Cr Martin John Taylor, Councillor & Former Mayor for the City of Whittlesea

As your Councillor, I will continue leading from the front on community safety by raising and writing about the hard issues, demanding practical action, and helping residents understand how to reduce their crime risk before crime becomes their reality.

Real leadership is not waiting for crime harm to happen, it is acting early, standing up, and helping build a safer community.

The time to prevent crime is before the crime damage is done, not after families, homes, and communities have paid the price.

Until next time “Stay Safe.”

I love walking around South Morang early in the morning.

There is something powerful about the stillness, the fresh air, the soft light, the trees, the water, and the quiet streets before the day begins.

For me, it is more than just a walk. It is a moment to breathe, reset, think clearly, and appreciate the beauty of the place we call home.

Some mornings, South Morang does not just feel like a suburb.

It feels like living inside an oil painting.

What an outstanding night of generosity, celebration, and community spirit.

I recently had the great pleasure of attending the Community Gala Dinner in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

This was a self-funded black tie event of outstanding proportions, with 750 people coming together to support a truly important cause.

The room was filled with business leaders, sporting stars, celebrities, Councillors, former Mayors, sponsors, volunteers, performers, and community champions, all united by a shared commitment to helping others and making a meaningful difference.

The evening was superbly organised. The silent auction, the magnificent band, the energy of Romina’s Dancers, and the brilliant comedy of Darren Carr made it a night to remember.

It was also a privilege to engage with so many people throughout the evening, including Mr Mark Watt, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters, Cr Oscar Yildiz, Cr Christine Stow, the Deputy Mayor of Banyule Council Cr Rick Garotti, and many other committed community leaders and former Mayors.

I thoroughly enjoyed every conversation, every connection, and every moment of the night.

My sincere thanks to Cr Oscar Yildiz, organisers, sponsors, volunteers, performers, and everyone who made this event such a powerful success.

This is what community looks like when people come together with purpose, generosity, and heart.

A powerful day for innovation, sustainability, and local business in the City of Whittlesea.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Melbourne’s North Circular Economy Summit at Plenty Ranges Arts and Convention Centre in South Morang, delivered by NORTH Link and the City of Whittlesea.

As your Councillor for the City of Whittlesea and the South Morang Ward, it was exciting to see business leaders, industry experts, innovators, exhibitors, and local decision makers come together with one clear focus: turning waste into opportunity.

This was a summit about action, ideas, industry, and the future.

I learnt so much from visiting, talking and engaging with each of the exhibitors and many of the people attending the conference. I also look forward to visiting the local businesses that invited me to attend their factories and workplaces, so I can see firsthand the innovation, technology, and practical solutions already being undertaken across our great City of Whittlesea.

The circular economy is not just about waste, it is about jobs, it’s about innovation, resilience and sustainability. Most importantly, it is about building a cleaner, smarter, stronger City of Whittlesea for generations to come.

As your Councillor for the City of Whittlesea and as a Board Member of Yarra Plenty Regional Library, I had the magnificent honour this week of taking part in National Simultaneous Storytime at the Mill Park Library for the second year and what a wonderful celebration of reading, imagination, learning, and community it was.

National Simultaneous Storytime is an annual literacy event held across Australia and New Zealand, where the same children’s book by an Australian or New Zealand author is read at the same time in libraries, schools, preschools, childcare centres etc.

This year, I had the great privilege of reading ‘Luna Roo’ to around 50 mums and their children. I must admit, reading to such a happy, bright, and energetic audience was a little daunting, but it was also an absolute joy.

I was also pleased to be joined by YPRL CEO Nicole Rudden and the outstanding Mill Park Library team. The facilities at Mill Park Library are truly excellent, and I strongly encourage everyone in our community to visit, participate, and make the most of everything on offer.

A library in the 21st century is far more than just books. It is learning, connection, imagination, community, and opportunity.

See you there.

Vehicle theft is changing, and we must stay ahead of it.

As your Councillor, I am continually hear serious concerns from residents, businesses, and community members about offenders using electronic scanning devices to target vehicles across our community.

This is not ordinary car theft. This is a serious and evolving form of vehicle crime where offenders use electronic devices to clone, relay, or interfere with a vehicle’s remote access code, unlock the vehicle, and attempt to steal it.

These offences are occurring in shopping centre car parks, residential streets, driveways, public train station parking areas, and new car yards. Larger car parks and new vehicle car yards are attractive targets because there are multiple vehicles, limited supervision, and quick escape routes.

That is why community safety must be practical, informed, and prevention focused.

Target hardening matters. It means making your vehicle harder to steal, harder to access, harder to move, and less attractive to offenders. This can include using signal blocking protection for your keys, parking in visible and well lit areas, checking your vehicle is locked, using visible steering locks, and installing an OBD lock to help prevent unlawful key programming.

No prevention measure can guarantee crime will not occur, but every practical step can reduce crime opportunity, increase risk for offenders, and make your vehicle a harder target.

Vehicle theft is not just the loss of a car. It affects families, workers, business owners, insurance costs, personal safety, and community confidence. For many people, their vehicle is essential for work, school, medical appointments, caring responsibilities, and daily life.

As your Councillor, I will continue to write about, stand up, speak out, and advocate strongly for a safer community and community safety across South Morang and the City of Whittlesea.

That means improved reporting, stronger prevention, better public awareness, and coordinated action against the real crime affecting our residents, families, businesses, workers, and local neighbourhoods.

Community safety requires leadership, action, and persistence, and I will continue to provide that leadership because our residents, families, workers, businesses, and local neighbourhoods deserve to feel safe.

I will keep raising these issues.

I will keep pushing for practical responses.

I will keep advocating for the safety, confidence, and wellbeing of our community.

Because enough is enough.

Crime has no place in South Morang or in our great City of Whittlesea.

I was honoured to be interviewed by Waste Management Review, a highly respected national publication, on environmental crime, illegal rubbish dumping, and the urgent need to treat waste crime with the seriousness it deserves.

In the article, I discussed the legal, investigative, and enforcement challenges surrounding illegal rubbish dumping across Australia, and the need for stronger, more coordinated, and more intelligence led enforcement responses.

I also speak about the formation of Tri-Council Waste Management Task Forces as a practical and targeted model for councils to work together, share intelligence, pool investigative capability and costs, identify repeat offending patterns, target illegal dumping hotspots and offenders, and more effectively disrupt serious and organised crime.

I suggest that these task forces would require more sophisticated enforcement capability, including stronger intelligence sharing, AI driven surveillance options, geospatial analysis, greater investigative capability and enforcement pathways, and a firm understanding that illegal dumping should be treated and investigated as an environmental crime scene.

I also have sought to place a modern legal, investigative, intelligence led, and enforcement focused lens over this escalating environmental crime problem, with the aim of supporting the formation of national standards for the investigation, enforcement, disruption, and prevention of illegal rubbish dumping across all Australian jurisdictions.

If implemented effectively, I suggest that this approach has the potential to deliver substantial savings for councils and ratepayers, while strengthening environmental protection, improving enforcement outcomes, and sending a message that illegal dumping will not be treated as a minor waste issue. The article can be read at Click here to read more: https://lnkd.in/gwxG35vj