Community members furious at Mayor Joseph Haweil’s ’Broady Bronx’ label

Broadmeadows locals agree that their suburb needs a clean up, but say it’s “in poor taste” that their mayor “mocked” the area by dubbing it “Broady Bronx”.

Broadmeadows community members have expressed their disgust after Mayor Joseph Haweil referred to parts of his Hume electorate as the “Broady Bronx”. Picture: Ian Currie

The Mayor for Hume has slammed the Victorian government for the lack of funding given to his council, in particular the ‘Broady Bronx’ area of Banksia Gardens, which has left struggling locals to suffer with “accumulated mould, dumped rubbish or overgrown open spaces”.

In an opinion piece penned by Joseph Haweil, the mayor referred to Banksia Gardens, “Victoria’s most disadvantaged public housing estate”.

“Despite being in a state of complete neglect, Council’s campaign for redevelopment has yet to attract a cent of funding under the Big Housing Build,” he said on Tuesday. “The $80m allocated to the redevelopment (of the Broadmeadows railway station) was ripped out of the budget by the incoming Coalition government in 2010, to never be seen again.”

Broadmeadow community members have seconded the mayor’s calls for improved services, expressing how their neighbourhood has grown to feel “unsafe” and “violent”.

Jason McAdam and Deborah Lamont said Banksia Gardens was in need of attention. Picture: Ian Currie

Deborah Lamont and her partner Jason McAdam have lived in community housing in Banksia Gardens for 17 years, and have been desperately trying to leave the area for a decade.

“It used to be safe here but not anymore,” Ms Lamont said. “The past seven years things have gotten worse.”

The couple and their two children, Jason and Jean, constantly fear for their safety after weathering non-stop community violence with little to no protection from authorities.

“We’ve had to install security cameras, my children’s bedroom windows have been smashed, we’ve had a dog stolen in broad daylight, my partner was attacked by neighbours out the front of the house, our other daughter was tasered on Mother’s Day last year … our home has been broken into as well,” Ms Lamont said.

Ms Lamont’s son Jason no longer leaves the house after enduring harassment in the neighbourhood and having homophobic slurs graffitied on the fence around their home. She added that some delivery services won’t even deliver there.

The family was, however, offended by the mayor’s comment referring to Banksia Gardens as the ‘Broady Bronx’, with Ms Lamont suggesting council members “should come live in our shoes and see what it’s actually like to live here before they comment on the estate”.

Mayor Joseph Haweil referred to parts of his Hume electorate, specifically Banksia Gardens, as the “Broady Bronx”. Picture: Julian Smith

“See how we feel about the drugs, the alcohol, the shootings, the stabbings, people’s homes being set on fire, broken into. It’s in poor taste, don’t mock us unless you’ve lived in our shoes.”

Former Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire, who did not recontest the last election, said he had campaigned for Homes Victoria to invest in Banksia Gardens as a priority and believed funding from the Big Housing Build would go towards the area.

“Beginning with the Banksia Gardens project but expanding throughout the 2000 old housing commission homes built in the 1950s for people who were derided as factory fodder,” he said.

Mr McGuire also welcomed a proposal by the council for a $50m redevelopment of the Broadmeadows town centre.

Former Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire had campaigned for Homes Victoria to invest in Banksia Gardens. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

He said the nearby railway station should also be improved before a railway link to the airport, the Suburban Rail Loop, was completed in the 2050s.

“My advice to the council is to use that $50m proposed investment for the town centre, to have a publicly open tender to attract competition from investors and to leverage that with the Victorian government to upgrade the station,” he said.

“(Work is needed) Before the link to Melbourne Airport is built via the west. Everyday people use the Broadmeadows railway station.”

Mr McGuire said during his time in parliament he had advocated to begin transforming Broadmeadows from a “rust belt” to a green and brain belt.

Examples of this included a hydrogen hub, major vaccine manufacturing centres and greater development of renewable energy technology such as solar panelling.