Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about an issue that I think is increasingly the No. 1 concern of people in my electorate of Stirling. That is the issue of crime and, specifically, the lack of availability of resources for the police to respond to crime. I am very pleased to announce that during the break in July the Prime Minister came to Stirling and announced that the Commonwealth would allocate $85,000 from the National Community Crime Prevention Program to help fight crime in my electorate, most particularly in the suburb of Nollamara and at the local Nollamara shopping centre.

The Prime Minister took time out in July to talk to people there: the shop owners, staff and local residents. Together, we were able to make this very important announcement. The Be Seen at Nollamara Shopping Centre Closed Circuit Television Project will help revitalise the precinct, attract new businesses and create a safe and pleasant shopping environment, especially for young families and seniors. The government will provide a grant of $85,000 to the City of Stirling for the project, and this will install up to 10 modern digital CCTV cameras, control equipment and advisory signage at the centre.

I, along with many local residents, was shocked in March this year when a 37-year-old man who was using an ATM at the shopping centre was brutally attacked with a pickaxe. The attack was totally unprovoked; he did not know the attackers. He was just standing there withdrawing some money. Obviously that attack resulted in very serious injury for that person. The result was that it dramatically increased fear of crime in that area and it increased people’s fear about going to, using and shopping at that centre.

I visited the Nollamara shop owners on a number of occasions and I was disturbed to learn that most of the premises there had been burgled, some on repeated occasions, and there was a definite antisocial element at the centre. I was told by staff, particularly younger women staff members, that they were very nervous about walking to their cars after dark. Sadly, every shop owner in that centre had a story about crime, vandalism or threats of violence. They also raised with me issues of the chronic rubbish dumping that was adding an unsightly element to the centre.

Tackling this problem was extremely important to me and I knew that something had to be done. Hundreds of people in Nollamara and the surrounding areas signed a crime petition that I instigated, which has subsequently been tabled in the Western Australian state parliament, saying that they were angry and fed up about feeling unsafe in their homes, unsafe in their streets and unsafe at their local shopping centre. We needed to do something for the community, and I joined with the City of Stirling in fighting for this crime prevention funding.

In turn, we were supported by the local shop owners, local residents in Nollamara, the local action group—the Nollamara-Westminster Action Group—and by the local RSL. Of course, we were strongly supported by the local police. Once again, I place on record my thanks to these people for their tremendous efforts in lobbying to get this funding. I want to specifically single out for thanks the Harris family, who own the local IGA—Independent Grocers Alliance—store at the Nollamara centre. They worked very hard on this project. They have also offered to use their supermarket to house the monitors for this CCTV system, which had been a headache for the City of Stirling planners. When the Harris family volunteered to house those monitors, it solved a very real problem for the City of Stirling in this project.

The total cost of the CCTV project is $121,000. With the Commonwealth providing $85,000, the City of Stirling is picking up the extra funds. I congratulate the City of Stirling on the way it has lobbied and run this project. The system will assist police in responding to antisocial behaviour and incidents of crime as well as help in investigating crime, including providing evidence for criminal proceedings. Under the National Community Crime Prevention Program, the Stirling area has already been granted $680,000 for important projects, including $44,000 for another CCTV project at the Carine Skate Park and $410,000 to run the Real Connections project, which deals with young people at risk of offending within the suburb of Mirrabooka.

As the local federal member of parliament, I have had enough of crime and hoons in my streets. I congratulate the federal government on providing this funding to address— (Time expired)