Lock the western suburbs trash out of Melbourne's CBD
Twice a year when the Albert Park Grand Prix and the St. Kilda festival rolls around my area gets totally trashed by people who don’t live here.
Acland Street turns into an after dark nightmare and you inevitably wind up being the victim of a random bashing, your girlfriend gets harassed or some idiot is trying to pick a fight with you in a bar because you looked at his shoelaces wrong.
Thankfully for the other 50 weekends in the year things here are pretty good as far as suburban trash polluting the area go.
Unfortunately for Melbourne’s CBD though, these infestations of lower socio-economic uneducated dropkicks are a weekly occurrence.
Finally someone has stood up and said enough is enough.
I don’t know what it is specifically about the western suburbs that gets my back up but for the longest time I can remember, I’ve hated the place.
Maybe it was my first day of university in St. Albans crossing a road on a pedestrian crossing and having a driver sit on his horn when I made him stop and then get out of his car and threaten a punch on.
Or the time I was sitting on a train minding my own business when some little kid on the outside came up and tapped on the window. When I looked he’d wriggle his eyebrows and just stood there. If I looked away he’d tap again and do the same eyebrow wiggle.
When the train eventually started to pull away he ran with it for a bit and then spat all over the window.
Perhaps it was that one night I was driving through Sunshine to get to a party and realised at 8pm on a Saturday night the main street of Sunshine was depressingly dead. The only thing open with lights on was Blockbuster video.
Yes it could be any one of those things but it’s probably a combination of all three and many more experiences that have led to a sinking feeling in my stomach everytime I cross over the western side of the CBD.
On any given Saturday night in Melbourne’s CBD it’s pretty easy to find violence on the streets.
There’s the crazy Vietnamese mobs from Footscray running around macheting people for stealing their women, the angry Sudanese ghetto groups from Kensington gangbashing anyone who dosn’t ‘respekt’ them (or looks Indian), as well as the white trash who will turn on anyone who gets inbetween their violent loud domestic disputes because Bazza won’t share his cig with Shazza.
Not surprisingly half of the assaults occurring in Melbourne’s CBD, the Docklands and Southbank are perpetrated by those living in Melbourne’s west and northwest suburbs.
Although a difficult topic to tackle what given the racial factors as well as potentially pissing off half your electorate, it’s good to see that at least on a local level Melbourne’s Mayor Robert Doyle is speaking out about it.
Mr Doyle said more needed to be done to stop “bogan” troublemakers in their home suburbs before they entered the city.
“These are people that travel into the city and what they do is, they come in looking for trouble,” Mr Doyle told ABC Radio today.
Although I commend Doyle for speaking up on the matter I’m not entirely in agreeance with his proposed solution. Doyle proposes a leaf out of New York’s book and pushes an increased police force targeting hotspot suburbs as well as a mobile ‘flying squad’ able to respond to call outs.
While I’m all for increased police presence (I’m a strong subscriber to ‘if you don’t look like scummy trash the police will leave you alone’), I don’t think more police are necessary the answer.
Instead I’d prefer the policing we have being actually backed up by our courts.
In July, John Caratozzolo was caught red handed on a curry bashing spree (beating up Indians for their mobile phones) which resulted in the murder of Chinese man Zhongjun Cao.
“You wanted to cause them physical injury,” the judge said. “You took the trouble to learn how to swear at Indians. Not only that, but the language you used was designed to cause the maximum offence. That is unequivocally racist … your crimes did exhibit a racist element. The court must at every appropriate opportunity condemn racially based crime.”
Justice Harper said crime based upon racism was a negation of Australia’s fundamental values.
In 2008 Aaron Toal was dared by a mate for $10 to randomly punch Yuxiong Han. The punch sent Han into the path of a car and he later died in hospital.
Toal was convicted and sentenced to a 2 year, 500 hour community service order.
But perhaps the most shocking court sentencing for a violent crime was the Sunshine station bashing of a man by Ahmed Mohamed, Monda Mentel and Maluac Kiir earlier this year. You can watch the CCTV footage of the attack below:
Infact so laughable are Victoria’s sentencing on violent crimes that teenagers in Geelong quite casually film themselves bashing complete strangers and then post the videos on Youtube and social networking sites.
BRAZEN thugs have bragged about their violent attacks on Geelong streets in two graphic videos posted on YouTube.
One of the alleged attackers has embedded a video where he is seen to tackle a man and repeatedly knee him in the head on his MySpace page.
Doyle can throw all the police in the world at Melbourne’s western suburbs trash problem but with courts handing out sentences like these, does anybody really think things are going to change?
Of course instead of trying to rehabilitate and un-stupidify our western neighbours or fix up our horrendously failing court system, we could just bomb the Westgate and sink Footscray road.
Much cheaper and as a bonus the rest of us never have to deal with the rabble that lives there again.
Hows about it Doyle?
August 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm sam(Quote)
demagraphics are interesting.
80% of stonnington councils residents-toorak,sth yarra etc,have completed there v.c.e,gone to uni etc.
While in the north-western suburbs- Hume council,its 20% of residents that have completed v.c.e,gone to uni etc.
How do u teach people to value education,when alot of homes in west-north surburbs have less than 10 books of literature in them aside from complusory bought school txts and trashy fiction.By the way, cook books arent considered literature!And in west/north homes kids on average spend 5 hrs a day watching t.v/opposed to 2 hrs a day in the eastern suburbs.Unfortunately u cant buy brain cells.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:10 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
You don’t even need statistics, just go for a walk around the western suburbs and hear how people talk.
They sound like idiots!
Mass immigration of uneducated people into concentrated areas in the west also isn’t helping.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:16 am Vik(Quote)
I must say that this is the first time I’ve visited your website (I stumbled across it while searching for Costco articles) and I quite liked it. However, this article appalled me. I’ve lived in the Western Suburbs all my life and to be told that I’m trash, scum and should be barred from the city is just downright insulting. Or maybe you wrote this article assuming no one from the Western suburbs would be able to read.
I personally completed my VCE with an 85 and got accepted into a Bachelor of Science (Medical, Forensic and Analytical Chemistry.) I tried that for a year and decided it wasn’t for me. I then went on to complete countless short courses and I’m currently 3 months off of finishing my Degree. And after that? Well, I’m doing a Post Grad in Psychology and a Diploma of Education all in one go.
My partner, who also grew up in the Western suburbs is a computer programmer in a very successful programming company in North Melbourne.
As for the statement made (not by you, by a reader a in another comment) about having less than 10 literature books in the house growing up, I’d love for you to come and have a look through my bookcase. I’m sure you’d be pleasantly surprised.
To be completely honest, I wholeheartedly agree that something needs to be done about the state of the Western Suburbs. We have generational unemployment, violence and drug issues and it’s embarrassing for people like me who have tried so very hard in life to achieve what I know I’m capable of. And then there’s the safety issue of myself being a 23 year old while female who would definitely be labeled as a “Goth” or a “freak” instantly. However, writing articles like that that stereotype and pigeonhole people just because of their postcode will certainly do much more worse than good. All that comes out of an article like this is an “us against them” stance. It fuels the aggression that rules these people’s lives and that’s the last thing any of us want.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ohshit you guys are onto me!
.
I’m glad to hear there’s at least two educated people living out in the west. Doesn’t it depress you though being surrounded by dropkicks?
Trying to be succesfull in life is hard enough as it is without the moccasin and ‘teefee is moi best friend’ brigade beating you down at every turn. Then there’s the neighbours “oh my god, HOW DO THESE PEOPLE FUNCTION?!’
To be fair my aim wasn’t exactly to be constructive with the problems in the wesern suburbs. You guys are gunna have to figure your trash problems out on your own. Over in the east we’ve already got our hands full trying to stop Frankston from becoming the next St. Albans.
Stupid eastlink and the western ring road, we make it too easy for trash to get around this city!
August 17th, 2009 at 10:27 pm Paul(Quote)
In around year 6, a friend told the story of how he and his dad were driving down Koroit Creek Rd and they came accross some newly arrived Vietnamese refugees. The newcomers waved at the approaching car seemingly happy just to be in our wonderful country.
My friend’s dad, smiled and waved back and then tried to run into them.
So it was little wonder that Vietnamese people hung out together and lived nearby each other and formed gangs etc.
Anybody wonder what kind of behavior this round of westie bashing will generate?
To the author…I just hope you have good locks and bars on your windows….and it is probably not a good idea to venture outside by yourself.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:35 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
So your friends dad is to blame for the state of the western suburbs.
Instead of worrying about my well being perhaps you should go and track him down. Sounds like he’s got a lot to answer for.
If that’s what was going on during Vietnamese migration sounds like the western suburbs was stuffed long before they got there.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:51 pm Paul(Quote)
August 17th, 2009 at 10:55 pm Vik(Quote)
Funnily enough, yes it does. It depresses me quite a bit. It’s also quite depressing when people try to defend something like Paul has above and all it sounds like is an empty threat and ends up doing more harm to their argument than good (that said, I’m not sure what his argument is, regardless of what his friend’s dad did or did not too, surely someone can logically say that people with similar interests/cultures/personalities will usually stick together…)
I think realistically, there’s problem areas everywhere. As you said, you guys have Frankston (which actually is a place that scares me more than Sunshine!) and I have friends that say they’d rather walk through the Sunshine underpass than take a step outside their Reservoir house.
I think we should all compromise. You guys lock Frankston out of the city and we’ll lock Hoppers Crossing, Werribee and St Albans out. Sound like a deal? =D
August 17th, 2009 at 11:01 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
DEAL!
That’s what I like to see Vik, some constructiveness come out of all this. Much more refreshing then the canned ‘ugs you better stay indoors ozsoapbox or I’m gunna bash youse…’ crap from Paul.
Oh and what perceptions are you talking about Paul? I gave you three actual examples of stupid crap that happened during my adventures into the west. If we can’t base perceptions on personal experience then what the hell are we supposed to be basing them on?
Stories that may or may not be full of shit our friends told us when we were six?
August 17th, 2009 at 11:28 pm Paul(Quote)
Goodness..you guys really, really do not get it do you? KK, firstly, I live on the Gold Coast now and love it. I am not a violent person myself and am not threatening anybody. If you express your views in the way you have, some people from the west will be appalled…some will cause riots. Go ahead, keep on doing what you are doing….adding to the problem, inflaming the situation, causing further divisiveness.
Lets face it, elitism is not a whole lot different than racism…they are both ways of expressing that you feel you are better than the next bloke.
The very people that you rubbish in your Blog, express themselves violently….the more they are rubbished in print, the more violent they will become in a directed way…that is, towards people that live where you live…hence why I hope you have good locks etc.
FWIW, I lived in Melbourne for 30 years, born and raised in Williamstown before moving to Albert Park. I loved them both for different reasons.
August 18th, 2009 at 9:01 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
So we shouldn’t write anything negative about the knuckle draggers because they might stab us in the face. OHNOES!
What a glowing testimonial and solid reasoning. And yeah, elitism is different to racism, I didn’t target any particular race, I think the area is a hole.
August 18th, 2009 at 9:30 am Paul(Quote)
Nah, sorry, I don’t write glowing testimonials about people that attack others on the basis of where they live, inflaming an acute situation all the while hiding behind the cloak of anonymity of the internets haha.
Let’s face it, your post exposes you for what you are – just another hater.
August 18th, 2009 at 9:40 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Bit of western suburbs intellect shining through there, if you read through again you’ll see I never asked you for a testimonial about anything.
And what’s this about exposing me, what part of ‘I hate the western suburbs’ are you not getting here?
September 7th, 2009 at 6:30 pm a(Quote)
Who are you to make such racist and thoughtless accusations and conclusions. How dare you categorise everyone from the West as violent trouble makers.
I laugh in your face as it is ironic that you so boldly scrutinise the people from the West because of their lack of education, while it is you who attended St Albans TAFE i presume. There are many high academic achievers in the West with bright future prospects. So before you go bomb the West Gate Bridge or drown Footscray road (what ever way your ingenious mind may think of) go do something worthy of your life and you may get somewhere in the future.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:52 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Whilst I am dissapointed that you think so lowly of people who attend tafe, I’m sorry to say your assumption is incorrect.
I’m sure there are, and what a burden it must be knowing you will have to financially provide for the rest of your dropkick family.
You’ll note that police figures that were released to the Age showed that half the assaults occuring in the CBD, Southbank and Docklands were conducted by residents of the west and northwestern suburbs. I didn’t have to categorise anyone.
September 7th, 2009 at 11:19 pm a(Quote)
Maybe it was my first day of university in St. Albans …
High achiever you are, aren’t you.
Some families are not as priveledged as others who have everything mouth fed to them. So sorry that by working extremely hard and making a life here from stratch, with nothing left from war and conflict, that we can’t all end up in toorak living the high lifestyle.
What kind of person are you putting down people and calling their families ‘dropkick.’
Police figures don’t mean shizz to me, because even though those offenders may live in the West area, it doesn’t mean everyone one is like thaat. And yes you didn’t have to categorise, but you sure did.
Thanks for the time. I shall not waste my time with this anymore, as i know there is no win win situation. Best of luck with your simplistic and judgemental opinions in the future.
September 7th, 2009 at 11:31 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I have nothing but respect for those that rise from the ashes and make a better life for themselves by getting the hell out of the Western suburbs.
I really feel for these people and if there was a charity that rescued people from delapidated suburbs in the west I’d be donating heavily to them.
I’m glad you agree that the situation in the west is a no win-win situation, hopefully one day we can just cut the entire area off.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:47 am Vince(Quote)
This was going good, until the end, when it went off the rails.
Yes. Jail sentences are a joke these days. No. Blowing up the western suburbs is something Hitler would want to do.
For the record, I’m not from the west, but am from the outer suburbs. I like it; I can see Melbourne from the the outside looking in
some days it’s rather smoggy in the city and hard to see (yep that can also be taken literally too).
However, if I did live in the western suburbs and I had the brains and talent to be someone, I’d get the education I need and get the hell outta there.
Yes, it can be quite a scummy place to live in, and even just passing through is enough to send a shiver down your spine.
But why should people be blown up just for living there? We don’t get to choose our family, we don’t get to choose where we live (until we’re old enough to get out of there if that’s what we want), and we certainly don’t get to choose whether we’re born with a silver spoon in our mouth.
Scum is scum, regardless of what part of town you live in.
Example of someone living in the west: A violent attack on some one, and they steal their wallet. A shocking crime, I’m sure we all agree.
Example of someone not living in the west: There’s a lot of talk on here at the moment about Polaris Media Group. When you think of the people at the top of it all (the pyramid?), do you think of them as people living in the west, or inner city? Inner city, no doubt. Whilst they may not be physically attacking someone and stealing their money, they’re doing it through a scam. And not only are they doing it to just one person, they’re doing it to thousands. Another shocking crime, and some may even say that’s worse than attacking and robbing one person.
Should we therefore blow up the inner suburbs because of these non-physical attacks on innocent people?
My point here is, don’t be so quick to judge and label people simply by the location they live in. Saying we should blow up the western suburbs only adds fuel to the fire.
As much as I love your work here, OzSoapbox, the sentence suggesting that if there were a charity that rescued people from dilapidated suburbs then you would donate, is something I doubt you’d hear someone from the outer suburbs suggest. And to me, that shows a level of ignorance, in my opinion (going by my interpretation of that sentence).
People don’t need to be “rescued”, people need to be educated. Unfortunately, that’s not possible with everyone. And even many who are educated still turn out to be scum by committing various crimes, including, but not limited to, ripping of many thousands of people.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:03 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
To be fair I never actually suggested we blow up the Western suburbs, just the Westgate bridge and Footscray road (or the Docklands Highway as it’s now known as).
I agree education would help immensely, I recently read that police went around rounding up students who were wagging school.
Perhaps we could introduce something like this into Melbourne’s west. Sure it might take a few generations to actually have any effect but it’s a start.
Most adults living in the west are sadly already a lost cause.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:24 am Vince(Quote)
I’ve seen it first-hand, and not just in the west.
You walk in, and the house smells like one massive bong, and a 2-year-old running around, and you think, “what chance has this kid got with parents like these?”. And you can only hope that the kid still has enough braincells by the time they’re 18 to get far far away from there and become someone.
It’s sad but it’s true.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:55 pm Claudine(Quote)
I hesitated adding to this discussion. I have lived many years in the Western suburbs. I, and my partner are university educated and we happen to have two QCs as neighbours. What puzzles me is how you (blogger) claim to be educated yet you display such astounding ignorance. Perhaps you haven’t lived much of a life. Have you ever heard of ‘emotional intelligence’. As you are so clever you probably have. However it seems that you don’t seem to posess any. I’m appalled, and shall never read your hate- filled ignorant tripe again. Kind Regards, Happy Westie
September 8th, 2009 at 11:03 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Hi Claudine, don’t mistake the abundance of legal professionals living in the western suburbs as a sign of ‘emotional intelligence’.
If your entire client base resides in a few suburbs to the west doesn’t it make sense to live closer to where the work is? With the western suburbs pumping out more criminals then Victoria can jail it only makes sense that there’d be more then a few lawyers floating around.
Thanks for stopping by.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:17 am Steve(Quote)
“That’s a generalisation” are three words that I really hate to hear. There are places I won’t go, things I won’t do, as I would anticipate a non-negligable risk if I did so. I’m sure there are truly lovely people in that dodgy neighbourhood I’m avoiding, but that’s not going to suddenly make me want to go there.
I mean, are people so dense that they can’t automatically intuit when someone is making a generalisation, rather than requiring everyone to add a disclaimer that they don’t wish to offend the exceptioins to the rule?
Are we all also so uptight that we can’t consider the possibility that people writing articles like the above say what they say out of exasperation, making use of this wonderful tool known as “literary license” to emphasise their point/opinion?
I appreciate seeing people call a spade a spade, and this would never happen if we catered to the thin skinned exceptions to the rule. If you can’t tell that you’re the exception to the rule, then perhaps you’re not.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:24 pm M(Quote)
Having grown up in the western suburbs, born to one parent who grew up in St Albans (and yes, an “immigrant” mother – she’s from the UK, how ethnic!), we were desperate to get out, to move to the leafy wonderous PERFECT eastern suburbs, but after 6 months in Hawthorn we instantly moved back. Why?
It was filled with wankers. Absolute wankers. Recently in the East I saw empty toothpaste containers hanging from string for $4,000. I’m not joking. There have been COUNTLESS times that I have been judged for where I’ve come from (and refused service in a swanky eastern store), countless times my parents have been asked why we don’t move to Kew when we could easily afford it, and the simple reason is the people.
Mansions and wide leafy roads are useless when your neighbours and the people around you are absolute wankers who sympathise with the refugees yet lock their Mercedes as they drive past groups of ‘ethnic youths’ (“tsk, those Islanders are just BORN evil!”) My mother was sick of being assumed to be my ‘nanny’ at the prestigious school that I was awarded a scholarship for, and my father was sick of dealing with the pretentiousness of people who pay $4,000 for EMPTY TOOTHPASTE TUBES.
In short, I’d much rather the honesty and the ability of us Westerners to laugh at ourselves than the fair-trade coffee sipping, “designer clothes matched with a kitsch headband from a bizarre little western shop” wearing, Turnbull-voting Easterners.
I hope you’re enjoying your St Albans TAFE education, I’m enjoying mine at Victoria’s most prestigious university.
Seriously, $4,000 for empty toothpaste tubes. Try finding THAT in the West!
PS – Ever think the reason you were set upon in the western suburbs was because of where YOU live? I’d imagine if you had you’d have been outraged. Don’t worry – we can spot a Tooraker a mile away, the way they keep their hands over their phones in the pockets and are constantly looking over their shoulder.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:30 pm M(Quote)
BY THE WAY – the case involving Aaron Toal was in Forest Hill (Melbourne’s EAST), surely with the abundance of violent crime you could possible have found another example from the West?
September 16th, 2009 at 10:38 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ah western suburbs people who think getting rent assistance on top of their centrelink payment makes them rich and affluent. You’re adorable.
Yes we’ve already established I didn’t go to tafe in St. Albans, do try to keep up.
Finding any toothpaste in the west might be a challenge. From my experiences on the Sydenham trainline you guys by and large haven’t heard of personal hygene.
I don’t particularly care why I was set upon but are you suggesting it’s because I don’t look like I’ve just got off a boat from somewhere? Either way there’s no justification for it.
I probably could have but I used his particular case due to the utter lack of effectiveness the courts showed in it. Fortunately our courts don’t discriminate which side of the CBD you live on and are equally ineffective at sentencing crims from both sides.
September 21st, 2009 at 1:26 pm Rachel(Quote)
Ozsoapbox,
I’m so disappointed! I’ve been reading your articles and insights with enjoyment and enthusiasm… until now.
Wyndham city (including Werribee and Hoppers Crossing) has over 140,000 residents. You have decided, based on where these people graphically reside, what type of people they are.
Recently, a man was uncovered for alledgedly abusing his daughter in Moe; does that make every male in Moe a paedophile?
I’m not disagreeing for a second that people do silly, crazy and terrible things. There are people that live in Werribee that do silly things, as do people in South Yarra, Narre Warren and every other corner of Melbourne.
I have lived in the western suburbs for a long time (never been attacked, robbed or even felt remotely threatened), but this is not the reason for the post. To read an article where you call me trash “lower socio-economic uneducated dropkicks” (as I must be for living in this part of Melbourne) is beyond ridiculous. As you yourself say, “I don’t know what it is specifically about the western suburbs that gets my back up but for the longest time I can remember, I’ve hated the place”…. hmm, great reasoning.
Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but try not to tar everyone with the same brush. I am a Melbourne university educated professional, with great neighbours (also university educated) and I have no desire to leave my local neighbourhood. I can get to the city with 25mins off peak and I don’t pay exhorbitant housing prices.
p.s. I’m sure you’ll respond with a smart-alec inflammatory reply – understandable – you want people to keep reading your “insights”.
September 21st, 2009 at 1:55 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Hey Rachel. I’m glad you’ve been enjoying some of the stuff here but you’re not going to agree with everything!
If you’ve made a life for yourself in the western suburbs and aren’t a dropkick then great, the west needs more people like you.
In my experience however by and large the majority of people I’ve come into contact there are hopeless.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm Lucas(Quote)
Vik and her partner have a lovely list of academic accomplishments, but her defensive response is characteristic of many people who just don’t get it! The lack of education at the heart of this problem is unrelated to formal academics at any level. You don’t learn to respect others by scoring marks in class. You don’t learn to live within reasonable social constraints by receiving certificates. You don’t learn that gratuitous violence is a gross violation of a person’s civic rights, by attaining an average of 85%!
The way that a person does learn to live without treating innocent people like vermin is surely complex, if we are considering the problem from first principles. The vision of the disgusting assault at Sunshine reveals the blasé reaction of the offenders to the awful effects that they have caused for their victim, to the extent of doubling over in laughter during the assault. Bearing in mind that the individuals concerned are not small children and have surely already acquired some set of personal values, it is significant that they simply do not care about the pain they are causing, and find debilitating injuries inflicted by cowardly group-attack to be highly entertaining.
It may be that some people cannot be re-trained to think differently about the rights of others. I do not understand why this possibility is not reflected by the application of criminal sanctions far more severe than we see in this case. In my opinion, this assault should have resulted in prison terms measured in years instead of months.
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm Victorian matt(Quote)
Like many have posted already, sentences for brutal bashing’s are not strict enough. The poor man in the link probably spent more time in rehabilitation then the perpetrators spend in jail or a re-correction center. Although I am still young and not as wise as most, I believe that condemning one area is the way to go about securing your streets. I grew up in the eastern suburbs near Pakenham and like you OZ, I to have more then enough stories to tell of drop kicks brutally harming others for no apparent reason or harassing me as I walk to the local taxi ring on my way home from a night out or even stalking people until they are by themselves or vastly out numbered then attacking them, they don’t take any money, watches or personal belongings. These thugs are just there to do serious harm.
I now live in Geelong as I am currently attending University, but cannot understand your argument of “let educate all of them”. If you didn’t notice education is not cheap. I come from a family that supports me as best they can and I still have to have a part time job, and I still need some financial assistance from the government and I am finding it hard to scrape my funds together to pay for my last residence fees at university. I cannot apply for a scholarship because guess what, I come from the Eastern suburbs, your views on where the problem are a little bit misdirected your only taking into account your personal experiences and adding to the flame instead how about we come up with and solution (a solution that doesn’t involve blowing something up). I think it was work of theorist named Lukes (don’t quote me I am not 100% sure), but he did some work on power the 1970s and part of his work was to make prisons behave. He suggested have there cells lined up in front of 2 way mirrors. That way the prisoners would never really know when they where being watched so they wouldn’t dear misbehave. The same idea can be implemented in the CBD in the forms of CCTV, if people believe that they are being watched do you think that they will still behave in the same manner?
Thanks for reading I hope I spoke correctly and if I offended it wasn’t my intention….peace
October 2nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Thats your problem right there, university accommodation is always ridiculously priced.
With HECS and government welfare anyone should be able to afford study. You’d save a bucket if you moved into a share house in Geelong (having said that I don’t know how far out of Geelong your uni might be but I imagine there’s some form of public transport).
Education is ridiculously cheap in this country, that’s why it’s so underappreciated.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:29 pm Alex(Quote)
Ok everyone, i live in the western/northwestern suburbs and i have lived here all my life, and i HAVE to say that its not as bad as people make it out to be. Just come and live here, and send your kids to school here and get a job here, then you’ll know about what the western suburbs is like. Ive seen more crime in the southeastern suburbs then in Sunshine!
October 28th, 2009 at 5:36 pm N(Quote)
I am 19 and have lived in the heart of the western suburbs my whole life.
I am not the smartest kid in the classrom and have done things im not proud of, ill admit that much. However, the decision i have made and the people i have met is what has made me who i am today and i would not change that for anything.
it amazes me how intelligent, educated and just plain street smart some people are. my teachers for example, they are the reason i will receive my Diplomas and head off to Uni next year with goals.
The point im trying to make is, one day i would like to possess the same level of intelligence as my teachers and use it to help others as they helped me. It annoys me when i see people that posses the knowledge to bring upon a positive change, yet do nothing but write articulate BS on the internet and add fuel to an already blazing fire.
If the western suburbs have taught me anything, it is this.”You don’t have to be better than everybody else, you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.” and you are a prime example of someone who gets their kicks by complaining about how much better than everyone else you are.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm MrWesternSuburbs(Quote)
Well, the people on here discriminating against the west, if you people are SO much more intelligent and much more civil, then why is it that your on a website bad mouthing a place it’s clear you know nothing about except what rumors you have heard from other people. I guess it is rather sad, on your behalf. The west is actually building up and moving forward in the future, while the “problematic” people are being pushed further out.
I suggest you all take a walk around the west before you make your pathetic assumptions, while many of you from the east and south had families who were hand fed from day one. We over here came as immigrants, asylum seekers and such. If you were so EDUCATED, you would know this and probably would have an intelligent view on this. I’m not some 45 year old, I’m a 20 year old who happens to live in one of the most disadvantaged suburbs (Braybrook) and my statistics would be much more accurate than your pathetic ideology of the WESTERN SUBURBS.
December 12th, 2009 at 10:17 am Caroline(Quote)
“I don’t know what it is specifically about the western suburbs that gets my back up but for the longest time I can remember, I’ve hated the place.”
Then don’t go there. It would seem that the most logical thing one can say about this whole post and subsequent comments is that is it you, the blogger with the issue, not the western suburbs or their inhabitants.
And for the record, if you are going to speak in generalisations as you have it may be of benefit to you to take a drive to the eastern suburbs and write description of the people you see there. Particularly please visit Narre Warren, Pakenham and Cranbourne.
I live in a beautiful house, 22kms from the city that was affordable – I was living in Armadale (moved there for uni – actually from Kings Park) and for the money spent on our three bedroom house on good sized block we could have bought a one bedroom apartment in Armadale. We will be mortgage free in roughly 7 years. By that time we may or may not choose to have children who (if we do have children) will be educated in world class schools. Yearly overseas holidays are the norm for us and our friends and we regularly enjoy eating out in the many restaurants nearby.
But please, I am not trying to convince you that your opinions about the western suburbs are misguided. In fact I encourage you to preach your ideas to all and sundry. I’d hate to see the western suburbs overrun with inconsiderate, arrogant, irrational, uneducated (St Albans VU? Please!), liberal voting turds such as yourself.
January 4th, 2010 at
[...] suburbs in Australia are by and large full of trash. We keep our uneducated poor bogans there and mix it up with large clusters of immigrants in public [...]
January 21st, 2010 at 2:21 am Andi(Quote)
Omg I’m so scarred now! I’m moving from Perth and now gonna reside in Sunshine!!! Bit scarred!
oops make it moving to Sunshine West, is it any better?!
January 21st, 2010 at 6:52 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Mate the only place worse then Sunshine is west Sunshine.
I’d sell all your valuables and if you see a group of any ethnicity heading towards you drop your phone and wallet and RUN!
What did you do to deserve this punishment?
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:08 am N(Quote)
no matter how many times i read this article and the comments that follow, for some strange reason i get so worked up. i usually don’t care what other people think and even thought its all because of where i live, i tend to prefer being underestimated, it motivates me. honestly, if even i lived right next door to you, id still think you are the most naive and egotistical, moron that iv’e come across in a long time.
you cant fill a glass that’s already full, even if it is with junk. so no point arguing with you, i guess it just feels good to vent.
January 31st, 2010 at 2:25 pm Matt(Quote)
I live in the western subs of melb in a suburb called keilor i am a multi-millionair and i would not move from here as i have been to the other side of the city and people drive around in C180′s and think they are gods gift to earth> come on guys really now just because you live 20klm from toorak does not mean that you are rich grow up and stop trying to be something you are not.
Also as for the person that lives in St Kilda sorry to burst your bubble but it is a hole like you say st.albans is bad it is like st.albans but with cafe’s and some water (trash all over the place)
So take a good look around before making comments!
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:28 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Well how noble of you. Must be nice being top dog on the block amongst your uneducated criminal subjects.
I think comparing St. Albans to St. Kilda is a bit of a stretch. At least St Kilda’s trash can be cleaned up… in the western suburbs the trash lying around is the people themselves.
February 23rd, 2010 at
[...] shown Footscray and St. Albans railway stations but presumably not before security had cleared out the western suburbs trash that loiter there [...]
February 24th, 2010 at 9:41 am Vicki(Quote)
1. Hate should trouble us all!
2. Pakenham is a hole, substantiated by the ridiculously cheap house prices
3. I live 9km from the CBD, it takes me 35 minutes (via transport) to get to my well paid job thanks to my Melbourne University Double Degree. How far is Pakenham anyway? Oh that’s right, it’s on the outskirts of Melbourne, 40 odd kms from the CBD. What’s that, 75 minutes on a train? How often would a person that lives that far out even visit the CBD to be disturbed by trashy Western suburbs people?!?
4. Stop riding on the upper class Eastern suburbs, Pakenham cannot even compare to Toorak. Same goes for the majority of Eastern suburbs. People with $2 million homes in Camberwell must just love being compared to the “other” Eastern suburbs
5. I think you need more than 10 books in your household if the best you can achieve is St.Albans Tafe.
6. Learn to resolve issues without the need to blow up bridges and roads. If that is your solution, you’re preaching in the wrong country. Last I checked, terrorism is frowned upon in Australia.
7. Creating a ghetto reminiscent of the Jewish ghettos in Poland, is that another of solution of yours? Building a wall around the Western suburbs so that we do not pollute you? Surely that is what you are suggesting by blowing up roads and bridges that provide the West access to the CBD.
8. Did you ever stop to think that society needs lower class individuals in order to do the jobs the rest of us don’t want to do?
9. The person that needs more of an education is yourself. Perhaps if you ventured out of the Pakenham CBD and experienced the world you may be able to form a more educated opinion not fuelled by hate. No society is without troubled areas.
10. And finally if you are so concerned with trashy uneducated people why don’t you do something to help? I am a big sister to a child from Sunshine who has a junkie Aussie mother (no an immigrant as you suggest) and after 3 years of hard work I am seeing positive changes. Her speech has improved, her grades have markedly improved and she sees education as the key to a better future.
Instead of being disgusted by people in this situation, you should feel for them and want to help. It is a cycle. Until someone offers their help, the cycle will just keep on going.
Stop berating and do something useful rather than sharing your ignorant and idiotic propaganda. Melbourne is a city built on diversity. Stick to the Pakenham CBD!
February 24th, 2010 at 5:32 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I’m not really sure why you’re so eager to bash Pakenham… I too think it’s just as much of a hole as most of the western suburbs. I would however feel more safer walking through there then most of the west on a Friday/Saturday night though.
Agreed. I won’t personally reply to points 3-6 as you seem to have it in for Pakenham, which as a suburb I don’t really care about.
Terrorism is certainly frowned upon but blowing up the Westgate is simply humanitarism. Sparing the rest of us living in Melbourne from having to intermingle with the dropkicks in the west is an act of kindness.
Out of sight out of mind.
At this point I’ll invoke Godwin’s law. Whilst the Polish ghettos were for a ethnic group of people, I don’t really care what ethnicity the people are in the western suburbs.
After the wall is built you lot can drag race your commodores, stab eachother on the way to work and run around in your trackie dacks and Kappa jumpsuits as much as you want.
Sure I did. Somebody has to do those jobs but that doesn’t mean I want to socialise with them either. Do your job and then go home… stop ruining life for the rest of us.
I’m glad things seem to be working out for her. Has the mother gone off to jail yet for elicit drug use? I acknowledge that someone has to pick up the pieces but I’d rather focus my efforts on preventing trash like this from breeding in the first place.
She probably spent the entire baby bonus and associated payments on drugs.
March 30th, 2010 at 4:12 pm Andrew Curr(Quote)
I know that this is just a fishing line thrown out by the writer to see who will bite, but I was brought up in the west and lived in Hoppers Crossing for many years. There are just as many “bogans” and “Lower class” people on the other side of the bridge, as I worked there for years.
Try living in parts of Brisbane or Sydney for a while and you would be happy to move back to the western subs of Melbourne. Just because you may have been ripped off by a German prestige car company or paid an arm and a leg for a big mansion in Kew, doesn’t make you any better than folks from the west.
March 30th, 2010 at 4:23 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
There might be but we’ve dispensed them all to the outer edges of suburbia. We don’t have to deal with them and they’re free to rob, assault and interbreed with eachother leaving the rest of inner east Melbourne alone.
The problem with the west is you hit bogan trash after literally 5 minutes of driving. Proximity wise the western suburbs trash is far closer to the CBD, more widespread and this in turn makes the CBD more accessible to them.
That and they’re everywhere. We have some nice suburbs in the east that are bogan free meanwhile every suburb in the west is tainted with a good percentage of trash.
April 12th, 2010 at 11:30 pm Kain(Quote)
I have said this for a while – I do not consider the Western suburbs to be a part of Melbourne. Fence them off and nuke them, period.
April 25th, 2010 at 9:09 pm Maria(Quote)
My my my, you self centered, stuck up, pretentious little sod…I would like to ask you one question. Who the hell do you think you are???
I was born and bred in the Western Suburbs as was my husbands (FYI we have million dollar houses in the west also), but when we decided to move out of our family homes and set up our own abode we did decide to move out of the Western Suburbs to be closer to our jobs..
We moved to a quiet leafy street in South Yarra or so we thought…In the 20 years I lived with my parents my mother had to park her car out in the street so my fathers car could be in the garage not once was it ever touch.. Within 3 months of moving to your so called safe beautiful streets of a very affluent suburb my $25,000 car was totally trashed all 6 windows smashed all panels kicked in, by a group of stuck up little sods(just like yourself who think of nobody but themselves) from Melbourne Boys Grammer…
How proud were there parents…
Both my husband and myself are educated and we both own and operate successful businesses…I guess the biggest difference between yourself and us is that we weren’t spoon fee, our parents did not raise us to believe that just because we have something nicer than the next person that we have the right to judge them and treat them with disrespect.
My parents raised me to believe that everyone is equal and deserves to be treated equally irregardless of economic stature… You just need to get you head out of your ass and start to seeing the problem for what it really is…If the state and federal government put as much financial backing behind the western suburbs as the did in the eastern, if they provided equal funding for the schools in the west as they do for the east maybe there would not be such a huge division in education level.
Maybe then there wouldn’t be children falling behind at school growing into teens with self esteem issues wanting to take their frustration out on the state that has done wrong by them…. Stop making this a demographic issue as demographics has absolutely nothing to do with it….
PLEASE DON’T EVER FORGET YOU HAVE FRANGA THE STATES THONG WEARING, I AM GOING TO HAVE A BABY JUST TO GET A CENTRELINK BENEFIT, AND SPRINGVALE THE STATES DRUG CAPITAL. and not to mention that at least 90% of the states underworld figures live in the East…Lovely suburbs…
Fuck I wonder why I haven’t moved there yet?????
April 27th, 2010 at 3:22 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
So, because your car got trashed by some private school boys that means everybody who lives in the inner east is a ‘spoon fe (sic)’ inheritance brat with entitlement issues?
Wow way to counter my stereotype of western suburbs trash with… another stereotype. That’s convincing!
How did you know it was students from the school that trashed the car? Was there video footage or did you witness the vandalism yourself? If so why wasn’t the school notified and/or the police?
Chapel street gets quite a lot of bogan trash from the western suburbs (and far east) doing Chap laps on a Friday and Saturday night. If you didn’t see anyone or have any recorded footage it could just have easily have been some drunk randoms.
As for education in the west, I think at a primary and secondary level it’s probably a lost cause for now. The government’s probably better off offering scholarships to the top students to get them educated elsewhere. Ratio wise there’s just too many knuckledraggers in the western suburbs school system ready to drag everyone else down.
Frankston is borderline Melbourne, let alone anywhere near the inner east. The problem with Melbourne’s western suburbs is that you get trash the second you cross the westgate or pass the Docklands. Out east you’ve actually got to travel into remote suburbia before you run into trouble.
At least all the crap that happens in Frankston and Springvale stays there. It’s not like they’re invading Melbourne CBD looking for fights (I’m sure some are but it’s nothing in comparison to the west).
This recent news article just about sums up Melbourne’s western suburbs:
Boo hoo, Centrelink doesn’t pay enough for me to buy nice things… so I’ll go trash somebody else’s house in the name of Sunshine. Gang respekt yo.Yay for the western suburbs!
May 16th, 2010 at 4:34 pm Matt(Quote)
Many Criminals living in the West don’t need an education they require an execution. Such as those Sudanese scumbags who bashed that poor Aussie at Sunshine station.
Over-educated, Private School, Homo-Sexual, Left-Wing Extremeist Judges are the problem in Victoria. We can afford to bring back the Death Penalty, as we have far too many unemployable scumbags living in this country.
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:53 pm Sally(Quote)
I moved from Highton to Footscray and have never regretted it! The people are friendly, interesting and intelligent. It is a community, not a bunch of individualist snobs who complain about EVERYTHING!
A kid rolled his eyes at you….. dittems. Get over it. Bore.
June 4th, 2010 at 6:33 pm Sam(Quote)
Yeah definitely need to bring back death penalty
clean out the west
make the future a brighter place to be
July 2nd, 2010 at
[...] the sun goes down there’s more then a few areas out in the western suburb wastelands of Melbourne that you couldn’t pay me to walk through. The apex of which is probably Sunshine [...]
July 3rd, 2010 at
[...] one reasons could be that the western suburbs, let alone St Albans are the cesspools of Melbourne. Home to some of the scummiest people in Australia, people running around shooting, robbing, [...]
July 16th, 2010 at 8:41 pm steve(Quote)
Mate you seriously need to get over yourself big time.I can’t imagine what your dinner parties are like;sitting around in “Smugville”talking to all of your educated associates about all of the “Bogans” that exist outside of your own delusional headspace!
You would have to be one of the most narrow minded,insecure jerks on the planet. Obviuosly you compensate for your own inadequacies by denigrating the populace of many of Australia’s most culturally diverse and interesting cities.
I actually live in Sydney in one of the Western suburbs,I have travelled around the world and I am educated.I live in the Western suburbs because I can afford a nice house .
I have associated with people from all walks of life and I am thankful that not all people that live in the more affluent suburbs are as narrow minded as you.
Maybe someday you will come to see the error of your ways and realise that “Thou shalt not judge ,lest shall ye be judged”!
Also please be so humble to admit that you are wrong when you are met with many of the intelligent replies that come from the Western suburbs.
Best regards Steve.
July 17th, 2010 at 1:33 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
As opposed to sitting around the open oil drum in our flanny shirts and moccasins discussing why it’s a good idea that Shazza to marry her first cousin Bazza and who’s house we should rob to get them a wedding gift?
Cities? Who said anything about denigrating an entire city? My beef is with the trash living out in the west of Melbourne.
Well that’s nice, but the article was about Melbourne. From what I understand Sydney’s west is pretty much a belt of habibs from the middle east closer to the city and then redneck bogan town the further you get out. Hardly culuturally diverse and definitely not somewhere I want to live.
Fact: Every shooting in Australia can be linked back to Sydney’s western suburbs in six degrees or less.
No thanks, you can keep your religious views to yourself.
I’ll keep that in mind for when I see one. Till then…
August 15th, 2010 at 3:45 pm Bogan and proud(Quote)
Yes, seal off the western suburbs from the eastern suburbs. But it’s your turn to receive all the migrants and refugees that many of you NIMBYs over there advocate, since they’re good for YOUR economy. Don’t let your community resident groups stand in the way of that.
And what would happen if your private school brats didn’t have poorer people to ‘bounce off’ to shore their egos? They might have to resort to torturing animals instead.
August 15th, 2010 at 4:08 pm Bogan and proud(Quote)
And remember that there are scum who live in the leafier suburbs who have made quite a pleasant living out of being scum. They’re the ones you should keep an eye on given that they tend to fly under ‘bogan’ radars. A dog wearing a flashy suit and a gold watch is still a dog in any shape or form.
So then how does one really define class?
August 15th, 2010 at 7:50 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I don’t see why after sealing off the west we can’t just continue to dump all the uneducated imports over there and keep the educated ones.
The west is a Labor safehaven might I remind you… as far as I’m concerned Labor can’t prop up the door wide enough when it comes to letting uneducated riff raff into Australia.
Firstly what are poor people’s children doing in private schools?!
Secondly there’ll always be poor people around to kick about… locking off the west just means we won’t have to deal with the more socially maladjusted of them.
If they’re behaving then I don’t really have a problem with them. I imagine if they start acting like their suburbian cousins however they’d get booted out quick smart.
August 17th, 2010 at
[...] attention to the initial reports of his death. Some guy I’ve never heard of died in one of Melbourne’s trashy western suburbs gets a big yawn from me and it’s onto the next news [...]