Tuesday, 11 August 2026

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (19:19): (1766) My adjournment is for the Minister for Police and Minister for Crime Prevention, and the action I seek is that the minister join me in Sunshine again to speak with local traders and businesses along with local police and Brimbank City Council to discuss how we can better improve community safety in Sunshine. After the tragic incident that took the life of our much-beloved Van Viet two weekends ago our community in Sunshine is hurting and it is grieving. I would like to acknowledge and I would really like to thank the minister for coming down on such short notice – I think it was about 24 hours after he was sworn into the portfolios of police and crime prevention. He came immediately, he met some of the impacted traders and he listened to them speak from the heart, openly and honestly about their experiences and concerns with respect to community safety. We all have a role in ensuring that something like this never happens again and that our community can feel safe and is safe. Over the past few years I have worked very closely with the Sunshine community and with council to improve community safety, such as through additional CCTV footage and upgrades which we will shortly see through the Sunshine precinct master plan, including more lighting at the library forecourt.

There is of course so much more to do in this space to make Sunshine a CBD that is a wonderful place to come and visit and have a bowl of pho or check out one of the best and freshest banh mis but also, most importantly, a safe place for our community and traders. I know that traders have spoken to me about embracing CPTED, a strange way to explain crime prevention through environmental design. It is the idea that community infrastructure like seating, lighting and other street-based designs play a real role in creating an environment that is safer and more secure not just for traders but also for the broader community. Many of these businesses have spoken to me, for instance, about their concerns that seating along Hampshire Road has encouraged antisocial behaviour outside the front of their businesses. My local traders, you know who you are. Previously I have spoken to and I have written to Brimbank City Council on their behalf, and I have raised this concern and asked that that seating be removed. I again take the opportunity to urge Brimbank City Council to remove the seating on behalf of the Vietnamese local traders in the main street of Sunshine. I am hopeful that by working together with everyone, including Victoria Police, assertive outreach officers, our local businesses and Brimbank City Council, we can drastically improve community safety in our wonderful Sunshine.