Pointon Partners has been a keen supporter and Partner of Legal Services to the Kokoda Trail.

In 2006 in response to long term disengagement with youth residing on the public housing estates of Flemington and North Melbourne, police members attached to the Moonee Valley Local Area Command implemented numerous pro-active strategies aimed at decreasing the incidence of youth involvement in crime and to improve relationships between the young people, police and the wider community.

In July 2007 one of the strategies implemented involved officers from the Flemington Police Station taking a group of youth from Debney Park Secondary (now Mt. Alexander Secondary College) and Kensington Community Colleges to Papua New Guinea to walk the famous Kokoda Track.

Since its inception the Victoria Police Kokoda Project has conducted seven (7) treks across the Owen Stanley Ranges and in doing so changed the lives of not only the 118 students from schools within the Moonee Valley Local Government Area that have participated in the event but also the lives of the sponsors, teachers, ambulance paramedics and police members that have also participated.

In 2014 the key objectives of the program are the same as they were in 2007 that being to:

  • Provide a positive and life changing experience that would not normally be available to young people within the community;
  • Provide support and offer tutoring to youths throughout their current school year and into their final year of schooling;
  • Encourage all participants to complete their VCE and enter further education or gain meaningful employment;
  • Reduce school absenteeism during their final years of school
  • Develop life skills including leadership, organisation, planning, coordination, communication, commitment, judgement, knowledge and importantly resilience with the objective being that they take these skills back to their schools and communities;
  • Remove barriers between youth and police in the Moonee Valley Local Area Command;
  • Involve the local community, business and government agencies in the program and to use this framework to increase positive interactions within the local community

Since its humble beginnings the Victoria Police has never failed with all participants successfully walking the famous track from Kokoda to Ower’s Corner.

As part of their involvement youth selected to participate in the trek are set a challenge to raise money for the Dav Cavell School that is located at Nine Mile on the outskirts of Port Moresby. This school is very basic yet provides an education for children from surrounding villages. Over the past 3 years students have raised in excess of $30,000 which has been used to build a classroom at the school.

As a result of the programs conducted to date Victoria Police are able to state with confidence that the above objectives are continually realised and the program continues to play a significant role in changing the lives of the youth, police and sponsors that have participated in the program to date.

If you are interested in becoming involved in this project, please don’t hesitate to email Nigel Howard or contact him on 0407 565 154.

Written By: Nigel Howard APM, Superintendent
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