 Liberal Action Team On the Campaign Trail |
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Liberal Lord Mayoral candidate for the City of Sydney, Councillor Shayne Mallard has announced the centerpiece of his Liberal Action Team’s election policies with the establishment of a special security force to target anti-social behaviour in the City’s trouble spots.
"Anti social behaviour and street crime associated with the out of control entertainment areas is the biggest challenge facing residents, business owners and visitors to the City," Shayne said at the launch of the City Guardians policy. As Lord Mayor Shayne and his Liberal Action Team will recruit 100 hand picked City Guardians to be trained and equipped to patrol the street crime hot spots and implement a Council policy of zero tolerance for anti social behaviour. "City Guardians will be fully equipped and trained to deal with any anti social situation. They will work in partnership with the over stretched local police and our Council rangers to increase patrols and safety on our streets," he said. "We will work with the police and the state government to organise the powers and resources that are necessary to make the City Guardians an effective community safety force," Shayne said. Shayne has announced the location of four street level City Guardian Stations. "As Lord Mayor I will immediately open City Guardian Stations in the middle of the major street crime hot spots of Kings Cross, Oxford Street, Glebe Point Road and Pyrmont." "In addition we will establish a City Guardians mobile unit based in a large high profile van fully equipped to deal with any localised problems including remote CCTV cameras to back up the City Guardian operations and work with local police in other problem areas such as Newtown, Redfern, Surry Hills and Green Square." Council will re-rout improved CCTV cameras to the local City Guardians office so that local security officers are monitoring for local problems and not overstretched Council staff locked up in the basement of Town Hall. In response to left wing critics claiming that the City Guardians were a vigilante response to a state government responsibility, Councillor Mallard said residents and ratepayers were tired of ‘buck passing’ and calling for real action from the capital city Council. "After four years as Lord Mayor and 20 years in elected office, Clover Moore MP continues to pass the buck and blame everyone else for the problems in this City," he said. "The community has become weary of Clover’s 20 year old blame game reruns and now finally demands real action and no more excuses." "If Clover Moore and her Independent Party Councillors can not deliver the solution to this problem then they should step aside for a new generation of leaders who are prepared to get on with action to address the growing problems of street violence and anti social activity including homophobia and assaults," Shayne Mallard said. "Our City Guardians are modeled on the City of Westminster where their City Guardians have evolved over time to be not only enforcement but also crime prevention and education officers attending schools and public events." The Liberal Action Team are committed to financial responsibility and reigning in Clover Moore’s $200,000 per day deficit budgeting. They acknowledge that the City Guardians will not be cheap to implement with an estimated cost of $10 million to establish and similar figure each year to operate, but Shayne and his team see this as a number one priority to the City of Sydney. "I have already announced halving the $7million per year Council spin budget and slashing the Lord Mayor’s $2 million personal office budget. We will also immediately cancel the lavish upgrade of the Lord Mayor and Councillors offices in Town Hall – part of the $60 million dollar Town Hall upgrade.†"Councillors can work from home if that is what it takes to make our city safer for residents," Shayne concluded. |