Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to share with the House an exciting and innovative approach adopted in Belmont to address the scourge of graffiti. We have called it 'Block by Block'. It is important to acknowledge that in every community in Australia there is a problem with graffiti—it is removed and then the next day it is back. It costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time. It is a big effort, and the current approach is very unsuccessful.

In Belmont we decided to create an art gallery. There was one area that was particularly badly hit by graffiti—the shopping centre behind my office. The Reject Shop, the dental surgery and all the other businesses got together and agreed to transform this area into an art gallery—and it is phenomenal. People have been coming from all over to look at the work being produced there. Some of the best graffiti artists in the country—and even some from New Zealand—have come to show off their work in this block.

The project is called 'Block by Block' because we are hoping we can replicate the project, block by block, throughout the area. The new art gallery has been there for a couple of weeks now. This was an area where, if you cleaned off all the graffiti one day, the next it would be totally covered again. But now that is not happening. All the artwork is still there—the beautiful murals that have been produced are still on the walls. One of the most exciting ones, all along a very big wall of the Belmont Central Shopping Centre, is of a crocodile. People just come and stand and look at it and are mesmerised. Then we have an animal collage on the back of the Reject Shop. Next, moving over, there is an underwater scene across the back of Cafe Macquarie and the dental surgery. Frickers Shoes was one of the shops that had been constantly bombed by graffiti and they were one of the first shops to sign up to having this innovative approach to solving the graffiti problem tried out. On their roller door at the back they have a wonderful mural, and a beautiful bird has been produced down the side alley.

There will be a second round which will start at the end of January and the beginning of February. It will see the area further transformed. It is not uncommon to see young people standing there looking at it and families coming along to view the artwork. That is what it is; it is artwork. As opposed to the tagging that constantly takes place in lots of areas, this is something that enhances the visual environment.

I would like to give particular credit to Ana Benson. She is an event organiser as well as being one of the owners of Cafe Macquarie, which is next door to my office. I mentioned very flippantly to her one day that we should look at addressing graffiti in this way—and she took it up very seriously and was the catalyst behind this project. The chamber of commerce, particularly Sue, was very supportive. The artists involved have been BMD, Keo Match, Skubz, Mike Watt, Ape Seven, Oh Noes, Skulk and Che He He. They came from Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand. They are phenomenal artists. There were also three young locals, Jordan, Daniel and Regan, who come from Belmont and Caves Beach. I encourage members to look at adopting such an innovative approach.

I seek leave to table photos of the artwork.

Leave granted.