Community Development

Print this page

Add to Favorites

Community Safety

Community Safety definition is:

“The right of all individuals living, working or visiting the Whitsundays to go about their daily life without fear or risk of harm or injury; and the shared responsibility of government agencies and all other people in the community to ensure this is possible”.

Safety means different things to different people. It is not just about the level of crime in our community, it is about developing and implementing programs that can also prevent unintentional injury. It is about how people feel in our community and there are many factors that affect this.

To improve community safety all sections of the community need to work together to create a safer environment in which to work, live and play.

Whitsunday Shire Council is proud to be involved in partnerships between Government and non-Government agencies, community organisations and individuals that are developing Community Safety programs using innovative approaches.

Safe Communities are ones where all individuals make daily economic and social choices without the fear of becoming a victim of crime or unintentional injury.

Equity and Access Action Plan - Social Development Plan

The Mackay Regional Council for Social Development, in conjunction with the Whitsunday Regional Council, has prepared an Equity and Access Action Plan (following public consultation) and a Draft Social and Community Development Plan for the Whitsundays.

The community was invited to comment on these plans before the final plan was presented to Council for formal adoption.

Comments were due by Friday, 29 August.

Mackay and Whitsundays

In August 2004 the local government areas of Mackay and Whitsunday became Queensland's first International Safe Communities designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion.

The Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities Project was established in 2000 as a response to above average injury rates in the region. The International Safe Communities framework has proven to be an effective means of reducing injury throughout the world. This framework has a number of criteria and processes and these have guided the activities of Working Groups which have developed to address specific issues in our community. Through ongoing activities which meet these criteria the Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities plan to continue their work on local injury reduction.

These criteria are:

an infrastructure based on partnership, governed by a cross-sectoral group that is responsible for safety promotion in their community;
programs covering all ages, environments, and situations
programs that target high-risk groups and environments, and programs that promote safety for vulnerable groups
programs that document the frequency and causes of injuries
evaluation measures to assess programs
ongoing participation in national and international Safe Communities networks

These criteria are:

an infrastructure based on partnership, governed by a cross-sectoral group that is responsible for safety promotion in their community;
programs covering all ages, environments, and situations
programs that target high-risk groups and environments, and programs that promote safety for vulnerable groups
programs that document the frequency and causes of injuries
evaluation measures to assess programs
ongoing participation in national and international Safe Communities networks

Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities Project

The Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities approach consists of a Network Support Group and a number of Project Working Groups.

The Network Support Group includes representatives from the Mackay community, Mackay City Council, Whitsunday Shire Council, Whitsunday community, Queensland Transport, Queensland Police Service, Queensland Health, James Cook University, Department of Emergency Services and Education Queensland.

Project Working Groups - there are several project working groups currently involved in the Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities Project including:

Occupational Health and Safety
Senior Safety
Road Safety
Child Safety

Occupational Health and Safety
The Occupational Health and Safety working group seeks to work collaboratively with local industry to minimise harm from injury in the workplace.

Senior Safety
The Senior Safety working group seeks to increase awareness of safer behaviours and environments for older Australians.

Road Safety
This working group has identified the following areas for action: driver fatigue, data collaboration and coordination, driver education, train crossings, target groups (especially young males), cyclists, alcohol, footpaths/ bicycle paths and drug driving.

Child Safety
The purpose of the Child Safety working group is to increase community awareness of child injury as a preventable health issue.

Occupational Health and Safety
Senior Safety
Road Safety
Child Safety

Linked projects

As the focus of Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities is unintentional injury, links have been made to other projects and strategies in the region to better network all injury strategies.

Building Safer Community Action Teams
Healthy Island Resorts Project
Whitsunday Schoolies Week

Building Safer Community Action Teams
This is a whole of government crime prevention strategy involving collaboration with the community to address local crime issues.

Healthy Island Resorts Project
This project is a public health risk management approach aimed at isolated resorts, in particular island resorts.

Whitsunday Schoolies Week
This project is managed in the Whitsundays to deliver safer celebrations to Year 12 school-leavers.
�

As the focus of Mackay Whitsunday Safe Communities is unintentional injury, links have been made to other projects and strategies in the region to better network all injury strategies.

Building Safer Community Action Teams
Healthy Island Resorts Project
Whitsunday Schoolies Week