‘Racist fear mongering must stop’: Melbourne mayors, community leader hit out at gang coverage

Melbourne mayors and an African-Australian community leader have hit out at “fear mongering” over gang violence.

Eight Melbourne mayors and a high profile member of the city’s African-Australian community have hit out at the media for “racist fear mongering” over coverage of gang violence.

Mayors from Melton, Whittlesea, Knox and several other Melbourne councils have accused the federal government of inflaming racial tensions in addressing gang violence in Melbourne, and have asked for “more balanced” coverage which leaders say will help bring about solutions.

South Sudanese community representative and lawyer Maker Mayek said the community had accepted there were problems with a small number of youths, but said broad brush coverage of the issue was triggering a backlash against the Australian African community.

“I call upon the press to exercise balance, because it puts real lives in danger,” Mr Mayek said.

“No one is saying there are no problems; we do acknowledge there are some disenfranchised young people, and authorities have come and stated very clearly and we do accept that statistics do speak for themselves.”

Mr Mayek spoke of how members of the African-Australian community were being hassled in the supermarket and public spaces because of community fears and negative perceptions.

He implored media and politicians asked for “more balanced debate” on the issue, which he said would yield more solutions to curbing disenfranchised youth from crime.

“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.”

When asked if there was a so-called African gang crisis, he said: “We do not accept that proposition”.

“The police have said clearly … there are a number of young people committing crimes, and that’s why we’ve said that statistics speak for themselves.

“There’s a 3.8 per cent over-representation for a (group that make) up 0.1 per cent of the population, but in the statistics for March 2018 the crime statistics agency has clearly stated there has been a double digit reduction in burglaries, so it goes to show as well that that narrative is not right.”

Statistics published in The Australian revealed that South Sudanese youths were 57 times more likely to be charged an aggravated home invasion than their Australian-born counterparts.

City of Melton Mayor Bob Turner, left, and South Sudanese community leader Maker Mayek. Picture: AAP

Darebin’s Green Mayor Kim Le Cerf said the mayors represented more than 1.2 million residents from communities that were supportive of multiculturalism, and were unnerved about the coverage of a gang crisis which singled out the South Sudanese community.

“We are standing today … to say to politicians and the media, enough is enough when it comes to divisive racial (coverage),” Ms Le Cerf said.

“This racist fear mongering must be stopped. It is harmful to everyone in our communities and makes those who bring such creativity, determination and talent to our cities feel unwelcome, simply because they are Australian Sudanese.

“We cannot continue to tarnish everyone in the Australian Sudanese community just for the actions of a select few.”

Ms Le Cerf reasoned that Victorian quarterly crime statistics and a falling overall crime to rate demonstrated that Victorians and Melbourne residents were safer than they had been in four years.

Melton Mayor Bob Turner told The Australian that policing strategies and targeted efforts to reduce to the number of home invasions had improved a sense of public safety in the area.

He said that a recent residents’ survey had shown that homeowners were feeling more secure in the area.

But police numbers still needed to increase, he said.

“There’s still a resourcing issue, and we need a significant number more police,” he said.

The comments come less than a week after up to 100 mainly South Sudanese teens terrified a neighbourhood in Melbourne’s outer west, after two groups clashed in a park and started pelting rocks at police cars.

Melbourne has also endured a number of outbreaks of gang violence in the past eighteen months which have eroded a public sense of safety, including a robbing rampage at St Kilda in December where beach goers were bashed and robbed, before the teens congregated a nearby McDonalds and damaged some furniture. Other high profile events include a night time robbing spree in early January, in which thugs robbed three homes with occupants inside, including one home where an elderly woman was bashed and held hostage in her living room while they ransacked the house.