The release of the latest official Crime Statistics is likely to inflame community discussion about safety in Port Phillip and beyond.
The latest crime stats are not pretty: for the year ending March 2025, reported criminal incidents in Port Phillip are up 23% from the previous year. Most of the crime is street-level, with thefts from cars topping the list. St Kilda is a hotspot, followed by South Melbourne.
The Council is revising their Community Safety Plan
Discussion about community safety has been a dominant issue since this Council was elected late last year. The synagogue arson and rising crime rates have morphed into a vigorous debate about the role of the Council. For reasons that are hard to explain, both sides of the Council debate have chosen to focus on homelessness as their ‘lightning rods’ to rally support.
Efforts to strengthen the legal response to encampments on public land immediately prompted outrage at the callousness of fining the homeless. Meanwhile, the Council commissioned a Community Safety Roundtable involving the Police and key agencies, chaired by Ian Gray. His report was tabled last month and widely praised. The Council voted unanimously to immediately adopt many of the recommendations.
Parallel to this, the Council commenced extensive community engagement to inform a revised Community Safety Plan (this engagement closes on 29 June). This included a Council decision to seek community comment on a possible change to local laws to enable the CEO to declare areas as no-encampment zones in special circumstances to facilitate the removal of camps.
Have Your Say Feedback Before 29 June
The Council has invited the public to comment in various ways, including pop-up consultations, formal group discussions, and through their Have Your Say website. The website includes an online survey that is extensive and requires a considered response. While some may find this off-putting, it is designed to capture a range of views.
Here is the preamble to the survey, verbatim:
This survey will close at 11:59 PM on 29 June 2025. You can choose whether to answer just the first few questions (around 5-7 minutes to complete) or continue answering all the questions (around 15 minutes total to complete). The latter part of the survey includes questions about the Community Safety Roundtable and the proposed Local Law Amendment regarding temporarily designating an area as a ‘no encampment’ area.
Survey starts here
Petitions highlight the divided views
Meanwhile, the opposing camps have taken to online petitions to demonstrate their support. The first in the field was the “No Fines for Homelessness” petition, which has gathered 1,636 signatures. A later petition, “Stand Up for Safety! Our Goal—Zero Harm, Prevention is Better Than Cure!” which seeks to rally support for changes to the local laws on encampments has gathered 847 signatures so far.
The Council will take several months to collate the feedback from the community engagement. In the meantime, the Council, Police, and local agencies continue to work together using a protocol that responds to unsheltered homeless people with outreach and support before legal interventions.
