Werribee’s main street will be shut down to traffic on Monday night as Wyndham residents gather to voice their opposition to the high security youth prison slated for Werribee South.
The Speak Out – Wyndham’s Voice group has secured permits to shut down Watton Street between Cherry and Bridge streets, and will host its community meeting next Monday, February 13, from 7.30pm at Station Place.
The community meeting was originally meant to be held at Encore Events Centre, which can hold 1000 people, but has since been moved to Station Place to accommodate a wider audience.
Meanwhile, at least 20 Werribee South farmers will ride their tractors from the proposed Hoppers Lane location and past Werribee MP Tim Pallas’s office, to the public meeting, bearing signs that will read: “Not in Werribee South”.
Wyndham councillors, and a host of state and federal MPs have been invited to the meeting. Mr Pallas and Altona MP Jill Hennessy have yet to RSVP.
Speak Out – Wyndham’s Voice co-founder Lisa Heinrichs thanked the scores of volunteers that have helped organise the event and inform the community.
“We’re overwhelmed and heartened by the community’s response,” she said.
“It just goes to show what a strong community we have, and when we need to, can come together for a greater cause.”
The state government confirmed on Monday that it will start construction of a 224-bed youth detention centre along Hoppers Lane early next year – despite no prior consultation with either Wyndham council or locals.
The prison, which is slated for completion by the end of 2020, will hold both remanded and sentenced offenders, and include a 12-bed mental health unit and an “intensive supervision unit” with at least eight beds.
Nearly 8500 people have signed a petition opposing the location of the centre, and Wyndham council formally opposed the youth detention centre at its council meeting on social, economic and environmental grounds.
In parliament today, Mr Pallas was asked what consultation the government had carried out with the council and community prior to making its announcement.
He responded: “Our preferred location is Werribee South and we will continue to discuss with the local council and the community… we know that our position is that consultation with this community is important, genuine consultation.”
“This will be one of the biggest economic boosts that the western suburbs has seen.
“We looked, through the process, at multiple locations, and we formed the view, based on available land, based on adequate skills, and also the capacity of families to make access, that this was a right and appropriate location.”
