RCE Bulletin Thursday 10 December 2015 (Dec 10, 2015)

From the past

Commissioner for Children and Young People Bernie Geary is retiring. We had the pleasure of his company as a Speaker.

Speaker Presentation: 11th July 2013

This week we were privileged to have as our speaker Bernie Geary OAM, the Principal Commissioner of the newly established Commission for Children and Young People. This Commission was announced by the Minister for Community Services, the Hon Mary Wooldridge MP, in October 2012 and commenced operation on 1st March this year as an agency independent of government and able to table its annual report in Parliament along with the outcomes of any systemic reviews initiated by the Commission. Bernie Geary was previously the Child Safety Commissioner for a period of eight years, the office of which is replaced by the new Commission, the role of which includes:

A strong voice for promoting the safety and wellbeing of children
Monitoring out-of-home services
Annual review of the Working with Children Act 2005
Undertaking inquiries into the deaths of children known to child protection

Bernie has worked with vulnerable young people and their families for over 40 years as an advisor and advocate. He began his career as Victoria's first outreach youth worker in West Heidelberg and managed the Brosnan Centre prior to becoming the CEO of Jesuit Social Services. Bernie shared with us many of his experiences in his early years of working with homeless and disaffected youth, many of whom had been abused and betrayed by the adults in their lives. He described the way these young people are tragically 'not special in anybody's eyes’ and the devastating effects of this on perceptions of self-worth. They not only have no stable family in their lives but no community in which they have any meaningful role or play a valued part. We were reminded that children in residential care are particularly vulnerable and are all too frequently to be found hanging about the city at night with all the attendant problems this involves including the negative impact they have on one another and the very real threats of paedophiles who are ever-present around them. Bernie responded to questions from the floor including the vexed issue of repeat offenders and of how prisons inevitably exacerbate rather than tackle anti-social and criminal behaviours. Clearly there are no easy answers in this area. The newly established Commission led by Bernie brings together many experienced and committed staff who are at the forefront of efforts to improve the lives of Victoria’s children and young people. As well as Bernie's busy professional life he and his wife Therese have 5 children and 9 grandchildren. Despite not gaining tertiary qualifications early in his life, Bernie has been awarded an honorary Master’s Degree in Social Work as well as an honorary award of Doctor of the University (Honoris Causa) from the Australian Catholic University. Bernie spoke very warmly of the role played by Rotary across so many communities but was adamant that it was Rotary’s role to decide on support given for specific programs and initiatives. We sincerely thank Bernie both for his presentation and for the critical role he has assumed in caring for the needs of our most vulnerable children and young people.

Diane Penkethman

Editor’s Note: Bernie and President David were both products of the Myer Northland “Apprentice” scheme, where they met many many years ago. There were quite a number of very successful people who started their careers under Myer tutelage.

Member News

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY

THIS WEEK AT ROTARY

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Rotary Student Exchange

From the past

THANK YOU LETTERS RECEIVED

FESTIVAL VOLUNTEERS HARD AT WORK

District Conference - Bendigo, 25-28 February 2016