HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-10 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

CHURCHILL FELLOWSHIP

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:26): I would like to ask the Minister for Correctional Services a question regarding a Department for Correctional Services recipient of the Churchill Trust Travelling Fellowship. Can the minister provide some details of the recipient?

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Did he seek leave?

The PRESIDENT: He did not have to; he did not have an explanation to make. I inform the Hon. Mr Ridgway that the President will run the show.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:27): I thank the honourable member for his important question. The Churchill Trust is an Australian trust established in 1965, the year in which Sir Winston Churchill died. Its principal objective is to perpetuate and honour the memory of Sir Winston Churchill by the award of travelling fellowships, known as Churchill Fellowships.

A Churchill Fellowship provides financial support for Australian citizens to travel overseas to undertake an analysis, study or investigation of a project or an issue that cannot be readily undertaken in Australia. This year 76 applications were received from South Australia, of which 17 were short-listed. South Australia has nine Churchill Fellows this year, out of 120 for the whole of Australia.

One of the successful applicants was Ms Katherine Short. Ms Short has been with the Department for Correctional Services for five years and presently works in the Central Violence Intervention Program. Ms Short's project is to study best practice in integrated domestic violence programs. As part of the project, Ms Short will examine:

how men's and women's domestic violence intervention services can work together, using links to the criminal justice system, to enhance the safety of women and children affected by domestic violence; and

identify how integrated programs can increase the accountability of men for their use of abuse and violence.

Ms Short's project will involve visiting and observing programs in the United States, Canada, the UK and New Zealand. Ms Short will visit the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project and the Waitakere Anti-Violence Essential Services in New Zealand.

In Minnesota, USA, Ms Short will visit what is considered the centre of best practice in domestic violence intervention programs. At the centre, she will attend a training course and study all aspects of the Duluth programs for male perpetrators of domestic violence in the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project.

In Canada, Ms Short will study the Federal Correctional Services and the Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System. The centre has a reputation for its innovative approach to understanding children exposed to domestic violence, supporting their mothers and creating resources for service deliverers. While in Canada, Ms Short also wants to study programs for the Canadian indigenous community.

Finally, Ms Short will travel to the UK and will spend two weeks with the National Probation Service. She hopes to bring back ideas about different ways in which different agencies can work together and most effectively enhance the safety of women and the protection of children. With Ms Short's previous experience as an institutional social worker, she is also keen to see how domestic violence programs are offered within custodial settings.

Ms Short is also interested in indigenous issues and the complexities of working with a group of men from a range of cultural backgrounds, as well as enhancing assessments of risk to women and children. She hopes to observe all aspects of the interagency and correctional probation approaches in the different countries and cities she will visit.

I congratulate Ms Short on her award and wish her the very best for her travel. I expect that the experience will give her the opportunity to explore new ideas and approaches to enhance her valuable work for the Department for Correctional Services.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT