Volvo Group Australia (VGA) and The Family Co., recently announced a partnership that will see over 3,000 transport industry workers across Australia educated on domestic & family violence over the next 12 months through their Toolbox Talks Workplace Training Initiative.

These training sessions, which will be delivered by the highly skilled and experienced Toolbox Talks team from The Family Co. in all states, have been funded by The Volvo Group, through their Seasonal Gift charitable donations program. The gift is given from the Volvo Group on behalf of its employees to contribute to resolve society’s challenges in the local markets, serving to create prosperity in the communities. In recognition of the growing problem of domestic violence in Australia, Volvo Group Australia felt that it was an important issue to show leadership on.

Martin Merrick, President and CEO of Volvo Group Australia, said “We are incredibly proud to bring a confronting, yet necessary conversation to the workshops, offices and transport yards that make up the Australian transport industry. A conversation that will ultimately lead to increased safety for women, children and men across Australia. By improving awareness around domestic and family violence and its impacts, promoting positive male influences, challenging rigid stereotypes, and upskilling workers in bystander intervention, the program endeavours to create safer homes and communities. We were attracted to this program because of the way it embrace’s men’s role in the conversation, and contributes to conversations around diversity in the workplace, equality & improved culture. We are eager to roll out this program across the country, and not only integrate the program into our own workplace but share it with our dealers and their customers as well.”

The Toolbox Talks program from The Family Co. utilises the experience and knowledge from over 34 years of frontline support work to provide a practical program covering education that engage the community in the fight against alarming national domestic violence statistics. The program was established in 2017 and has already trained over 10,000 people across Australia. With a focus on male dominated industries, the program enjoyed early success within the construction industry, and has now branched out into other industries such as mining, maritime, hospitality and retail.

“We’re excited that this new partnership with VGA, Australia’s largest automotive manufacturer, gives us an opportunity to educate more people about domestic and family violence, and through practical guidance, encourage appropriate bystander responses and behavioural change that will significantly contribute to the cultural change needed in Australia to achieve improvement in this social issue.” said The Family Co. CEO, Ashleigh Daines. “We hope that others across a variety of sectors will follow in VGA’s lead and similarly look at Toolbox Talks as a way to shape genuine change within not just their workplace, but communities across Australia as well."

Learn more about our training options, tailored for the transport industry and sponsored by Volvo for their Customer and Dealer network.

Our current planned roadshow dates (subject to State based Covid Lockdown announcements), where our teams will be delivering face to face training across Australia are:

• Victoria - 24-26 August 2021
• New South Wales - 14-16 September 2021
• South Australia - 16-18 November 2021
• Western Australia - 26-28 October 2021
• Queensland - 30 November - 2 December 2021

If you're organisation is a VGA Dealer or Customer, and you're interested in participating, you can complete an Expression of Interest Form, and a member of our team will get in touch to organise it!

Toolbox Talks Training (VGA Sponsored) - Expression of Interest