By Casey Neill
Virginia Trioli asked a packed Drum Theatre for a show of hands from anyone afraid to go out to a restaurant at night.
“Anybody at all? One up the back,” she said.
“Well, that’s the sense in the room.”
She was hosting ABC panel show Q and A’s live broadcast from Dandenong on Monday 9 April.
Ms Trioli’s question followed audience member Patrick Stephenson asking the panel about Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton’s recent claims that people were too scared of “African gangs” to go out at night.
“As someone that’s lived and studied in this area for a number of years, I know that I’ve never been too scared to go out and grab a bite,” Mr Stephenson said.
Panellist and Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister, Alan Tudge, said data showed that many people were fearful.
“We do have to accept and admit that there has been a problem with crime in this state,” he said.
“That’s the first step towards solving it.
“And within Melbourne there has been an issue with crime within the South Sudanese community.
“Even the South Sudanese community leaders that I’ve engaged with will admit that, and want to work with the government and the police to address it.”
African-born commercial litigator and panellist Nyadol Nyuon said the leaders conceded ground because to defend the situation “seems as if we’re dismissing someone’s fear”.
“For the majority of African people this has been a really tough time,” she said.
“We’ve been made to feel like criminals, honestly.
“I give advice to my young brothers, who are very tall six-foot boys, because I’m afraid that the three of them walking together constitute a gang.
“I tell them to behave nicely. I tell them to dress nicely.
“I tell them to minimise their presence in public.”
Ms Nyuon also said that media coverage was driving the fear.
“If you’ve watched the television for the last few months, you’ve had pictures of black African young people splashed across your screen over and over again,” she said.
“You’ve been told that we’re in the midst of a crisis, that, you know, we can’t go to restaurants.”
She said this was “the opposite of the facts on the ground”.
She said crime figures for people born in South Sudan were at one per cent, the same as 18 months ago.
“There’s not been an increase. There’s no crisis,” she said.
The program received mixed reviews from the Greater Dandenong community.
On the Journal Facebook page, Judi Miller said that “for some reason it was nothing to talk about, totally different to the usual Q and A”.
“Better representation of community leaders would have been better,” she said.
Gaye Guest questioned whether the audience members lived in Greater Dandenong.
“If we had true local representation on the panel it would have been far better,” she said.
“Not panel members from other electorates who wouldn’t know what it was like to live, work or socialise in the City of Greater Dandenong.”
Also on the panel was Shadow Justice Minister, Hotham MP and former Greater Dandenong Mayor Clare O’Neil, award-winning journalist Andrew Rule, and Victorian Police Commander Stuart Bateson.
Deb Isme said she and her cousin were among the audience members, and they both lived in Dandenong.
Robert Roe said the show was great.
“Some important issues discussed and the panel were informative and generally debating well,” he said.
“Some of the audience questions and comments were ill-informed and irrelevant, however.”
