The Federal Member for Fowler, Chris Hayes, has strongly condemned the Abbott Government’s handling of the CCTV Safer Streets program after the National Audit Office found the $50 million in funding was unfairly distributed.
The funding was designed to target crime hot spots across the country by installing monitored CCTV cameras.
“Instead of looking at which parts of the country genuinely need help fighting crime, 90 percent of the funding has gone straight to Liberal electorates and councils, often before any assessment by the department,’’ Mr Hayes said.
“Many of the approved applications did not include crime statistics supporting the need for funding.
“The area receiving one of the largest portions of the funding, $550,000 is in Justice Minister Michael Keenan’s own electorate”, Mr Hayes said.
In 2013, there was hope that Cabramatta and Canley Vale CBDs would get assistance through the program to combat crime in local town centres and on our streets, says Mr Hayes, pictured below.
Fairfield City Council applied for 30 CCTV cameras across the area while the Cabramatta Chamber of Commerce submitted another request for funding to implement live monitoring of CCTV cameras in Cabramatta and Canley Vale CBDs.
Both applications were supported by the NSW Police.
“CCTV cameras deter crime, they allow for timely detection and response from the police and increase community confidence and safety,’’ Mr Hayes said.
“The extra cameras would have kept our local town centres safer.
“It is appalling that the Government is prepared to compromise the safety of half of the country for political reasons”, Mr Hayes said.
