In last night’s Federal Budget, $50 million was allocated to the Safer Streets Programme, promising a roll-out of London-style closed circuit TV cameras in the public areas of cities and towns across the country.
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Focusing on “local retail and entertainment premises”, as well as “commercial precincts that have high rates of crime”, the money will be spent on installing and maintaining a larger network of CCTV security cameras, as well as lighting for poorly-lit areas. The end result: you’ll see more public-facing CCTV tracking cameras in high-traffic, high-crime areas like Sydney’s Kings Cross, Fortitude Valley in Brisbane and Broadmeadows in Melbourne.a
The initiative isn’t especially new or surprising; it has been supported by both sides for years, and follows previous security camera and public education initiatives around anti-social behaviour and crime.
150 locations for the CCTV roll-out across Australia have been chosen, a significant boost from previous camera networks. The initiative was a Liberal campaign promise back in 2012, expanding upon the $15 million Safer Suburbs Programme announced in 2007 with 22 projects funded and continued in 2010 with a further 40 grants. The new Programme’s $50 million is fully funded, so it apparently won’t place additional stress on the government’s bottom line. [AG.gov.au]