Prev
Next

Bored youth breed violence in North Melbourne

Jessica Buccolieri

by Jessica Buccolieri

19 Oct 05:30am

Must Reads

Protecting the Barrier Reef is the Fin end of the wedge - this is a caption

Protecting the Barrier Reef is the Fin end of the wedge

38

ICB: Is white bread the worst thing since sliced bread? - this is a caption

ICB: Is white bread the worst thing since sliced bread?

92

Sometimes, you’ve just got to stick it to the bloody ref - this is a caption

Sometimes, you’ve just got to stick it to the bloody ref

71

Filed under: Community, Craigieburn, Media, Melbourne, Regional Australia, Society, Youth

28 comments

When people ask me where I am from I know I’m likely to receive one of two responses when I say Craigieburn. “Sorry, I don’t know where that is” seems to be the predominant one, in which case I begin naming the surrounding areas.

Fights start easily when there's nothing else to do. Photo:Channel 7.

As I relay my list – Roxburgh Park, Greenvale, and Broadmeadows – I am usually confronted with increasingly bewildered expressions, and I realise that these people are unfamiliar with the northern suburbs.

The second response, which on occasion is prompted by my answer to the first, usually encompasses the words “gangs” or “violence”.

This stereotype used to surprise me as I never felt anything but safe in the area. In high school I defended my hometown claiming that you could stumble upon gangs or violence anywhere.

Now, given events that landed Craigieburn in the news earlier this year, I’m not so sure. If for some reason you were cut off from the onrush of media coverage the incident received, here’s what went down:

A pre-arranged brawl involving up to 100 youths in Craigieburn took place around 3pm on Thursday 5th August. Students from Craigieburn Secondary College and at least two adults are believed to have been involved. The fight, which occurred in a supermarket car park, just outside school premises, had to be subdued by police.

Okay, so that’s how a media release by police may have looked like, but this is how it appeared in the media:

Four people were arrested and two police officers were allegedly assaulted in a mass-brawl between two youth gangs - said to be of Australian and Islander decent - from Craigieburn Secondary College.

In an attempt to detach the fight, the school principle was accidentally doused with capsicum spray by police. Social networking site Facebook divulged details of a second fight, leading to increased patrols in the area.

The “Craigieburn Brawl”, as it has been labeled, left me wondering: was it rightly portrayed by the media and what’s really behind such violence in the suburb?

The media narrowed it down to racial tension, while police simply called it the result of a dispute between two students at the school. But is there more to it?

I’ve thought about what Craigieburn is – a rapidly expanding residential area inhabited mainly by young families. It’s fairly new too, with development having only begun in the 70s. Situated around 24km from Melbourne’s CBD, it is surrounded largely by farmland – so it’s pretty isolated.

I did some research. According to the 2006 ABS Census, more than 15,000 of Craigieburn’s population are Australian born and over 18,000 are Australian citizens. The total population is around 21,000.

While these numbers indicate a minority (as around only a quarter of the population were born overseas), it also represents a community which is largely comparable. So how can racism be any more a problem here than anywhere else? Sure it’s present, but there has to be other factors that can explain such violent acts.

This brings me back to the development of the suburb. There are a few facilities: a leisure centre, a golf course, a TAB, a basic plaza, a few parks… a creek. Sounds like a great place to retire; however, it isn’t much to entertain a suburb widely populated by youth.

There’s still no major shopping centre in the area, despite high demand for one.

Until recently there wasn’t a direct mode of public transport to the city. Craigieburn has only had that luxury for three years when the Broadmeadows train line was extended to include Craigieburn and Roxburgh Park. Buses out of Craigieburn only travel as far as Broadmeadows or Upfield.

The sad thing is a lot of the surrounding areas that the youth of Craigieburn have access to share the same issues – too many youth and not enough services to facilitate them.

The kids are bored. They have very little to do here. If they want a part time job, chances are they’ll have to travel out of town. If they want to see a movie, they need to leave town. If they want to go shopping, bowling, dancing or for some, attend high school – it requires leaving town.

And the story’s the same for many of the towns in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

This does not excuse any youth related racism or violence in the area, but it is definitely a contributing factor and could easily be addressed by the government, particularly at a local level.

Most commented

427Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
375There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin
313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
304Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer
262Who murdered the Arts degree?
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...

28 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Eric says:

      05:10am | 19/10/10

      It’s so refreshing to see a journalist who doesn’t immediately blame white Australians for any and every sort of community violence, but looks deeper. Keep up the good investigative work!

      Reply

    • Macca says:

      06:40am | 19/10/10

      I’m not sure I agree with this as Sydney’s North West (Dural - Windsor - Richmond) also has few facilities and is a similarly long distance from the city and yet doesn’t seem to have the same crime problems.

      Reply

    • Steph says:

      07:32am | 19/10/10

      This type of youthful conflict has always been a part of growing up for middle to lower socio-economic groups within this country. It is a fantastic way of killing boredom.

      But “Back in my day” we kept our conflicts away from prying eyes due to the fact that law enforcement had better support from the communtiy to come down hard on us. I guess things are different nowadays.

      Reply

    • Sarah says:

      07:34am | 19/10/10

      And this is what people need to think about when they suggest more bleak Mcmansion estates on the city fringes. It’s not good for the residents or the cities.

      Reply

    • Old Salt says:

      09:11am | 19/10/10

      And you have a better suggestion Sarah??? People need to live somewhere don’t they?? Why don’t we just cram em in to high residential towers instead?

    • JB says:

      04:04pm | 19/10/10

      No, old salt, why dont we plan new suburbs properly, with facilities, shopping areas, entertainment, recreation etc.? Why dont we create communities rather than shallow estates sold with fancy names like “fallingwater” and slick advertising campaigns? And denser living isn’t a bad thing either, as well as a decentralised population. Urban Sprawl only leads to wide ranging social, environmental and economic problems.

    • TracyS says:

      04:48pm | 20/10/10

      It’s not the fact that there are McMansions on the city fringe, it’s the fact that the developers don’t put in the other facilities that build communities (communal open spaces, local shops, recreational areas like skate parks and plating fields) where the McMansions are.

    • Adam Diver says:

      07:47am | 19/10/10

      Luckily the kids don’t live rurally otherwise there would be hell, because there is nothing to do. If only I could work out how rural kids defeat the curse of being bored….

      Reply

    • T.Chong says:

      08:34am | 19/10/10

      Adam ; I can assure you rural kids do get bored, and do get up to no good as well. Shooting things -usually road signs, or critters they consider pests -eg parrotts, eagles etc is another fave.
      Other types of vandalism are also quite common, specially after a few beers, or bundys.
      What does damp down alot or rural youth unrest is the fact that everyone knows, or knows of eveyone else. That may lead to stone walls of silence about incidents, or just as equally, rumor mills a plenty as scores are evened up.
      City / urban kids areny all bad, neither are bush kids all lovable scamps.

    • Adam Diver says:

      09:23am | 19/10/10

      Neither is boredom the reason behind stupid behaviour.

    • Kelly says:

      08:13am | 19/10/10

      Interesting article by an articulate young woman. Let us have more of these and these from the political types that infest the site.
      Oh and please fix the typo!
      “In an attempt to detach the fight, the school PRINCIPAL was accidentally doused with capsicum spray by police.”

      Reply

    • Mr Pod says:

      08:20am | 19/10/10

      Get used to it.  Want the tag “world Class City” that Australian cities and their populations are so desperate for, then you take on miserable and ugly social sink holes along with the museums and sitting cross legged on pavement drinking lattes.  If you are concerned with Craigieburn now, wait till we match the social decay of a London suburb

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      08:33am | 19/10/10

      ‘In my day’ the coppers would have taken the ringleaders back to the station for a ‘chat’ - and it would probably never happen again.

      But everyone has ‘rights’ now and the physical standards for coppers are so low that barely 5ft sheila’s are patrolling the beat expecting to enforce crowd control against blokes over 6ft tall and built like the proverbial brick shithouses.

      Reap what we sow.

      Reply

    • GreekSnake says:

      09:50am | 19/10/10

      Spot on TheRealDave.

      The steady decline of physical standards in police was directly impacted by the lessening of their powers. This decline peaked with Christine Nixon who substituted a training drill wall for a vault horse (none of which she could ever get over mind you)... and proceeded to fix the entrance ratio for Police cadets to 1 male to 1 female. How does anyone expect to put the force back into Police Force?

      Young people have complained about boredom for ages. This habit of congregating around fast food or shopping center car parks breeds a gang mentality. Sooner or later people are defending their “territory” and you have cops chasing young thugs around the outer Western/Northern Suburbs.

      You don’t see this in the Eastern suburbs so much because the rich keep the stupid out.

      Great piece btw.

    • Arios says:

      12:44pm | 19/10/10

      Spot on TheRealDave.

      Community need to get behind police more and give them their full faith and support. Sure there are a few wanker cops, but that’s no different to any other emergency service, they all attract a few yahoo hero’s.. But the far majority of coppas are top blokes doing the right thing. They need the full backing and trust of the community.

      This excuse that the kids are bored, so therefore they bash each other up in huge gang fights is just ridiculous. The real problem is that these kids have no limits set in place. Aussie youth know that they can get away with anything these days and that they have this huge list of rights and packs of anti-racism, anti-punishment, civil libertarians lined up ready to defend them after they commit any crime.

      I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Here in Japan, 99% of the community fully back the police and have total respect for them. You constantly see people saying “Good afternoon..” to the local police offer and he has so much more respect to do his job from the general public. 90% of the Japanese public still support the death penalty because they believe that it deters harmful drug users and traffickers. The community as a whole has a much different (tougher) approach to crime and keeping the fabric in society strong.

      And what do you know, crime is a fraction of what it is in western countries and also I notice a growing number of Aussie expats “escaping” over here back to a real society that hasn’t fallen to pieces.

      When I go back to Australia, its a real shock, all the guys are fricking huge and pumping iron and taking roids and its all about this ultimate alpha male tough guy protect yourself and watch your back crap. The whole of society is living in pent-up hyper-tension in anticipation of being robbed, mugged, stabbed etc. No way to live..

    • A Bob says:

      09:12am | 19/10/10

      I grew up in an outer suburb in the 60’s and 70’s. Same thing back then. Gangs roamed around on foot or in cars. I got beaten up a few times on the street, regularly got the shit beaten out of me at school. Houses, cars and shops vandalised.

      Papers had similar articles crying about the decline of civilisation, softness of the laws and the usual rhetoric of moral panic. The “I used to feel safe, now I’m not so sure” line is more recent, though. FUD sells better these days than flat out indignation.

      We’ll all be roon’d, roon’d I tells ya.

      Reply

    • ena says:

      09:26am | 19/10/10

      Ahhh The ‘burns..

      I hate to say it, but I didn’t seem all that suprised when i read on the herald sun website this morning that a 17 year old girl was nearly snatched up by 2 men in a van in Craigeburn in the middle of the day..

      I come from the Northern Suburbs, and good friends of mine bought a house and land package in Craigeburn..
      I can tell you, the last thing I’d ever want is to raise a family in that area..

      I can only imagine it getting worse.. Kids are bored..

      Nothing will be done about it..

      Reply

    • Louie Mac says:

      10:43am | 19/10/10

      Yes, kids do get bored.  Why?  Because they do not have the skills to legally occupy themselves.  Nobody wants to hear about the good old days, because honestly they were not always good.  But, there was no television, very rarely did we go to the pictures, get togethers were mainly at local dances and church, or sports events.  I remember the closest thing to a take away was the “Oslo Lunch” we got at school - a big enamel plate of sandwiches and a milk shake for a bob. (Yes I am showing my age).  There is one thing which still gives me hope for our kids’ future - I still see kids making billy-carts!  I say ban the “hoodie” - good thing invented to keep you warm in winter, but bad thing for disguising your identity.

      Reply

    • Ex Broady says:

      10:47am | 19/10/10

      This argument has been used for years to justify gangs and bad behaviour ‘the kids are bored’.  What a load of rubbish!  I was a teenager 20 years ago in Broadmeadows and my friends and I did not resort to gangs or violence to fill our time, yet the issues were the same.  These kids would not be interested in Youth Programs, and would probably trash the facilities as they don’t respect or value others.  Boredom is never an excuse for violent behaviour.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      11:03am | 19/10/10

      Put’em in the Army. 2 years.
      Kids outta Craigie and Broadie got too much energy.
      (The definition of youths’ gotta be ‘beans’.)
      And I’m sure their parents and teachers’ll love you for it.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      12:37pm | 19/10/10

      Just get these kids a games console and some nice games to play.
      Perhaps we could get them a starter pack that includes; Resident Evil 4, Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas, and God of War.

      Perhaps these games will have a calming affect on them.

      Reply

    • Arios says:

      01:05pm | 19/10/10

      Yes some great suggestions:

      - Mandatory 2 years in the army.
      - Mandatory program right through school where all of the kids have to join together and take turns/shifts to clean their own school. This includes sweeping/mopping their classrooms, removing grafiti and picking up litter etc. Commence this from kindergarten in small ways such as just sweeping, then as they get older, proper mopping and vaccumming etc. This instills responsibility and the lesson that the community is everyone’s to share responsibility for looking after. Hey it works brilliantly in Japan. These kids later graduate into real society and keep thinking the same toward broader society.
      - Close down civil libertarians.
      - More powers back to police. Ability to hold scum bags without reason for 28 days - another successful law in place in Japan. If you aren’t a scum bag you have nothing to worry about.
      - Illegal for any celebrity to make money or continue their fame after drug/crime convictions. E.g. Ben Cousins and these other glorified rejects.

      Don’t become desensitised and used to these thugs, it isn’t like this in every other part of the world and other countries do things differently with great success.

      Reply

    • fairsfair says:

      04:08pm | 19/10/10

      Aside from the two years in the army caper, I agree.

      I have never come across a more polite and friendly people than the Japanese. Yes, the ones that I have had anything to do with have all been on holidays but a colleague of mine has said on more than one occasion that (after going to Japan for a Ski holiday) we should be absolutely ashamed of the way that we speak to each other and to the Japanese when they are in Australia after the way that they welcome and treat us. I am inclined to agree.

      Whilst there is good and bad in every culture, clearly some of their social conventions are successful in raising respectful, law abiding citizens.

      Our society’s biggest issue is basic lack of respect for authority. I personally blame this on civil libertarians, afterall - if I get mugged on my way to the car tonight. Following arrest, my mugger has more “rights” than I do as a victim of crime. Thanks to civil libertarians the police now have more of an obligation to treat criminal appropriately than they do to actually protect the victim and the wider community from harm.

    • Sadiq Farris says:

      04:53pm | 19/10/10

      Everyone in Sydney Knows Melbourne is a nuthouse full of bored youth, pretentious senior citizens, dumb halfwit weirdos,  and middle aged ratbags.
      But is that news?

      Reply

    • Sadiq Farris says:

      04:54pm | 19/10/10

      They cannot destroy anything valuable.
      They can only destroy Melbourne

      Reply

    • Sadiq Farris says:

      04:56pm | 19/10/10

      When was North Melbourne’s last AFL Premiership? 1996
      No wonder they are bored

      Reply

    • Sadiq Farris says:

      04:57pm | 19/10/10

      bring them rugby league

      Reply

    • Stocco says:

      05:43pm | 19/10/10

      Television shows youngsters how rich people are and what glamorous and exciting lives they lead and violent criminals acquiring the same prizes even more quickly.  Advertising pushing the same message and shouting buy this and that and be cool or be a failure.  The wild behavior desperately attempts to mimic the media they consume and try to put some excitement into dull lives.  No surprise low socio economic populations are most susceptible.

      Reply
 
Comment

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Daniel Piotrowski

drpiotrowski 24 May 12 09:56PM

RT @popculturechris: Meanwhile, Gotye holds no.1 for a sixth massive week in the US - "that" song has now sold over 4 million copies there.

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 24 May 12 09:17PM

@loupascale if the survey made you sad, probably skip the comments...

Paul Colgan

Colgo 24 May 12 07:27PM

@paulwiggins @richardkendall that fountain pens yarn is a great social trend story

Paul Colgan

Colgo 24 May 12 07:27PM

I like how a tip erodes so only you can use it MT “@paulwiggins: BBC News - Why are fountain pen sales rising? http://t.co/0hk2MRtf”

See all tweets

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

Protecting the Barrier Reef is the Fin end of the wedge

by Tony Burke

38

Protecting the Barrier Reef is the Fin end of the wedge

When you take on a job like being Environment Minister there’s some hits you can see coming. …

ICB: Is white bread the worst thing since sliced bread?

by Tory Shepherd

92

ICB: Is white bread the worst thing since sliced bread?

Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit column. It’s a regular column that looks at skulduggery…

Sometimes, you’ve just got to stick it to the bloody ref

by Anthony Sharwood

71

Sometimes, you’ve just got to stick it to the bloody ref

We are taught early in life that we should not question authority. We must listen to our parents, our…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more

243 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free daily Punch newsletter

Subscribe to The Punch RSS feed