Graffiti delays expose gaps between council and state agencies

The City of Melbourne has acknowledged that graffiti on key city assets can remain in place for months while it continues trying to negotiate faster and more consistent removal arrangements with state authorities.

The issue was again raised at the August 4 Future Melbourne Committee meeting by Southbank Residents’ Association president Tony Penna, who questioned why some prominent graffiti could be removed quickly while tagging on other assets lingered.

Mr Penna pointed to the recent removal of the giant Pam the Bird image from the Bolte Bridge, contrasting it with graffiti at Banana Alley, Flinders Street Station and the underpasses near Rebecca Walk.

“If you spray a bird on the Bolte Bridge, it is removed within a few weeks,” he said.

“How is it that a bird can be removed within a few weeks, yet the city can’t have a tag removed from Banana Alley vaults, Flinders Street [Station] or the underpasses near Rebecca Walk within many months, often in excess of a year?”

While Mr Penna attributed the Bolte Bridge clean-up to the Department of Transport and Planning, the work was carried out by private toll-road operator Transurban.

His broader point, however, reflected a longstanding frustration: responsibility for graffiti removal is divided between the council, state agencies and private asset owners, often resulting in different standards and response times.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the council had significantly expanded its graffiti-removal efforts, clearing about 140,000 square metres of graffiti across the municipality during the past year.

He said the council was also using city cameras to gather information about prolific taggers, sharing intelligence with Victoria Police and investing more in cleaning hard-to-reach areas.

“No council has done more to clean up graffiti in this city than this current council,” Cr Reece said.

“Does that mean it’s perfect? No, it’s not. Do we need to do better? Yes, absolutely.”

City safety and cleaning portfolio lead Cr Rafael Camillo said the council had spent two years trying to secure arrangements allowing it to clean graffiti from state-owned assets and recover the cost.

“At the moment, we still don’t have a firm answer that we can go ahead and clean, and how we are going to be paid back,” he said.

Acting council CEO Rick Kwasek said agreements had been reached for individual assets, including parts of Flinders Street Station and City Rd, as well as some Yarra Trams infrastructure.

However, there was no blanket agreement covering all Department of Transport and Planning assets.

Mr Kwasek said differences in heritage requirements, asset complexity and service standards remained significant barriers.

Cr Phil Le Liu urged the council to pursue a broader agreement rather than negotiate each location individually.

The issue follows additional $34.3 million in graffiti-management funding in the council’s latest budget and ongoing attempts to coordinate more closely with state agencies.