A security crackdown in central Footscray is doomed to fail and could make the area less safe, according to a new community group established in opposition to the plan.
Footscray Community Response, a collection of more than 30 community, religious, social and welfare sector leaders, met for the first time on July 23, the day after Maribyrnong council endorsed a six-month security program for the Footscray CBD.
The group is demanding the council pause the trial program pending a comprehensive consultation process and review of the evidence.
Footscray Community Response spokesperson and Borderlands Cooperative co-ordinator Jorge Jorquera said the council had not learnt from the recent tragic death of local resident Abdifatah Ahmed, who was shot by police in April.
“Social and health problems require social and health responses,” the former councillor said.
“Private security will only inflame tensions in Footscray.”
Another member of the group and Footscray Hospo Workers Unite convenor, Monty Green, said while she sympathised with those who had experienced violence in the Footscray CBD, particularly the Nicholson Street Mall, the only way to make the area safer was to involve the entire community, including those considered to be the source of the problem.
“Basically just get the people in the room who are the real stakeholders, so that includes business owners and patrons. but it also has to include people from marginalised communities and who are rough sleeping, because any other solution just won’t work. It won’t have the scope and nuance to really address the root cause,” she said.
Maribyrnong councillors debated the details of the program for more than an hour during the council meeting on July 22. The trial is expected to cost between $70,000 and $100,000.
The debate came to an end after chief executive Celia Haddock said councillors were close to breaching local governance laws.
Eventually, councillors voted on an amended motion by Cr Bernadette Thomas, which included hiring a suitable security service provider with a demonstrated extensive community human-centred and culturally appropriate approach.
Cr Thomas also advocated for consultation with the community, trader groups and interested traders in Footscray throughout the program, as well as regular meetings with health providers and community development organisations to ensure a health and wellbeing-first approach.
After several changes to that motion, it just passed with a 4-3 vote.
The program will follow on from a security guard trial by local businesses earlier this year.
At the end of that trial, more than 20 businesses advocated to council to fund the ongoing presence of security guards in the Footscray CBD.
Council documents show there has been a 26 per cent increase in criminal incidents in Footscray from 2024-25, after rising 29 per cent in the previous 12 months.
Cr Thomas said Footscray traders have told council they are feeling unsafe.
“There’s a lot going on in the Footscray CBD and some of it is not great and some of it is fantastic,” she said.
“We know over the past 18 months or so global and national stresses have moved into Footscray and are having an impact on people who visit, live in the CBD.
“Despite everything that council is and has been doing, the systems that support people living on the margins of our community are failing and/or overloaded and people are falling through the cracks.
“A security-first approach or security only approach won’t work.”
