MID West Ports Authority has announced a series of measures aimed at both preventing and raising awareness of family violence.
Initiatives implemented by MWPA include;
- Paid FV leave is included in the enterprise agreements and staff are actively encouraged to access it and seek support if they need to;
- Staff training opportunities related specifically to family violence including: How to support colleagues, friends and family members who might be experiencing family violence; How to challenge disrespectful behaviour at work and in social situations;
- Training opportunities related to mental health and wellbeing and;
- Awareness-raising events including community activities during the 16 Days in WA – Stop Family Violence campaign.
MWPA chief executive Dr Rochelle Macdonald said the initiative was particularly relevant.
“Unfortunately I have experienced family violence in the past and I see the importance of sharing my story with my team to make sure they can call out behaviours and see what’s going on in their family,” Dr Macdonald said.
“We have put a lot of effort into making sure we give our teams the right tools to ensure they can recognise changes in behaviour, but also know how to approach it and where the help is.”
General manager sustainability Vickie Williams said she would encourage other organisations to think about what they could do to create awareness and knowledge of family violence and contributing to its prevention.
“Training is the number one thing that organisations can do, but it’s also calling out behaviours, having the proper processes and procedures in place to support people,” Mrs Williams said.
Information technology and moorings team member Samuel MacLachlan attended the training and said it was valuable.
“We learnt about ways to prevent violence against women in our community and in our families, and some of the biases we sometimes have in our culture,” Mr MacLachlan said.
“When you see other people being disrespectful, it’s important to call it out otherwise it allows it to continue, it allows people to think it’s acceptable behaviour when it’s really not.”
As a signatory to the Community, Respect and Equality (CRE) Agreement for workplaces Mid West Ports have worked with the WA Centre for Rural Health and Health Communications Resources to produce a video discussing their commitment to preventing family violence.
