Neighbourhood Watch

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:40): Thank you for the opportunity to speak about some of the very important work that our local Neighbourhood Watch groups are doing, specifically the work that the Golden Grove, Wynn Vale and Greenwith Neighbourhood Watch does in my local community in King. I would like to start by thanking all the hardworking and dedicated volunteers from the Golden Grove, Wynn Vale and Greenwith Neighbourhood Watch who support our local community. I have been impressed over the past four years with how professional the group's meetings are, how focused the group is on community awareness and safety and how they collaborate on issues.

The meetings are open to all members of the public to attend to discuss crime prevention and local issues. The Golden Grove, Wynn Vale and Greenwith Neighbourhood Watch group meets regularly at the Dame Roma Mitchell Centre, located at the Golden Grove High School campus. A big thankyou must go to our area coordinator, Councillor Sandy Keane, for her passion for and loyalty to serving our local area with a sense of pride and community spirit. She and her husband have been longstanding members of the group.

On 15 November last year, an article was published online via the North Eastern Weekly Messenger, which highlighted that police were asking Golden Grove residents to ramp up their home security following a spate of break-ins. If anyone would like reference to that link, please let me know. According to the article, Golden Grove was the number one spot for break-ins in the Holden Hill police district, with 54 break-ins for 2017 up until the time the article had been published. Thanks to the work of Councillor Sandy Keane and the Neighbourhood Watch group for bringing this to the community's attention, along with a number of activities people can do to make their homes safer.

If it were not for dedicated police and community groups like the Golden Grove, Wynn Vale and Greenwith Neighbourhood Watch group, I could safely say that these statistics would be much worse and that the community would be much poorer for not having a support network to assist. All of us in the community play an important role in supporting each other and being vigilant. It is not simply good enough to say, 'It won't happen to me,' as next time it might. We all need to do what we can to protect ourselves and others in the community.

Some suggestions I have for the community include ensuring that we have adequate home security, ensuring that we do not leave valuables unattended or in places of high visibility and checking that our doors and windows are locked. Often, as I was doorknocking in King during the election, front doors were ajar and unlocked. I really urge people to ensure the safety of their homes. Never assume that someone else has locked the doors and windows. Let's all take responsibility to check for ourselves. I think it is important to report anything suspicious or concerning to the police and to bring recurring issues to our local Neighbourhood Watch group.

For those of you who are not aware, my King electorate office at the Grove Shopping Centre is a place where you can safely collect some Neighbourhood Watch stickers. These have the police reporting number on them and can be collected from our office at Suite 1, Level 1, The Grove Shopping Centre. Also, as I have stated in my maiden speech, our King electorate office is available for any community member who needs to find information safely or make phone calls for help if they feel threatened.

Again, a big thankyou to everyone involved in the Golden Grove and Wynn Vale neighbourhood watch group and other neighbourhood watch groups throughout King who do an excellent job in supporting our local King and surrounding communities.