Creating a safe space to help people have a safer night out in Canberra
As part of our community involvement, St John Ambulance ACT has been providing a safe environment within the Canberra CBD through our CBR NightCrew program.
This program activity services the Canberra community by providing a safe space for young people in distress in Civic during the night on Thursdays (Daylight saving months only), Fridays and Saturdays and is predominantly provided for the safety of our youth.
The St John CBR NightCrew is a collaborative initiative between local government and industry to help people have a safer night out in Canberra. Managed and run by St John Ambulance ACT and staffed by trained volunteers, the program uses a harm minimisation approach to help people avoid being robbed or assaulted in Canberra City on a night out.
The program operates a safe space behind Platform 5 of the Civic bus interchange on Mort Street and is staffed between 10pm and 2:30am on Thursdays (Daylight saving months only), and 10pm and 4am on Friday and Saturday nights.
The safe space tent is equipped with chairs for people to rest, water for hydration, advice and assistance for safe transport options, basic First Aid and mobile phone charging, so that people can contact friends or arrange a lift home. Roving teams of volunteers move around Canberra City to help those that come in harm’s way or provide assistance in avoiding it. Canberra is still one of the safest capital cities in Australia, St John CBR NightCrew hopes to keep it that way.
