Wednesday, 26 August 2026

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (09:59): Community safety is a priority of mine, and I am pleased to see recent announcements made by our government that are going to make our community in Melbourne’s west safer for everyone. We are expanding the community connectors program to Sunshine station, which is a huge win for our community. We know that this program has been really successful at other stations, like Footscray and Dandenong, providing direct support and connecting folks to local services, whether it is emergency relief, housing and homelessness services or mental health supports and so much more. When folks are mentally distressed or intoxicated, these connectors will be an immense help to them. Even better, this program will be up and running in Sunshine by October.

But that is not all we are doing to improve community safety. We are funding $10 million in grants for community safety upgrades for local councils, for things like CCTV and additional lighting. I know that my community in Brimbank will be very, very interested in what this grant funding could be used for. There is funding for more drug and alcohol support, which focuses on communities like Brimbank and Maribyrnong. Our Premier has also announced that we are hiring an additional 150 PSOs to patrol our local streets and our train stations and an additional 200 police reservists to staff our local police stations, thus enabling more police to be out on the beat. Whether it is more police and PSOs, more security upgrades or stronger support services for locals who need them, our government is focused on addressing antisocial behaviour and ensuring that communities like mine are kept safe.