David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was shocked and saddened to hear about the fire that broke out in the Macedonian Orthodox Church of the Resurrection in Rockdale earlier this week. The fire occurred at Orthodox Easter, which is a time when families come together to celebrate the church. Thankfully, there were no casualties during the fire.

The Macedonian community is a very important part of my electorate of Banks with almost 4,000 people of Macedonian background living there. It is a very strong and proud local community and I am sure that it will come together to overcome this terrible occurrence. The immediate priority for the community is to find a temporary location in which to hold its church services. I would encourage owners of suitable sites to work with the Macedonian community in order to find a location at which church services could be held.

I would like to express my most sincere sympathy to the Macedonian community, and I am ready to assist in any way that I sensibly can.

In Hurstville in my electorate we have one of the busiest shopping hubs anywhere in Sydney. Hurstville, of course, is a large employer with many small businesses and is one of the most densely populated regions in suburban Sydney.

One of the issues in Hurstville that needs to be further addressed is crime. Unfortunately, in recent years there has been a significant amount of largely petty crime in the Hurstville CBD area in particular such as things like the break and enter of cars and so on. It is important that everything that can sensibly be done to reduce this crime is, in fact, done. That is why I am strongly supporting Hurtsville council's application for CCTV cameras under the federal government's Safer Streets Program. CCTV cameras will assist in ensuring the safety of both residents and the many small business operators who are based in Hurstville. CCTV cameras assist in deterring crime and in identifying criminal activity, and it is very important that these further cameras are installed.

We have had CCTV cameras installed in my electorate already in Penshurst, Narwee, Mortdale and Riverwood, and they have been called upon on numerous occasions by local police. I am sure that CCTV cameras in Hurstville will be similarly useful.

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