Sydney’s beachside councils are taking a stand against alcohol related violence, antisocial behaviour, vandalism and graffiti at seaside hotspots.
Six councils – Manly, Pittwater, Randwick, Sutherland, Warringah and Waverley – have put forward a proposal for change to the New South Wales Government, after banding together to develop ways to fight these growing problems.
The Mayors are seeking reforms by the State Government, including tougher penalties for vandalism and graffiti and the introduction of standardised liquor trading regulations in entertainment centres along the coastal strip.
The proposal also seeks to close legal loopholes that prevent proper policing of excessive alcohol consumption in public places, and aims for more cooperation from State Government bodies when decisions are made regarding liquor licences.
The consensus is that more action needs to be taken to protect the appeal of Sydney’s coastal communities.
“I think everyone recognises the need to work at combating antisocial behaviour,” said Sutherland Shire Mayor Lorraine Kelly. “The measures we are proposing will make it easier for councils to do that.”
Randwick Mayor Bruce Notley-Smith said the costs of antisocial behaviour to society are huge in both financial and human terms, and the wider community has had enough.
“Councils and the State Government are spending tens of millions of dollars a year cleaning up after antisocial behaviour,” he said. “That’s money I’m sure we’d all agree would be better spent running hospitals, fixing roads and fixing parks or paying for teachers and police.”
The six councils have jointly developed a paper containing their proposals, which will be submitted to relevant State Government Ministers for action.
“By sitting down together we’ve been able to identify quite a number of things we can do to reduce antisocial behaviour, but now we need some cooperation from the New South Wales Government so that we can try to deliver a safer more family friendly community,” Mayor Kelly said.
The paper complements initiatives already being undertaken in each of the council areas.
For example, Sutherland Shire is currently working with local schools to help reduce antisocial behaviour.
In April, Council hosted a breakfast forum for the district’s educators, school principals, parents and childrens association presidents, police and other professionals to discuss ways to tackle the problem.
“From this meeting, I saw real commitment from within the schools to combat this problem and some very valuable ideas were put forward by principals, the police and others,” Mayor Kelly said.
Among the ideas put forward at the breakfast were for schools to photograph and email pictures of graffiti tags to police to help enable a more rapid response to graffiti attacks.
Schools also agreed to include information in newsletters for parents explaining the laws surrounding serving alcohol to children.
They also agreed to promote existing youth programs to students to help improve participation in non alcohol related activities.
“The overwhelming view from the breakfast was that most young people do the right thing most of the time,” Councillor Kelly said.
She said most agreed on the importance of having ways for youth to be entertained without alcohol and the need to discourage binge and underage drinking.
