By Chris Tabone – Trader / Nicholson St Mall Footscray
Maribyrnong Council has voted to end a trial of controversial security patrols in the Footscray CBD and will instead increase the presence of Local Laws officers.
As a trader who operates daily in Footscray Mall, and reflecting on conversations with most of the traders around me, I feel compelled to respond.
Over the past year many of us have met with Cr Bernadette Thomas, who has publicly outlined her opposition to private security patrols. She visited my shop one evening and, within a short time of standing outside, witnessed firsthand the volatility that can unfold in this precinct. That lived experience is not theoretical for us. It is not a policy debate. It is our workplace.
We understand and respect the values Cr Thomas has articulated; empathy, inclusion, long-term social reform and support for people experiencing homelessness, mental ill-health and substance dependence. We share the view that systemic change is needed. Housing, outreach services and proper funding at state and federal levels are critical.
But those structural reforms do not exist today in the way they need to.
What does exist are small businesses employing local people, many of them women, who at times find themselves alone in shops when intoxicated individuals enter, shouting, waving glass bottles and behaving unpredictably. These incidents are not rare. They are not exaggerated. They are part of the operational reality of trading in the Mall.
The private security presence provided something simple but vital: immediate backup. A visible deterrent. A nearby professional trained to de-escalate situations if they turned dangerous.
Replacing that presence with Local Laws officers may tick an administrative box, but it does not address the core concern traders have raised repeatedly – safety when situations escalate. Local Laws officers are not security personnel. They are not trained to physically intervene if matters turn violent. If they are placed in situations beyond their scope, we now risk their safety as well.
The argument has been framed as a moral choice between enforcement and compassion. From where many of us stand, that is a false binary.
Security patrols did not prevent advocacy for better services. They did not stop Council from pursuing a more person-centred model. They did not negate empathy. What they did was reduce the frequency of serious incidents, limit large gatherings for open drug use and alcohol consumption, improve street amenity, and give staff and customers a greater sense of safety.
Those outcomes matter.
Footscray is Cr Thomas’ ward. Her role, like all councillors, is to represent the full breadth of our community, including vulnerable residents, families, workers and small business owners who rely on the Mall for their livelihood.
Many traders feel that while the needs of vulnerable individuals were strongly articulated in recent debate, the day-to-day safety concerns of frontline workers were given far less weight. A truly inclusive approach must hold both realities at once.
When staff feel unsafe closing at night, when families avoid the Mall, and when traders hesitate to roster women alone, that has real economic and human consequences. I encourage Cr Thomas to continue listening directly to the women working alone in our shops at closing time. Their sense of safety is not ideological, it is immediate and personal.
We are disappointed that our perspective appears to have been weighed against principle rather than alongside it. It is possible to care deeply about vulnerable people while also acknowledging that frontline workers deserve protection.
We hope that the new model proves effective. We hope Local Laws officers are adequately supported. We hope incidents do not escalate. But hope is not a safety strategy.
If this decision results in a return to the volatility many of us experienced prior to the patrols, Council must be prepared to reassess quickly and pragmatically.
We all want a Footscray that is vibrant, inclusive and safe. That requires long-term systemic reform. But until that reform genuinely materialises, withdrawing practical safety measures without a proven alternative feels premature.
