The Star Mail’s six-week ‘Capturing the Yarra Ranges’ campaign narrowed in on the dilapidated CCTV network in the region in 2025, proving a hotbed for discussion.
The campaign, which was highly commended at the Victorian Country Press Association (VCPA) awards, saw the team hear views from a range of community members, consult experts in the field and press for answers.
The campaign began when a petition landed at the door of the Star Mail’s Healesville office in December 2024, courtesy of local resident Penelle, who had concerns due to a theft at a previous workplace and her experiences with a stalker.
After following up with Penelle in February 2025, the Star Mail found that many of the cameras, installed through grants from the Safer Communities Fund between 2013 and 2019, had gone offline in the years following.
Cameras were installed in 13 townships throughout the region at a total cost of over $1 million.
Mooroolbark Police Sergeant Cal Cunningham explained that cameras are hosted by businesses across the townships with signal boxes also installed to carry the footage back to the police station.
Sgt Cunningham said the camera network is invaluable to both live police investigations and accessing footage after the fact.
Trader and township groups were largely in favour of a well-maintained CCTV network, with supporters including the Mooroolbark Traders and Community Group, Monbulk and District Community Working Group (who have successfully maintained their cameras after taking over from the Monbulk Business Network), Millgrove Residents’ Action Group, Seville Township Group, Warburton Advancement League, Healesville Traders (who took over from the Healesville Chamber of Commerce) and the former president of the Yarra Glen Chamber of Commerce.
“There’s been requests made to the Police Minister for some money. It’s gone to council, and everything has fallen on deaf ears from everybody,” Mooroolbark Traders and Community Group president Geoff Earney said.
“The Monbulk township funds all management and upkeep of the cameras, and our traders have been an incredible support in funding to ensure that we have cameras for the safety of our community,” MADCOW Co-President Aimee te Boekhorst said.
“The War Memorial subcommittee of the township group has been trying so hard to find out what is actually going on with the funding that was originally given to have a camera go in for us and we’re still struggling to know why we can’t get any answers and why it’s taken so long,” Vice President of the Seville Township Group Sue McMurdie said.
The Seville War Memorial Committee, part of the Seville Township Group, were also disappointed by the lack of CCTV which they believed could have helped prevent the vandalism that occurred at the memorial in 2023, with an announcement of donated CCTV cameras to protect the site made in November 2025.
The owners of the IGA (Shane Wyles) and Charlie Horse Vintage Clothing store (Charlie Gaultier) in Warburton also expressed their support, while CCTV was a suggestion put forward by owner of the TerryWhite Chemmart in Wandin North Nabih Barsoum following a break in at the pharmacy in June 2024.
However CCTV does not come without its concerns, with invasion of privacy, data collection and misuse the main issues and it is important to discuss what could constitute overreach, while others wanted to see active policing prioritised.
Members of the My Place Yarra Valley group (MPYV), the community group which shut down Yarra Ranges Council meetings in 2024 in their opposition to the concept of ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’, are sceptical of global and local governance, 5G mobile connectivity and CCTV and digital surveillance.
“A ‘smart city’ designed for safety, convenience and efficiency could be exploited for total surveillance of every citizen’s movements, interactions, and behaviours, potentially used to silence critics or control public opinion,” founder of MPYV Belinda Modesti said.
“There’s no police in town from Friday to Sunday, I like that there’s concern about the rate of crime in town but without proper policing, not even a car cruising around, I don’t think cameras will do what people want them to,” Healesville resident and owner of The Mare Coffee Company James Lee said.
Former Star Mail journalist Andrew Kwon also shared his thoughts on CCTV through the lens of his experience growing up in South Korea, which has an extensive public CCTV network as well as installs cameras in cars.
“A Korean was exposed to CCTV cameras at least 24 times a day on average… I looked up the number again to write this column and found out the number increased to 98 times for people in their 30s and 40s per day on average in 2021,” he said.
Griffith University lecturer in criminology and criminal justice Dr Ausma Bernot detailed the “privacy paradox”, a disconnect between what communities want, like that of the Yarra Ranges, and the use and need for effective law enforcement.
“A good place to start is with transparency. So, for instance, how many cameras are we installing? Law enforcement might not want to say where those cameras are for investigatory purposes, but it’s good to say how many cameras are maintained,” Dr Bernot said.
Research manager at the Australian Institute of Criminology Anthony Morgan co-authored the research article ‘Does CCTV Help Police Solve Crime’ which found that while whether CCTV helps to solve crime is hard to determine, it can be highly valuable.
“We know that nine in 10 investigators reported using the footage when it was available… and two-thirds said they were able to use it for the reason that they’d actually requested the footage,” he said.
The Labor, Liberal (eventual winner Aaron Violi), Greens and Independent candidates for the seat of Casey all expressed support for a return of the CCTV network in some form ahead of the election, while state MPs Cindy McLeish and Bridget Vallence also backed CCTV in their communities.
After many conversations, the Star Mail team weighed up potential solutions.
As a State Government entity, Victoria Police would be unable to manage any funds or grants to operate the CCTV system.
The Federal Government provided the initial funding to install the cameras but don’t have the scope to manage them, while the state advocates for partnerships between all three levels of government.
Some more sleuthing and inquiries from the Star Mail found that 55 of Victoria’s 79 councils operated public CCTV in some capacity, ranging from extensive networks to small-systems targeting key locations.
Setting on Yarra Ranges Council as the most appropriate authority to manage a CCTV network in the region, the council was non-committal.
Yarra Ranges Council chief executive officer Tammi Rose said it was not possible for the council to fund the CCTV network.
“In a financially constrained environment and during a cost of living crisis, the high cost of maintaining and replacing public CCTV cameras would mean either a reduction of services elsewhere, or ratepayers would find the increased cost reflected in their rates,” she said.
The little remaining funding provided to the Yarra Ranges Safety Camera Network group, set up to manage the network, concluded at the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
