We don’t want paedophiles living in our City

Published on 12 March 2019

There have been recent reports in the media about a convicted paedophile living in our City. I have heard from many locals who are devastated to think that a convicted paedophile is living in a suburban street near schools, parks and playgrounds.

While such issues are for state and federal government MPs, rest assured that as your local elected representative, I am speaking up on your behalf.

I raised these concerns at last week's Council meeting and was unanimously supported by my fellow Councillors to make representations to local MPs and relevant Ministers in state and federal government – to demand they move any convicted paedophiles out of our area.

Our community has a right to know if there are paedophiles living in our suburbs and I have urged relevant Ministers to ensure laws which protect paedophiles' identities are changed so residents are kept informed and our community safe.

Our City has more than 50 schools and is built on families. Children have a right to feel safe while walking to school and playing in our parks and playgrounds.

As the Mayor of the City I don't want them in our neighbourhood and as a father I don't want them near our children. We want our family-friendly City to be a paedophile-free zone.

Proposed changes to ward system

At last month's Council meeting I also asked for a review of our current ward system to see if it is still effectively meeting the needs of our residents.

Council officers will report back on a number of options, including abolishing all wards, reducing the number of wards from 3 to 2, retaining 3 wards or increasing the number of wards to 4. We want the system to be simpler for the community and more representative of their needs.

At the last election, there were more than 12,000 informal votes. The current system confuses people. My own view is that based on final evidence a reduction of the number of wards and the number of councillors should be considered if it maintains representation for the community and the savings put back into the community.

Once we have finalised the review, we will be asking residents for their views and they will be paramount to any future decision.