Liberals promise funding for CCTV in the mall

Communications minister Mitch Fifield visited Bendigo on Tuesday to make the announcement with the Liberals’ Bendigo candidate Megan Purcell, but Labor believes the plan is little more than “pork-barreling”.

The funding will come from a $50 million Safer Streets program, which draws on money from the victims of crime fund.

Senator Fifield said increasing CCTV in Bendigo was a “local community priority”.

“It’s important to make sure that we have good deterrence,” he said.

“There’s an extensive network of CCTV throughout the Bendigo CBD and it’s important that families and businesses know that they can go about their business without being interfered with.”

Hargreaves Mall has seen an increased police presence in recent months after police raised concerns in the media about a spike in violence and crime.

Ms Purcell has raised the issue several times during the campaign, speaking about “gangs of assailants” and drug-related problems in the mall.

She said “people want an increased police presence, and an upgrade to the CCTV” network.

“I’ve been told that some of the undesirable elements around here have worked out where the CCTV black spots might be, and they often are the centre of attention for some of the trouble,” Ms Purcell said.

In addition to the CCTV announcement, Ms Purcell also committed to supporting a “piazza-style space” in Hargreaves Mall, and called for tougher sentences.

She said the City of Greater Bendigo had worked with her to put together the CCTV plan.

The council released its wishlist of 19 election priorities just after the campaign started, but did not mention Hargreaves Mall or an increase in CCTV coverage in the CBD.

At their May 25 meeting, council discussed a report into its response to “escalating incidences of violence in and around the CBD”.

A stakeholders group had been created, which included a “CCTV and lighting group”. The group successfully applied for lighting from the state government.

Among the group’s priorities was the “upgrade and expansion of CBD surveillance systems”.

Mayor Rod Fyffe said it was a welcome funding commitment.

“We need the upgrade for the CCTV, and if they’ve got the funds to do it, then we will gladly accept the funds to do that,” he said.

“We are always hopeful that the wishlist ideas will be funded. Most of those are bigger issues, many of them cross at least a million dollars.

“That’s why something like this, which is a smaller amount of money, hasn’t been on the wishlist. But it certainly has been appreciated when people offer money to upgrade the coverage.”

Outgoing ARC Justice executive officer Peter Noble believes increased CCTV in Hargreaves Mall has not solved its problems in the past, so it is unlikely to solve problems in the future.

When the Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre was established in 2005, anti-social behaviour in the mall was the front page issue at the time.

Mr Noble said issues in the CBD went far beyond matters of surveillance and increased police presence.

“The one enduring issue in Bendigo has been the perceived anti-social behaviour in the mall,” he said.

“There’s no doubt it will contribute to identifying certain people, but fundamentally it will not address the causes of anti-social behaviour.

“Cameras move people on to the next place where there are no cameras. Is that how people would want this to play out?”

Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters says funding for increased CCTV in central Bendigo would be better spent on helping schools to “reach out to disengaged students”.

She said increasing funding for Doxa, Bendigo Kangan Institute, Bendigo Technical Education College and the NETSchool program would help to prevent young people from engaging in anti-social behaviour.

Ms Chesters described the Coalition’s Safer Streets program as “pork barrelling”, pointing to a National Audit Office report which she said showed 90 per cent of the projects had been rolled out in Coalition seats in the first round.

“This is exactly what we’ve seen. A Liberal candidate creates hysteria about the mall, then comes back and makes a CCTV announcement,” she said.

“If local government and police believe extra CCTV footage is needed, then I would do whatever it takes to get government funding for that.

“But it’s wrong to divide the community in this way.”

Ms Chesters said the mall was fundamentally a state and local government issue.