Wyndham Council taking war on graffiti to classrooms

Children as young as 14 are being schooled in the damage graffiti causes as a suburban council takes the war against vandals to the classroom.

Children as young as 14 are being schooled in the damage caused by graffiti. Photo: Phil Rogers

Children as young as 14 are being schooled in the damage caused by graffiti, with a council in Melbourne’s West sick of splashing nearly $400,000 a year to clean it up.

But a Wyndham Council-led program aims to scrub out vandalism by going straight to the source.

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More than 1000 Year 8 students at schools across the municipality have completed the anti-graffiti education program in the past 18 months, with the cohort found to be the most at risk of offending.

Nearly $35,000 has already been spent on graffiti removal so far this year.

Wyndham Council has spent nearly $35,000 on graffiti removal so far this year. Picture: Keri Megelus

Wyndham Councillor Kim McAliney the one-hour session teaches teens about the different types of graffiti, its cots to the community and the consequences of offending, as well as directing them towards positive artistic self-expression.

“We aim to remove illegal graffiti as quickly as possible to keep our city looking neat and tidy and also to discourage other vandals from adding their tags,” she said.

The program costs the council about $50,000 a year to run.

Cr McAliney said while education was key to preventing graffiti, prosecution of perpetrators was equally important.

“Victoria Police successfully prosecuted a case of graffiti vandalism in Wyndham last month with the offender charged with a criminal offence and also ordered to pay compensation,” she said.

Meanwhile more than $10 million is spent cleaning graffiti from trains and stations.

Metro spokesman Andrew Nelson said there had been a drop in graffiti last year.

“Graffiti vandalism is ugly, offensive and has no place on our rail network,” he said.

“Thanks to recent joint operations and a new program of graffiti hotspot cleaning, we have seen a sharp decrease in the amount of graffiti across the network.”

Report graffiti in Wyndham as soon as possible by calling 8734 2709.

If you see someone in the act of vandalism, call triple-0 immediately.

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