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Community Safety, Crime, CCTV and Sexual Violence

Answer
I want our community to feel safe in their homes, in their communities. 
If elected as the Independent MP for Casey I will:
  • Listen and work with the police, experts and victims to learn more and better understand the issues and the data 
  • Set-up a Casey Safety advisory group composed of police, Neighbourhood Watch, Council, community groups and interested people to discuss causes, patterns and impacts of crime in Casey with a focus on proactive prevention, disclosure reporting and reduction.
  • Support strategic investment in crime prevention and detection which is well considered, strategic and developed in collaboration across all 3 levels of government. 
  • Advocate to the Attorney General to implement the Recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission report 'Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence' starting with Recommendation 1.

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Community Safety 
The devastating impacts of crime resonate far and wide throughout our community, for victims, families, neighbours and friends.
My uncle was a criminologist, my daughter studied criminology and my nephew is a police officer. Like criminology, I look to the data to develop evidence-based policy that will achieve a meaningful impact in Casey. My uncle, who worked on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, taught me that it is through empathy, understanding and comprehensive research that we can shape criminal justice practice and policy. Community safety and justice includes a deep understanding the issues, proactive investment in prevention as well as catching and sentencing those who choose to break the law. Data is queen - if we don't measure, report and track crime accurately, we cannot improve the safety outcomes for our community.  
CCTV network

I support strategic investment in crime prevention and detection which is well considered, strategic and developed in collaboration across all 3 levels of government. It is beholden on all elected representatives to be stewards of public money - to be making decisions for the long term not for a headline to buy votes.

The CCTV network in Casey is a prime example of a 'Liberal Party sugar hit' - $1.2million of public money wasted, good for a headline but the reality is there was no plan to operate, maintain nor update the system after they were first installed.  It is appalling that we now have CCTV cameras across the electorate that are broken, turned off, not connected to police, old technology and unusable. Asking township groups to pay for CCTV insurance and asking the Council and police to find money to pay for operations and maintenance is not fair. The sorry story of this waste of public money started in 2013 with an election promise by the Liberal Party, with more pork barrelling in 2016 and 2019.

Pork barrelling is misusing public money and misleading our community based on self-interest. Many infrastructure promises are for capital costs only with no money to pay for ongoing operations. This short-sighted decision making may be good to buy votes but shortchanges our community - leaving us with infrastructure we can't operate, maintain or update. With the 2025 Federal Election due to be called, we will once again see the major parties try to pork barrel their way to victory, making bad decisions that are not the best use of public money for our community, and leaving us with bills to pay that we don't have money for.

The CCTV network in Casey has been the focus of a Star Mail feature investigation:

Sexual violence 
We must do more for victims of crime, particularly sexual crimes and family violence - prevention, reporting and reduction.
 
Over the past 6 months it has been curious to me that people in the community talk frequently about their fear of young men roaming the streets breaking into houses and stealing cars, and yet gender-based violence against women and family violence is rarely mentioned, unseen and under-reported.
The sexual violence statistics in Australia are alarming:
  • One in five women and one in 16 men over the age of 15 have experienced sexual violence
  • First Nations women, women with disability and migrant women experience sexual violence at much higher rates
  • Only 1 in 10 sexual assaults are reported
  • 75–85% of sexual violence reports to police do not proceed to charge, with victims experiencing the justice system as retraumatising
Every victim-survivor should feel safe to report, informed about the options available to them and supported.
 
On 6 March 2025, the Australian Law Reform Commission report, Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence, was tabled in Parliament, with 64 recommendations. The ALRC concluded that:
  • under-engagement with the justice system is the most significant problem with the justice system’s response to sexual violence. 
  • the justice system is failing to meet the twin goals of access to justice and accountability: it is not supporting those who have experienced sexual violence to engage with the justice system, nor holding those who use sexual violence to account. 
  • the justice system must be more accessible, more accountable, provide appropriate support, avoid ill-treatment and harm, and better meet the diverse justice needs of people who have experienced sexual violence. 
In response I draw attention to: Recommendation 1: To ensure people who have experienced sexual violence are able to engage with the justice system in a safe, informed, and supported way. I recently became aware of a local start-up called SAYFE founded in Casey - ready to scale which directly responds to ALRC Recommendation 1. SAYFE is a secure, trauma-informed disclosure online platform designed to remove the barriers that prevent victim-survivors from reporting serious incidents. I will champion these types of innovative solutions to achieve change.