Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about something that has been a key issue for me in representing the Dunkley community for well over a decade and a half—that is, the issue of local community safety. We have been able, under the Howard government, to make many good gains in this area, including the deployment of a CCTV system in Mornington, which is something I was very pleased to partner with the local Mornington police crew in implementing many years ago. This then prompted Frankston City Council to see the value of this technology and embark on its own deployment strategy. I was very pleased that the Howard government and even this government, from funds recovered from the proceeds of crime, have been able to assist.

We need to keep that work going. It is a very important tool to support the work of the local police. It is able to capture evidence that can be pursued and used for prosecution even if police are not right there on the spot at the time of an incident. It also adds to the sense and perception of community safety and it is a very wise investment in the Dunkley community.

I also acknowledge the excellent work of my state parliamentary colleagues Neale Burgess, Geoff Shaw, Donna Bauer and David Morris who, through their advocacy, have seen a significant increase in not only the number of police officers in our reason but also the protective services crew that is now at Frankston Railway Station and set to be deployed more widely to those state coalition MPs in our region. I tip my hat to them; it is an excellent outcome they have achieved, and we have more officers on the way to the Dunkley community.

Recently, at neighbourhood visits in Langwarrin and also at the recent Langwarrin community safety meeting, where I was represented by one of my staff members, some of the themes that we have been working on for some time continue to be uppermost in people's minds. Graffiti continues to be a misspent and misapplied use of creative talents, primarily amongst young people, that causes a great deal of concern as people see their neighbourhoods diminished by anything that is not nailed down—actually, most things that are nailed down tend to be a target, but at least some of the moving pieces and assets in the area have not been hit.

Frankston City, to its credit, has a very proactive approach to tackling graffiti. There are contractors engaged by the council, a five-day limit on any graffiti that arises, and if there is offensive graffiti they seek a two-day turnaround time as the maximum period within which they seek to remove that graffiti. Residents are encouraged to call 000 if they say any kind of unlawful or antisocial behaviour—something the police keep reminding me of is the need to feed episodes of concern into the police database and their own management systems so that their patrols and the deployment of their officers can reflect what is going on in the community. My message to those in the Langwarrin community is that if you are seeing things that are criminal or antisocial, such as graffiti or vandalism or those kinds of things, please call 000, because that then registers that activity in the police's planning system and can influence where officers are deployed.

We still have work to do. The CCTV technology supported by mobile cameras are good devices. Some of the battery life concerns have been overcome and these movement activated devices can be very helpful in law enforcement. For many years I have been working in partnership with Sharron Coburn and others at the local police station trying to establish a Neighbourhood Watch group in Langwarrin. There is lots of interest in it, but, when push comes to shove, we are not always able to get the committed volunteers that are necessary to be at the heart of an initiative like that. It is something I am still very keen on being involved with and it is something that the police are very supportive of, but we need the residents to see that this is of benefit to them, particularly in local community awareness about behaviours and information that can be fed into police planning. It has a very important role in addition to things like Adopt a Park, which is one of the other measures that we are contemplating.

We have work still to do in this area. I know Frankston City. I have been working closely with Steve Dickson, the manager at Frankston City Council, for many years. He shares with me his plans of how we would like the network of CCTV technology rolled out. We have some previous commitments up in Seaford that I am revisiting to see whether that is still a relevant response. Mornington is going very well and there are other areas in the Dunkley community where this smart use of technology can support the excellent and dedicated work of our local police force, which has been very welcomely bolstered by the effective advocacy of local state members of parliament. It is a communitywide effort and I will continue to make my contribution as best as I am able.

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