Radio Interview- ABC North and West SA with Tom Mann
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC North and West SA
MONDAY, 17 November 2025
SUBJECTS: New Horizons: Supporting adolescent boys Port Augusta trial
TOM MANN: HOST
Now when life doesn't get off on the right foot, getting in early can be instrumental in offering a different choice. For boys and young men who have experienced family violence, a new programme is being launched in Port Augusta, as well as other parts of the country, to aid in developing respectful relationships with the aim of breaking violence cycles. Called New Horizons, Growing Understanding of Resilience in Youth, the programme will be jointly delivered by three organisations with funding from the Federal Government. Karen Grogan is the Senator for South Australia Good morning.
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Good morning Tom, How are you going?
TOM MANN: HOST
I'm doing well, thank you. So what is the overview, what is the aim of the new Horizons Youth programme
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Essentially, this programme is going to support boys from 12 to 18 who have been exposed to family violence. The idea being to intervene and get them to understand, reflect on their trauma, learn how to deal with it, but then also teach them how to build respectful relationships. One of the challenges we do see is when you're a young child, and all you've ever seen is violence and aggression - that sort of imprints you in your behaviours – There’s a risk that if you've been in that situation, that then as you grow up, you will continue to perpetrate those sorts of behaviours. So intervening, getting those young boys to understand what they've been through, recognise their trauma and help them build better strategies and teach them and help them learn how to build better relationships.
TOM MANN: HOST
And so why is it important to have a focus for a programme like this with a gendered lens to focus particularly on boys and young men?
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Well, getting them to understand their sort of feelings about gender stereotypes is really important. We've done so much work with young women and girls in terms of them understanding what they should expect in relationships and the strategies to how to build those. We can't just look at one side of this problem. We actually have to come the other side as well, at those young boys as they're growing into young men and help them learn how to build respectful relationships and what is and isn't acceptable and healthy relationships.
TOM MANN: HOST
Now, this programme is said to be based in Port Augusta as well as other parts of the country. How far reaching will it be and how is Port Augusta identified as need of this programme
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Well, we've got programmes as far as a trial, basically. We've got 14 programmes across the country and Port Augusta was identified, Centrecare alongside United Country SA and KWI put in an application. They have shown basically what they think they can achieve here, which is really exciting. So it'll be a trial here to see what works, to see if we can build programmes and then, post that trial, we would look to expand that further out. But I'm very excited to be going out to Centrecare this morning to talk them about how they're going to run the programme and see what the sort of breadth and depth of it is going to look like.
TOM MANN: HOST
Karen Grogan is with me, Senator for South Australia We're speaking about the New Horizons. Horizons programme a trial to focus on breaking the cycle of violence in boys and young men. And yes, you're heading to Centre Care this morning, but it's a collaboration between some organisations who do this important work within the community. Can you tell me a bit more about the organisations who will be delivering this service?
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
So, yeah, we've got Centrecare, who have been delivering a raft of these types of programmes for years and years. then they're partnering with United Country SA, again, a well-trusted organisation that's sort of broad and deep across this region and alongside KWI. So between those three organisations, they have a great experience, great set of skills, and they're all pretty excited at the opportunity to trial this. We know that the research shows us the link between these kind of childhood experiences and how they then project themselves into the future. And these three organisations have got a raft of experience.
TOM MANN: HOST
And in terms of the trial aspect of the programme what will you be measuring or looking into to see if is working, if it is having an impact, if it is essentially a success?
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Well, I think there'll be a range of ways of measuring this. One will actually be the experience of the people who are involved in the trial. That's going to be critical. How these young boys and young men come into the programme what their perspectives are when they start the programme how they develop through that, and their reflections is going to really help us. Like, what is it that's helping them better understand what a healthy relationship looks like? How are they dealing with their trauma? Because, of course, when you're very young, everyone sees you as a victim. As you get older, you're not seen that way. And so how are they going to develop and how will they perceive the programme Also, we'll be getting reflections from those three great organisations about how they're seeing young men develop. And so there'll be a range of assessment points for this, both in terms of, you know, factual stats and data, but also the actual lived experience. What is it like to sort of start to unpack this? Because it's highly likely that there's a lot of trauma for these boys that is going to be difficult to deal with, which is why contracting with these three organisations is so important because of the depth of experience they have.
TOM MANN: HOST
And was this identified, this programme developed and identified because of these findings that there is a likelihood that the boys are more likely to perpetrate domestic violence if they have grown up with it?
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Yeah, so the research tells us that very clearly. And obviously for a number of years now, we've been investing in prevention of violence against women and children. And a lot of that has been at the crisis end. So frontline services for people who are at a point of crisis, housing transition, lots of practical things, lots of essential, things to keep women safe. But now we need to be looking at that more holistic piece. How do we actually not just deal with the trauma and the crisis at that point and afterwards in terms of recovery, how do we actually work to stop it? And I think that's the critical piece here is intervening where we know through an awful lot of research across the world that adverse childhood experience is going to put you in a situation where you're more likely to perpetrate the same sort of behaviours as you grow older.
TOM MANN: HOST
Well, Senator, very much appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
KAREN GROGAN: SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Thanks, Tom.