The Sunshine Residents & Ratepayers Association Inc. took a stand against violence on Friday March 13th at 6 p.m. at Sunshine Railway Station (Bus Interchange).

SunRRA made a peaceful stand against violence and vicious gangs in our community demanding the State Government does more to protect our community. We invited residents to stand with us to send a strong message that our suburb and the people who live and work here are in desperate need of more police, increased security measures and well thought out tactics to curb the growing violence and attacks in our area.

The rally aptly named ‘Enough is Enough’ drew over 250 residents calling for more police and better security.

Brimbank residents are sick of feeling unsafe. Recent reports by Brimbank’s Police Inspector, Scott Mahoney, state January and February '09 had been the worst months for robberies and assaults at Brimbank’s railway stations, but he was not prepared to release the number of incidents.

Meanwhile a senior sergeant of Keilor Downs Police said Sunshine Railway Station was a trouble spot and that the people should avoid the Sunshine underpass. How do we do that when it is the only way to cross the railway line or use the Sunshine Station?

Traders and residents are sick and tired of police failing to attend to violent incidents despite their repeated emergency calls. The Traders in Sunshine have already started to arm themselves in response to the lack of protection offered by our police force. Do the residents have to do the same?

A recent article in The Age titled “Attacked, death threat but no sign of help” (03.12.09 page 3) highlights a local shop owner who waited 3 hours for police to attend a bashing outside his store in Hampshire Road, Sunshine. He stated “I have to defend myself, if the police come in three hours, I’d be dead by then.” He then calls on more visible police.

In another article on the same date titled “ Shortage of police raises vigilante fears” the Age reports robberies have increased 30 per cent in the western suburbs last financial year.

Law and order has broken down in our community and our streets are no longer safe. We do not accept the solutions proposed by government and police representatives, which have included “wearing less jewelry, hiding our wealth (!), and ensuring that we always speak English on the trains”. Will they next impose curfews after 8pm? Instead of asking everybody to disguise who they really are and to stay off the streets at night, we ask: why not restore law and order in our community? Let's solve the problem, so that law abiding citizens can go about their business, and be who they really are, without the fear of being attacked by vicious gangs that have been roaming our streets for far too long.

The Enough is Enough rally invited the following Labor representatives; Minister for Police Robert Cameron, Minister for Victorian Communities Peter Batchelor, Premier John Brumby, Mr. Telmo Languiller (Member for Derrimut), Ms. Marlene Kairouz (Member for Kororoit), Mr. George Seitz (Member for Keilor), Ms Marsha Thompson (Member for Footscray), Mr. Khalil Eideh (Western Metropolitan), Mr. Justin Madden (Western Metropolitan), Mr. Martin Pakula (Western Metropolitan), Mr. Bill Shorten (Federal Member for Maribyrnong), and Mr. Brendan O’Connor (Federal Member for Gorton).

On previous occasions and for previous causes, the Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association have asked our local invisible MPs to come out here and speak to the people but without any result.

This time we dared the above MPs if they were concerned for the welfare of this community to come out to this rally and speak to the voters of Sunshine and explain what the government is planning, to combat the increasing violence against persons in our community.

The result was exactly as expected: not one State Government MP bothered to respond. Bernie Finn in parliament repeated our invitation for the Police Minister to attend, only to be met with laughter from members of John Brumby's government, amid wisecracks from Environment Minister Gavan Jennings! This paints a picture not only of willful neglect, but open contempt for the people of Sunshine and the wider west.

The Age on Saturday 03.14.09 printed an article titled “Police shortage, gangs roam wild in west” which reports the union saying that police stations are undermanned. We already know this because we read the local paper and see the crime on the streets for ourselves.

The article goes on to report FOI documents showed 46 percent of rostered uniform police in the west were unavailable for duty “because of unfilled vacancies, secondments or leave”.

That’s right - nearly 50 percent of the police force in the western district is ‘missing in action’!

Robberies in the western suburbs have risen from 417 in 06-07 to 530 in 07-08. While we still don’t have any year to date figures those who live in Sunshine know without a doubt this figure will have risen again for 08-09 of which we are already more than half way through.

The Police Association secretary Greg Davies said “The force will tell you there are more people (in the force) now… than ever before, and that is true, but there are less people in police stations than 10 to 15 years ago”.

How does that work? Brimbank had a population of 137,000 in 1991. In 2006 the population was 168,000 and in 2008 178,000, a growth of 10,000 in two years and by 2010, roughly in nine months time we will have a population of 188,000 based on this growth. This is equal to an increase of 51,000 people in the second biggest municipality in all of Melbourne. Do we see any plans for an increase of our police force to combat the growing population? Do we see an increase in police and resources to combat the social disadvantage in our area that equates to higher needs and higher crime requiring more proactive policing and services?

No we don’t. Sunshine Residents & Ratepayers spokesperson Sean Spencer said it all at the rally “The western suburbs have suffered from institutional neglect for many years. Why do we tell our kids to stop using public transport? It’s because the thugs and gangs of criminals now own this area. Our vote is taken for granted by the laziest, least talented members of Parliament, who do nothing for our community.”

The Police Association states Brimbank requires an additional 89 police.

The Enough is Enough rally was instigated by the brutal bashing at the Sunshine Railway underpass in late February 2009. Not the first nor the last but the most brutal caught on CCTV. The community of Sunshine and in reality the community of the entire west is now standing up to say enough is enough and we are demanding our state government takes action.

Six motions were carried and endorsed at the rally and the Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers will be acting on these, reporting back to the community and encouraging further action to pressure state government to act now and address the crisis of violence and lawlessness in the west. They are

1. We the Sunshine Community resolve the stand together in the face of adversity, recognising that our community is built on groups that have more in common than we do differences. We undertake to work together to help provide a better future for our children and future generations

2. We the Sunshine Community request representatives of the Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association seek a meeting with the Police Minister to demand an immediate increase of 89 police officers in Brimbank, and that these police offers are focused in providing a noticeable and effective police presence in our community.

3. We the Sunshine Community demand that State Government acknowledges the problem of entrenched neglect of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne and as a matter of priority develops a plan to address the growing needs of this disadvantaged community.

4. We the Sunshine Community agree that the issues of violence in our community are not only related to a lack of police resources, but also due to generations of residents that have become disenchanted through poor employment prospects, poor access to parks and open space, limited options for the development and engagement of youth. We resolve to work together and demand that the State Government addresses these problems as a matter of urgency with realistic plans to tackle these issues.

5. We the Sunshine Community call on all gangs and groups to put their weapons and acknowledge that violence breeds violence. We know that that carrying of weapons is part of the reason for increases in street violence. We ask gangs and groups to show real strength, courage and leadership and work collectively to build a safer community. We agree that this is the only way to make a better life for the groups and that you represent.

6. We stand here together and say “Enough is Enough.” We agree that the only way to achieve a safer and more productive community is through community unity and action. We will no longer turn our back and leave positive action to someone else. We resolve to raise the level of awareness of what is happening in our neighbourhoods and to call 000 every time a police presence is required, knowing that this will start to show the true level of need in Brimbank.