Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Hume City Council in my electorate of Calwell last week received $127,830 of federal government funding aimed at fighting graffiti in our local community. The funding for this project comes from the Proceeds of Crime Fund, which is money confiscated under Commonwealth laws to be used for crime prevention. The funding was awarded to Hume City Council and its partner, The Salvation Army Crossroads, so that they can implement the Write Signal Project, which is part of the council's current graffiti prevention strategy. This strategy has been developed to deal with the increase of the rate of graffiti in our municipality.

The project is intended, on the one hand, to help curb visual vandalism and also, on the other, to encourage graffiti artists to express their creativity in a socially acceptable manner. Graffiti is illegal in Victoria and it is common knowledge that local councils spend thousands of dollars every year to clean it up. I welcome the approval by the Minister for Home Affairs of this significant amount of money for my electorate.

Graffiti is not a new phenomenon and, in fact, in recent times it has made a bit of a comeback; less as visual vandalism and more as credible artistic expression, now known as street art, with a special social commentary. But there is a fine line between credible artistic expression and the damage to property and imposition of costs that follow because of the need to clean up the damage caused. Most graffiti, particularly the lowest grade, tends to upset many people in the same way that way that vandalism does. It impacts on state and territory governments, local government, police, public transport and utility providers, local communities and young people in a variety of ways.

Hume council's strategy, which is a combination of graffiti removal and educational programs, is paying dividends, with an notable increase in the amount of graffiti being reported by residents. In recent months the Hume graffiti vans, as they are known, have been particularly active in Craigieburn and Roxburgh Park. In October 2011, 1,170 square metres of graffiti was removed in those two suburbs alone. That compares with an average of 900 square metres per month that was removed in the 2010-11 financial year. The Director of City Infrastructure, Steve Crawley, has said the response from the community to the council's 1300 hotline and other anti-graffiti measures has been very positive. Hume council's education campaign in local schools has also created a new generation of 'Graffiti Warriors' who are proud of the city they are growing up in and want to keep their communities clean.

Although graffiti is an issue of concern for many of our community members insofar as it is seen as delinquent behaviour, there has been limited criminology research exploring the characteristics of graffiti offences and offenders and the impact that graffiti has on communities. But residents, retailers and visitors often feel that graffiti contributes to or causes an atmosphere of neglect and urban decay and that the presence of graffiti in an area can distort perceptions about the actual level of crime and safety in that area. Local police youth liaison officers have indicated that many young people are committing the crime of graffiti vandalism due to boredom, lack of direction and lack of support structures. They have identified that young graffiti artists are using graffiti as a form of self-expression, but that it is also perceived by the community as antisocial behaviour. In 2010, 27 people in my electorate of Calwell were charged with graffiti related offences. In Broadmeadows there were about 76 reported cases and in Craigieburn there were 57 reported cases. Crime data indicates that teenagers in the 15- to 17-year age bracket are the most prolific in numbers of detected offences.

I want to congratulate Hume council for its very important Write Signal project. One of its main objectives is to facilitate an education program for young people in high schools, as I have mentioned. I would like to thank Hume City Council and its partner, Salvation Army Crossroads, who work very hard with our young people in order to improve our neighbourhoods and make life easier for the young people who wish to engage in creative artistic expression. (Time expired)