Residents in ‘most policed area of Perth' enraged by minister's response
Enraged Inglewood residents near a trouble-plagued public housing complex have warned anti-social behaviour could escalate unless the West Australian government steps up efforts to clamp down on the issue.
Housing Minister John Carey was grilled about the Ninth Avenue complex during question time in parliament on Wednesday as residents watched on and at times heckled from the public gallery.
The 24-unit complex was bought by the WA government last year for public housing, but anti-social behaviour has become so bad that Police Minister Reece Whitby said it was now one of the most policed areas of Perth.
Speaking outside parliament after question time, Inglewood resident Melissa Molinari detailed some of the behaviour allegedly witnessed over the past five months, which included a jogger being chased with a butcher's knife; children being abused by tenants; bottles thrown at passers-by; and an Uber driver being bashed and having his car stolen.
Molinari said the government's response to date was not good enough, and the issues were escalating.
'It is distressing to see families and parents of families here right now whose children have been attacked on our streets, and [the minister] stands there and does nothing. It's disgusting,' she said.
'How many more people need to be attacked on the streets of Inglewood? How many more people have bottles thrown at them, chased with knives, before this government and this minister actually does something about it and hears our voices?
'What's going to happen when someone is killed on the streets of Inglewood? What then?'
Molinari said the Inglewood community was not against social housing, and many tenants in the complex were doing the right thing and were also victims of the small number of bad eggs.
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