Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The right of people to feel safe in their local community is one of the most personal freedoms we hold. We all take for granted the ability to walk the streets of our local neighbourhood and shopping centres in relative safety and without interference. When I speak to older Australians in my electorate, they tell me they often feel unsafe visiting the shops and using public transport for fear of being robbed or intimidated by local gangs or hoons. Therefore, with that backdrop, I was disturbed to read again last week about some young people, in the Ringwood end of my electorate, who are now afraid to use a local public skate park for fear of intimidation and physical harm. An article in the Maroondah Leader entitled ‘Edged out of skate park’ quotes a number of young people who now refuse to go to the park. This is a park that was built for young people in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It is a park that was built following contributions from all three levels of government: the Commonwealth government put in $50,000 and the state government and the local council put in funds. It is a park which was much anticipated and was widely used in its early months of operation.

The kids in the area are now too frightened to use the skate park and, more importantly, they are also frightened to report violent incidents to their local police for fear of reprisal. Quoted in the article was a 22-year-old skater from Ringwood who said that the skaters now only met there and went to safer locations in outer suburbs to avoid getting into fights with groups of local hoons who gather there regularly. This skater went on to say that, because of possible intimidation and thuggery, the number of young kids who usually use this facility has halved. This is an appalling state of affairs for our youth and cuts right to the heart of why our local communities need better protection and services. Because of the actions of these hoons, this public youth resource is not being used to its full potential. An urgent response is needed to make sure that these sorts of actions do not happen in our local community.

In order to find a reasonable solution to this problem, I have been working closely with the Ringwood police and the Ringwood Chamber of Commerce to boost security through the use of real-time cameras in the Ringwood area. With the use of cameras, the police will be able to respond to the pictures taken by the cameras and the pictures will be used to prosecute violent offenders. These cameras will provide live, high-resolution colour feeds direct to the police station, where offences can be tracked as they happen and responded to immediately. These cameras are planned to be used at the skate park and at the Ringwood railway station, which is also an area of activity for hoons and one cited by the residents as being of concern.

This project is not new. Projects like this have been implemented before. I am pleased to see in the chamber my good friend the member for Casey, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. The member for Casey and I worked in conjunction with the Croydon police, with Constable Julie Simpson, with Monika Myers from the Main Street Traders Association and with shoppers and traders in Main Street, Croydon. That joint activity resulted in closed circuit TV cameras being approved for funding in the last round of the National Community Crime Prevention Program. Those closed circuit cameras will provide a monitoring of activities in the shopping area.

The expectation of the Croydon Main Street traders and the police is that these cameras will reduce the number of hoons hanging around outside the shopping centre and make shopping safer for the locals. That is certainly the evidence from other parts of the eastern suburbs where cameras have been used. I know the member for Casey will be able to cite the reduction in crime around the Lilydale railway station, where cameras were introduced sometime last year.

Shoppers are entitled to feel safe when venturing out of their homes to visit the supermarket, the chemist or the newsagency. Because of the Labor state government, police resources in Victoria are stretched. But these cameras are an affordable and effective way of reducing instances of crime and will help provide a valuable resource to the police as they monitor activities in the area. It is important to note that these cameras and any funding support would not be possible without federal government assistance. (Time expired)

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