Mayors taken to task for ‘preaching’ about gang scourge
A group of eight Melbourne mayors have been accused of “preaching” about the city’s African gang scourge.
A group of eight Melbourne mayors has been accused of “preaching” about the city’s African gang scourge and denying the existence of a “real” crime problem.
The mayors yesterday united to accuse media outlets and politicians of “racist fearmongering” and spurring on a backlash against the African-Australian community in their attempts to report on and discuss outbreaks of youth gang violence.
Mayors from Darebin, Hume, Melton, Whittlesea, Knox, Yarra, Monash and Moreland councils were joined by South Sudanese community member and lawyer Maker Mayek as they argued the federal government was inflaming racial tension by calling out gang violence in Melbourne, and called for “more balanced” coverage to help bring about solutions.
But state Liberal leader Matthew Guy rejected their assessment. “We’re all sick to death of those in some parts of the inner city telling us these problems don’t exist,” he said. “It’s fine for mayors in inner-city suburbs to preach to the rest of the world about what they feel is right and wrong, but how about we get together and solve some of these crimes.”
Institute of Public Affairs research fellow Gideon Rozner told Ten News the councillors were virtue-signalling.
“Councils are not in the business of media critiquing; they’re not even in the business, really, of fighting crime,’’ he said.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week urged the Andrews government to “sort out” Victoria’s gang problem or risk someone getting killed, the day after fights broke out in Melbourne’s northwest between two teen groups warring over a girl.
But Greens, independent and Labor mayors said his comments and ensuing media coverage weren’t helping the problem.
“This racist fearmongering must be stopped,” Darebin’s Greens mayor Kim Le Cerf said.
“We cannot continue to tarnish everyone in the Australian Sudanese community just for the actions of a select few.”
Mr Mayek said the African-Australian community acknowledged there was a problem in pockets of the community, but said widespread coverage and the angle of reporting was impacting individuals who hadn’t done anything wrong. “If we go by what the authorities say, it’s simply the actions of some disenfranchised people … we want to work with the authorities so we can resolve these problems,” Mr Mayek said.
Residents of Taylors Hill in Melbourne’s northwest were told to lock their doors and stay inside last Wednesday night as more than 50 youths in two groups pelted police and their cars with rocks, in a planned fight eventually broken up by riot police.
Victoria Police said it was likely to make arrests in the coming days, after detectives identified two persons of interest and an assault victim.
Melton mayor Bob Turner told The Australian that policing strategies and targeted efforts to reduce the number of home invasions had improved the sense of public safety in his region, and homeowners in a recent residents’ survey reported feeling more secure. But police numbers still needed to increase, he said. “We need significantly more police,” Mr Turner said.
Integration and social-support services were also important to curb some of the social problems that had made crime endemic in some particularly disenfranchised pockets, Mr Turner said. Victoria Police rejected the notion that the region was being overlooked, and said Melton and the neighbouring shire of Brimbank had received 63 new officers on top of the existing 453 officers in the year to April.
Crime statistics to the end of March show Sudanese-born people are 33 times more likely to be charged with riot and affray compared with those born in Australia.
Additional reporting: AAP
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