselves.”
Ms Corbo said the men had undertaking hands-on training sessions and had also completed a training block delivered by the Australian Childhood Foundation.
The men also designed resources to support them in getting the message out to others about not tolerating domestic and family violence.
The training was supported by funding from the NT Office of Men’s Policy.
Rodney Cook, Phillip Miller, Ashley (Shanley) Malbunka, Chris Forbes (back), Issaha Forbes, Joe Campbell, Steven Clyne. Charlie Brown also graduated from the training but was unable to make today's graduation