By AIDAN KNIGHT

 

LATROBE City Council has once again circled the block on the question of how best to tackle antisocial behaviour in Morwell’s central business district, this time debating a new iteration of the Community Connectors Program under the banner of the CBD Community Outreach program.

The issue, first raised in the February meeting, has now been deferred twice, with councillors split between immediate investment in outreach and waiting on assurances from the state government.

The program, described by Councillor Steph Morgan as a “bespoke tailored outline for our community,” would allocate $30,000 from Council reserves to design a localised outreach model. Officers propose placing trained workers at hotspots such as the Morwell Transit Hub to connect people with housing, health and social services, addressing the root causes of poor behaviour rather than relying solely on policing.

The model is based on programs trialed successfully in Frankston and Dandenong, where outreach reduced antisocial behaviour and improved perceptions of safety. Council officers argued the same could help Morwell, which has seen a 15 per cent rise in crimes against the person and property offences, and a 38 per cent increase in drug-related offences since 2019-20.

May’s meeting saw the pushing back of the Connectors Program, with Cr Sharon Gibson the most vocal that policing is the best option, deferring the then proposed $50,000 (also pushed by Cr Morgan) to resource research for the program. Cr Gibson herself had met with the Minister for Police, Anthony Carbines, with Mayor Dale Harriman and Latrobe City chief executive Steve Piasante.

During last week’s meeting, Council remained divided on the issue, as Cr Morgan emphasised, “We can’t attack this problem just through policing alone, we need a community-minded approach to really address a multifaceted issue. There is no one answer.”

Cr Morgan said Council risked alienating residents and businesses who already felt “ignored” by repeated delays, warning Morwell could be left a “ghost town” if inaction continued.

Cr Pugsley raised the point at the September meeting, on the outcome of the talks with the minister, to which Mr Piasante clarified that no promise was made. While the minister had indicated he was keen to visit Latrobe City for assessment, alongside the Police Commissioner, the recent events surrounding the manhunt in Porpunkah prevented discussion from going any further in that time. There was no exact date or definite confirmation they would indeed visit, meaning there is no promise Latrobe City Council can call on the government to uphold, and no ballpark of when and if it will come to fruition.

“These things can take a number of months,” Mr Piasante stated when pressed for a timeframe for usual circumstances. The CEO also admitted that external organisations such as Anglicare also had not replied to Council on the matter.

There had been anecdotal observations in the CBD that the behaviour in question had been quieter in the winter months, although Council admitted the happenings seem to have just shifted from outside to inside, such as Morwell Library.

In fact, data released Thursday from the Crime Statistics Agency shows criminal incidents in Latrobe rose by 10.3 per cent in the 12 months to June 2025 compared with the previous year. Moe recorded the sharpest increase, with offences climbing 26 per cent, following the Allan Labor Government’s decision to cut back operating hours at the town’s police station.

Cr Gibson foreshadowed an amended motion should it be voted down, and mentioned her push for the deferral of any ground-level action, that was carried at the July meeting.

“I was after the deferral because we want him (Minister Carbines) to look at what he will do for us. He has the ability and the knowledge on a whole host of different recommendations that could help our area”, she explained, but failed to show any strong argument on why council shouldn’t do something in the meantime, as the officers had flagged that no action would mean a decline in business in the Morwell CBD.

“I really hope that my fellow councilors can see the wisdom in actually deferring because we actually might get a better outcome for our community,” she continued, providing no supporting evidence as to why.

Cr Tracie Lund said the community had already waited too long.

“Our residents have raised genuine concerns about safety in our CBDs,” she said.

“This isn’t about policing; it’s about council leading the work to support social cohesion. Valuable work from the minister’s office can come at any time – it shouldn’t stop us starting.”

Cr Potter saw the same light, pushing to ensure the work being done is designed for the area, rather than a cut-and-paste method from the police that may not even occur, focusing on “lived experience”.

“Wait for the minister for police? Yeah, he’s got a great idea for the whole of Victoria”, she said, “but he doesn’t know what it’s like to live in the Latrobe Valley”.

Cr Potter continued to argue that using the existing methods from Frankston and Dandenong in conjunction with a tailored approach would be the most effective option for Latrobe City.

“Launch the initiatives to show what we’re doing locally, that’s what the minister wants to see, he doesn’t want to see us sitting here saying ‘please tell us what the answer is’, because he doesn’t have it,” she said.

Mayor Harriman posed a question to the CEO on a recent program based on antisocial behaviour in Moe, ran by state Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing and the now-defunct Latrobe Health Assembly, and what had come of it.

“The short answer is no,” Mr Piasante clarified, showing up for the third time that Latrobe City did not have any strong reliance on agencies other than Victoria Police.

Cr Morgan closed by reiterating that in contrary to Cr Darren Howe’s statement of May, tackling this issue has been in discussion for a further three months, back in February.

“Do we wait until Morwell businesses have been driven out? The CBD becomes a ghost town?

“That is how our community members are feeling this is going, that they are continuously being abandoned and forgotten about by us, the council, because we have other agendas at play,” Cr Morgan said.

Cr Morgan also made a strong point to the current lack of police presence due to the events in Porpunkah “makes it really clear that we need to look at other approaches”. She finished with a smirk, saying, “I never thought so many of my colleagues would put so much weight into the opinion of a Victorian labor minister, and I find that very interesting.

“We need to do something for ourselves. It’s not that much, it’s not that hard, let’s do it,” Cr Morgan said.

The original motion failed, with only Crs Morgan, Lund, and Potter in support.

Cr Gibson’s foreshadowed amendment then swooped in: defer the decision until November, pending a ministerial visit, but provisionally set aside $30,000 in reserves. This second part came in the form of an amendment from Cr Potter, trying to make the best out of an unsatisfactory outcome.

Cr Morgan then spoke against the motion, visibly unenthused by the turn of events within the meeting.

“I am again disappointed that we are once again delaying some real, real community impact,” she said.

The Yallourn councillor expressed her frustration in making no progress in an issue that has persisted, since the start of the year, before dropping the most dramatic pop culture reference Latrobe City Council has seen in 2025.

“To paraphrase Star Wars: Episode IV, Minister Carbines, you’re Morwell’s only hope,” Cr Morgan said.

“I hope he plans a visit to Morwell very soon, and I hope it’s a good one, because our community is being abandoned and let down by those they have elected to be here and support.”

Cr Gibson retorted that she has “quite a bit of faith in the police minister”, regardless of his party, based on the progress he has given Frankston and Dandenong, and sees no reason why it wouldn’t work in Latrobe.

“I believe whether he lives here or not, he has got the ability and experience to know what can and can’t work,” she said.

Cr Lund tightened up the debate hesitantly, looking Cr Gibson in the eye while telling council they were waiting for a silver bullet, in the form of a state minister who hasn’t even booked a time to visit, which she doubts will occur before November.

Cr Adele Puglsey emphasised what council was asking of the minister was the very thing he specialised in, and saw it better to wait it out to get it right rather than wasting resources and officers’ time in something else that may not work.

“We don’t have a lot of money to throw in the wrong direction,” Cr Pugsley said.

The direction may appear to be limbo until November arrives. Council carried the (convoluted) amended foreshadowed motion as it became the next best option, in the words of Cr Potter, who jumped ship to support the promise of at least doing something two months down the track over nothing at all. This left only Crs Morgan and Lund in opposition, much like the rebel alliance, searching for that sense of hope and waiting for the minister to strike back.