{"id":603699,"date":"2026-04-13T08:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/603699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:14:18","slug":"police-minister-yasmin-catley-hits-back-at-fairfield-mayors-allegation-police-not-being-deployed-in-western-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/603699\/","title":{"rendered":"Police Minister Yasmin Catley hits back at Fairfield mayor’s allegation police not being deployed in Western Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has hit back at a Western Sydney mayor’s allegation the government was under-resourcing police in his area, slamming it as “absolute garbage”.<\/p>\n

Fairfield Council recently closed a public plaza near the train station over concerns about antisocial behaviour.<\/p>\n

Mayor Frank Carbone said there was a lack of police officers in Western Sydney and council were forced to close the plaza in a decision they made with local police. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The plaza was opened by Fairfield Council in 2016 at a cost of $1.8 million. (ABC News: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n

“There’s issues to do with alcohol, even in the past we’ve had assaults,” Cr Carbone said on Friday.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know where [NSW Premier] Chris Minns has put the police, but they’re not out here in Western Sydney.”<\/p>\n

Ms Catley told 702 ABC Sydney Breakfast that 64 new police recruits had been deployed to Fairfield, the highest allocation across the region.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Frank Carbone said there were not enough police in Western Sydney.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tim Swanston)<\/p>\n

“The notion from the mayor that police are not being deployed to Western Sydney is absolute garbage,” Ms Catley said.<\/p>\n

“Trying to alarm the community with this rhetoric does nothing to assist calm and does nothing to assist the police.”<\/p>\n

Ms Catley disputed the Mayor’s account that police were involved in the decision to fence off the plaza, and that assaults and robbery were no higher than in other areas around the police area command.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Yasmin Catley said more recruits had been deployed to Fairfield than any other area in the region. (ABC News: Monish Nand)<\/p>\n

“They had no idea that they were going to … put a fence around that,” Ms Catley said.<\/p>\n

“Over the years, there have been a couple of significant assaults, but it is certainly not the case that the police are having to go there regularly.”<\/p>\n

Fairfield’s Crescent Plaza was opened in 2016 as a modern open space at a cost of $1.8 million, according to the council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Fairfield mayor said the people behind antisocial activity were from outside the Fairfield area.\u00a0 (ABC News: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n

Antisocial behaviour an issue across Fairfield, locals say<\/p>\n

Fairfield locals who spoke with 702 ABC Sydney said they noticed groups gathering in the plaza through the day, occasionally playing loud music.<\/p>\n

Emily Ho who manages a neighbouring convenience store said people in the plaza would drink, often urinate in the back lane behind her store and steal from the store.<\/p>\n

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Convenience store manager Emily Ho said people had been shoplifting after drinking in the neighbouring plaza.\u00a0 (ABC News: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n

“From the day of the park opening, people [were] gathering drinking from early until late,” Ms Ho said.<\/p>\n

“When they’re drunk, they come steal the stuff … we can’t deal with them because its dangerous for us.”<\/p>\n

Ms Ho said she had noticed a change since the plaza was fenced off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Maria Castro says antisocial behaviour is an issue in other parts of Fairfield.\u00a0 (ABC News: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n

Maria Castro, who has lived in the area for 14 years, said she noticed antisocial behaviour in other parts of Fairfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The plaza on Station Street is new, but I cannot take my grandchildren there because there are teenagers all the time, swearing [and] fighting.”<\/p>\n

Ms Castro and Ms Ho didn’t think there was an issue with policing in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ron Mack said he had not seen signs of antisocial activity but noticed when a group were playing loud music.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has hit back at a Western Sydney mayor’s allegation the government was under-resourcing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[294024,294022,294023,294026,294027,43,44,294025,294028,41,39,42,40,294029,294030],"class_list":["post-603699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crescent-plaza-closed","tag-crescent-plaza-fairfield","tag-fairfield-plaza-closed","tag-frank-carbone-nsw-police","tag-frank-carbone-yasmin-catley","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-police-fairfield","tag-police-minister-crescent-plaza","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-western-sydney-police-presence","tag-western-sydney-police-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}