Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

Since being elected as the federal member for Stirling in 2004, I have regularly met with constituents, local community groups and local businesses in an effort to maintain a perspective on what they believe is important from their federal representative. One thing has been very consistent since 2004: the issue of greatest concern to my constituents remains crime. We have always tried to make it our No. 1 priority to find ways that we can use the federal government to help, even though, of course, law and order remains the primary responsibility of state and local governments.

In Western Australia, due to very rapid growth, there has been a subsequent rise in the crime rate along with the rise in our population. Since 2004, we have managed to secure substantial funding for CCTV throughout parts of the electorate, most notably at Scarborough Beach, which is the premier beach in Western Australia if not the country, and at Nollamara Shopping Centre.

Six months ago, I announced with the Leader of the Opposition the coalition's plans for safer streets. This program will provide $50 million to tackle crime hotspots and help local communities deal with the problems of gangs, graffiti and alcohol fuelled violence, including crime hotspots in Stirling. I am very keen to work with the City of Stirling, which does a very good job in this area. It is a large council; it has the resources available to run an extensive community safety patrol around the borders of the council area. I am looking forward to working with the council to try and expand the scope of its existing CCTV network.

I might take this opportunity also to mention the Henderson Environmental Centre in North Beach, which is a sustainable building located within the City of Stirling's Star Swamp Reserve. The council and the community are keen to see this centre turn into a regional education hub which will help to promote environmental awareness throughout the community. The Henderson Environmental Centre will be a very valuable asset not just for the residents of Stirling but, hopefully, for the broader Perth community as well. I am very keen to work with the community on ways that the federal government might help to make this centre, which is at the centre of quite a unique wilderness area, develop to its full potential.

In the seconds I have left, I will mention a project that ran successfully until the change of government in 2007, and that was the REAL Connections program at Mirrabooka. Mirrabooka is an area within my electorate that traditionally takes a lot of new arrivals. At the moment it has a lot of people coming in from African and Middle Eastern backgrounds. This was a great program that worked with youth from those new communities to make them culturally aware, working with their local community to help them fit into their new country and new lifestyle. (Time expired)

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