Councillor Chris Harris

Media Release

There was strong interest in the Forum on Homophobic Violence on Oxford Street held at Slide on Tuesday evening. Those who attended were local residents, the Darlinghurst Business partnership, City of Sydney’s new acting CEO Monica Barone, ACON President Adrian Lovney, Det Inspector David Egan-Lee from the Surry Hills Police plus many members of the local GLBTI community. Greens Cr. Chris Harris was the only City of Sydney Councillor to attend the meeting.

Speaker after speaker reinforced that physical violence and verbal vilification of the GLBTI community was a regular feature of life on Oxford St particularly in the higher risk times of Thursday-Saturday evenings.

Many speakers spoke about the importance of having a more visible police force as a way to curb aggressive behaviour towards GLBTI men and women. Views were mixed on the installation of CCTV cameras on Oxford St with privacy concerns and fears that the cameras would be used for other agendas aside from that of anti violence raised.

Greens Councillor Chris Harris, “I suggested that the City and the police consider reintroducing the mobile police station bus on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights on Oxford St to boost a visible police presence. Police indicated that the bus was removed because of complaints that “its presence was intimidatory’ but a number of supportive comments from participants indicated that this idea was worth re-considering.”

A second issue frequently raised was the lack of a dedicated GLLO officer and a perceived lack of enthusiasm within the police force for more GLLO training. Det Inspector Egan-Lee said that the Surry Hills LAC had applied for a permanent GLLO position at the sergeant level but that this request was not supported at higher levels of the police force.

Greens Cr. Chris Harris said, “Oxford Street is clearly the iconic centre of GLBTI culture in Sydney and it is essential that the state government support the LAC command with more GLLO resources to counter a re-emerging trend of homophobic violence. The Greens call on the Minister for Police to re-consider the Surry Hills LAC request for a permanent specialist position at this station.”

A long time local resident expressed dismay at the huge police resources devoted to sniffer dog patrols on Oxford St.

“Whilst it may be amusing to have your crutch sniffed it is very frustrating to see large police resources deployed in this way especially considering that the conviction rate for drug offences is a mere 27%. Meanwhile other urgent needs of the GLBTI community, like discouraging homophobic violence, are under-resourced or even ignored.” Cr. Harris said.

The Forum, attended by about 50 people, was a welcome step in broadening public discussion on some of the serious issues facing Oxford St and the GLBTI community.

In summing up Cr. Harris said “Hopefully the matters raised at the Forum and the positive suggestions made from participants will be translated into action by the powers that be.”

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