CSG security a quiet issue in Caulfield campaign

Labor’s candidate for Caulfield, Mikaela Stafrace, says community safety has not been raised with her once in about 10,500 doors she has knocked on, and she believes that reflects well on Community Security Group Victoria (CSG).

Stafrace visited CSG on Monday morning for a briefing from its CEO, Justin Kagan, and Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) president Philip Zajac, ahead of the November 28 state election. Caulfield is held by the Liberals’ David Southwick.

She said she wanted to understand what the $6 million Premier Ben Carroll recently committed to CSG would be used for, and to thank the organisation as someone it protects every week.

“People at the moment are more concerned about cost of living, housing. They talk to me about health. They talk to me about transport, but community safety hasn’t really come up, to be frank,” Stafrace said.

“Perhaps that’s actually an indication of how seamless this organisation is, that it doesn’t come up in flashing lights. It does its work subtly and discreetly and safely for us.”

Her own most recent encounter with CSG came outside her synagogue, where she had parked in a 10-minute spot and was on the phone before going into a service. A volunteer knocked on her window to ask whether she was coming in. She said it “scared the life out of me”, but that he handled it “with such grace and such humour” and suggested she move the car before she got a ticket.

Kagan said the volunteers seen outside synagogues on Friday nights and Saturday mornings relied on a much larger operation behind them.

“There’s a huge amount of work that goes into the back end of supporting those volunteers to ensure that they have the training, they have the equipment, and the resources they need to keep the community safe,” he said.

He said CSG’s budget had almost tripled since October 7. It now runs mobile patrols every day, is piloting security for Maccabi Victoria sporting events, and protects Jewish youth movements on their winter and summer camps.

“That all comes at a cost,” he said.

Kagan said that after the Bondi attack, CSG reviewed its crisis management planning, drawing on lessons from leaders in the Sydney Jewish community. The result is the Jewish Community Crisis Management Alliance, made up of 10 key community leadership organisations and built around an all-hazards approach.

“That alliance is ready to be stood up, no matter what happens, to provide the Jewish community of Victoria support in a crisis, be it mental health, medical, it could be security,” he said. “We are confident that we have a very robust plan that is now ready to be deployed in the event that there is a crisis for our community.”

Kagan said CSG had always been “completely apolitical” and had good relationships with all parties. He said Carroll visited CSG recently and “made a fantastic commitment to the CSG, which we’re incredibly grateful for”.

Zajac said support for CSG crossed party lines, and he expected whichever party formed government after November 28 to keep backing it.

But he said the scale of security now needed is taking a toll on young people, who pass through security at school, at synagogue, at sport and at youth movements.

“It’s unhealthy psychologically to be brought up in that environment,” he said.

Parents who had moved their children from Jewish to non-Jewish schools told him the first thing the children noticed was that “we can just walk in and out of the school without having to go through any security”, and that there was no scenario training for an intruder.

Zajac said the long-term consequences for the community were not good, and the goal should be to reduce the need for an organisation like CSG altogether. He said he looked forward to the day it could be wound back.

Kagan said he would be “very happy to ride off into the sunset”.