House debates

Tuesday, 24 October 2017

Adjournment

Robertson Electorate: Community Safety

7:35 pm

Photo of Lucy WicksLucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the need for safer streets in our community on the Central Coast and about a new opportunity for local government and local organisations to secure funding for their streets and suburbs where it's needed most. Right now we're looking for applications for a new round of funding called the Safer Communities Fund program. The program implements the coalition government's $40 million election commitment to deliver safer communities and is open until 14 November. The grant amount will be up to 100 per cent of eligible project costs up to a maximum of $1 million. The program is about preventing and deterring crime before it happens and giving our emergency services the resources that they need to detect and catch the culprits. This round of funding is an open and competitive round and will invest up to $28.6 million in individual grants for eligible incorporated non-government or not-for-profit organisations.

Today I'm putting the call out to hear directly from residents and businesses in my electorate on the Central Coast about where the worst crime hotspots are for them. I will write to the Central Coast Council and local community organisations this week and urge them to make an application for this round of funding. This is a valuable opportunity, and it comes at a critical time.

Even yesterday morning I woke to see a video on my Facebook feed from Julie Goodwin, the former MasterChef winner and now the co-host of the Rabbit and Julie breakfast show on STAR 104.5. Julie isn't just a local radio celebrity and an inspirational mum on the Central Coast; she's also a hardworking businessperson who runs Julie's Place, a restaurant and a cooking school in North Gosford. Julie wrote on her Facebook:

We are very sad to announce that we were robbed at Julie's Place, with thieves making off with 2 of our beautiful plants … a male and a female walked down the driveway, de-potted 2 plants, wiped the fingerprints off the pots, bashed the dirt off the roots and walked away turning south along Mann St. … If anyone recognises these people, or sees these plants for sale, we would be very grateful if you could please phone Brisbane Water LAC - NSW Police Force.

This post has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook. It's appalling this robbery took place, and I certainly hope that our local police identify the thieves quickly, but it is also an example of how powerful CCTV cameras can be in quickly getting out a message for chasing down criminals.

It also happened last week at Marine Rescue Central Coast. They also posted on Facebook:

Last Thursday morning at around 12:15AM, three people were captured on our Video Cameras prowling around the base and TS Hawkesbury next door. They boarded both the Maritime vessel and our rescue vessel looking for something to steal. Luckily, both vessels were secure.

Of course, while these acts are really to be condemned, far worse crimes are happening, including domestic violence, which I spoke about in the House last week.

This government's funding program is about working together to help make our Central Coast a safer place, so, if you or your community group know an area that needs safer streets, please contact me, and we'll fight to get this funding. This will, of course, be on top of the funding that we've already delivered since I was first elected as the member for Robertson in 2013 and which adds up to a combined investment of more than $1.2 million in safety projects around our local community. The first round of funding under the former Gosford City Council installed 15 new CCTV cameras and replaced 44 existing cameras in Gosford CBD, Kariong Skate Park, Woy Woy, Ettalong, Kariong, Umina Beach and at the Avoca Drive pedestrian underpass at Kincumber. The second round of funding, which was a commitment from the last federal election, is now being rolled out in Copacabana and in Terrigal, and this will see the newly amalgamated Central Coast Council install 16 new cameras, including nine new cameras in the Terrigal CBD, five new cameras at the Copacabana shops near the beach, a camera and lighting on The Skillion and at Captain Cook Lookout and replacement CCTV cameras on the Terrigal Esplanade and at the Copacabana Surf Life Saving Club.

The funding is not just for cameras and for lighting. We are also backing the Umina Beach PCYC with a share of funding to deliver more opportunities for at-risk, marginalised youth to develop the necessary life skills for them to make better choices through inclusion and through resilience building. I again call on the community to speak out so we can quickly identify some of these places in our region where our streets could be safer.