White Ribbon Accreditation

White Ribbon Workplace

Council is an accredited White Ribbon Australia Workplace. To become an accredited organisation, we completed the White Ribbon Australia Workplace Accreditation Program, in conjunction with Communicare, which champions a culture of respect and gender equality at all levels of an organisation.

The White Ribbon accreditation program supports organisations to respond to and prevent violence against women. For Council, we aim to raise awareness on this issue whilst also promoting a zero-tolerance approach to any form of violence, bullying or harassment in or outside our organisation.

Our accreditation is based on a program that supports people experiencing violence, bullying or harassment, and embeds a culture that ‘Calls it, Challenges it and Changes it’ through employee support programs, educational training and policy development.

The White Ribbon accreditation is the culmination of a whole of organisation approach towards addressing inappropriate behaviour while strengthening awareness for equity both within our organisation and in the broader community.

As part of the White Ribbon accreditation program, we delivered numerous key achievements including the:

• formation of an internal White Ribbon Steering Committee
• launch of the Towards Zero Violence, Bullying and Harassment program
• development and release of our Domestic and Family Violence Support Statement
• introduction of extended domestic and family violence leave provisions for Council employees
• creation of resources to assist in our response to victims and perpetrators of violence
• review of our domestic and family violence workplace risk assessment and workplace safety plan
• delivery of education and training programs to help build knowledge amongst employees and People Leaders.

Community Safety Plan and Partnership – Domestic and Family Violence
As well as helping to ensure the safety of our employees, many of Council's services help to support community safety through programs and initiatives to educate and support those impacted by domestic and family violence. For more information on Council’s Community Safety Plan and information on domestic and family violence, visit our Community Safety webpage.