We have one of the most diverse and fast-growing communities in Perth – and making sure everyone is safe, healthy and connected is one of our main focuses.
The population across our 42 suburbs was 171,588 in 2023 and that number is expected to soar to almost 300,000 by 2050. Our community is a melting pot of multiculturalism. First Nations peoples make up about 3.34 per cent of our residents, more than one in three people were born overseas and more than one in five speak a language other than English at home.
With such diverse backgrounds and needs, one of our key priorities is helping all our residents feel heard, engaged, included and safe.
Our Social KRA covers two main outcomes:
Safe and healthy community
- Build a strong sense of community health, wellbeing and safety
- Build social inclusion and connectivity in local places and areas.
Accessible services meeting changing community needs
- Build service delivery options to meet the future needs of aged, youth, families and children.
| SCP Objective | SCP Measure | SCP Target | How we are tracking |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1.1 Build a strong sense of community health, wellbeing and safety | % of community who feel safe in their area | Achieve at least 75% | 74% in 2024 75% in 2023 |
| S1.1 Build a strong sense of community health, wellbeing and safety | % of community satisfied with the City’s role in Community Safety |
Increase the two year rolling average (baseline 62%) |
75% in 2024 74% in 2023 |
| S1.1 Build a strong sense of community health, wellbeing and safety | % of community satisfied with the City’s role in public health |
Maintain or increase the two year rolling average (baseline 66%) |
83% in 2024 81% in 2023 |
| S1.1 Build a strong sense of community health, wellbeing and safety | % of community satisfied with leisure centres |
Maintain or increase the two year rolling average baseline (68%) |
76% in 2024 74% in 2023 |
| S1.2 Build social inclusion and connectivity in local places and areas | % of community satisfied with community hubs |
Achieve at least 74% | 92% in 2024 95% in 2023 |
| S1.2 Build social inclusion and connectivity in local places and areas | % of community satisfied with activities and events |
Maintain or increase the two year rolling average baseline (67%) |
79% in 2024 81% in 2023 |
Fostering a safe, healthy and connected community
Our community’s health, wellbeing and safety are important to us, so we work hard to build social inclusion and connectivity in local places across the City.
We have a vast range of facilities and ongoing services in place that help keep our community active, address homelessness, reduce crime and social isolation, and support mental health.
Health and wellbeing
In May, we reopened Swan Active Midland after a $30 million upgrade that made it more modern and accessible. Aboriginal community organisation Binar Futures, will run a basketball league from Swan Active Midland.
We also opened Dayton District Open Space, a $30m sport and recreation hub in the fast-growing Swan Urban Growth Corridor.
We secured a $75,000 investment from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries to deliver our three-year club development plan, which focuses on supporting sport and recreation clubs to build capacity around governance, planning and management practices.
Our women’s-only aquatic trial at Swan Active Beechboro provided an environment for women to improve their health and wellbeing in a private, safe and culturally appropriate environment.
Safety
In 2024, we are developing our draft Community Safety Plan, which includes six key areas that our community asked us to focus on to make them feel safer.
In 2023/24, we committed $50,000 to mobile CCTV to target illegal dumping, which brought us to 10 mobile CCTV units and 609 fixed CCTV units across the City.
We take action against homelessness and domestic violence by facilitating the Midland Alliance to End Homelessness and Swan Family and Domestic Violence Network. We have a homelessness action plan and a Homelessness Project Officer to target better service delivery, and we support and participate in the annual Midland March that Matters.
Social inclusion
In 2022/23, we delivered 53 community activities and events across the City and supported another 147 held by community groups and other organisations.
Our free annual community events, Avon Descent Festival and Altone Comes Alive, give thousands of residents and visitors a family day out with live entertainment, stalls, food trucks and other attractions. Altone Comes Alive, in particular, is a celebration of multiculturalism and features a citizenship ceremony.
We awarded more than $288,000 in sponsorships and grants to various community groups to help them run events, programs and activities across the City. These community initiatives encouraged connection, education, celebration of history and cultural experiences.
In 2024, we launched our Accessible and Inclusive Business Initiative, which encourages local businesses to prioritise accessibility.
We look forward to providing more details on our 2023/24 contributions when they become available.
Our community is pleased with our actions to build a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment, and expressed its satisfaction in our 2024 Community and Business Perceptions Survey.
This year, 83 per cent of our community was satisfied with our role in public health, 75 per cent was satisfied with our role in community safety, and 74 per cent felt safe in their area.
Our respect for First Nations peoples was rated at 90 per cent, while our recognition of cultural diversity was 91 per cent.
In other results, 76 per cent of our community was satisfied with our leisure centres and 79 per cent of our community was satisfied with our activities and events.
But there is always room for improvement.
We are taking steps throughout the next 12 months to make our community safer.
We propose to strengthen our mobile CCTV program with additional units, implement our Community Safety and Security Vulnerability Assessment Action plans, review our ranger structure and service level, and upgrade lighting at parks and sports facilities.
Community health and wellbeing improvements are also on our agenda with change room upgrades at Swan Active Midland and Altone Park Pavilion, and various works at Swan Active Beechboro.
Our events program will continue to promote connection and we will review our Reconciliation Action Plan to see where we can make improvements.
Facilities and services that meet changing community needs
We have established a range of facilities and services to meet the future needs of children, youths, families and seniors.
We want all demographics in our diverse community to feel connected and engaged.
We opened the Ellenbrook Youth Centre in 2023 to give residents aged 12 and 25 a safe place to socialise, engage and gain access to counselling, financial advice, employment assistance, training, drop-in sessions and programs.
We are reviewing our youth services to ensure equitable access and fit-for-purpose programs across our youth centres. A proposal to increase youth services levels was presented to Council through the draft budget process.
Our National Disability Insurance Scheme Funky and Awesome Club programs, which are run through the Swan Caring Centre, provide in-house activities, guest speakers and field trips.
We have been part of the Swan Dementia Alliance since its inception in 2019 to support local training, workshops, recreational opportunities and awareness raising events for people living with dementia.
We launched our first Dementia Action Plan in September 2022, with over 100 people becoming “Dementia Friends”.
Our Community Safety team has continued to improve our approach to enforcing ACROD bay parking, including targeted patrols and upgrading City-managed bays and signage. An agreement framework has been developed to allow the City to enforce ACROD bays on private property.
Satisfaction with our facilities and services for families (85%), seniors (80%), youths (74%), and people with disabilities (84%) has increased since last year.
The Ellenbrook Youth Centre proved to be a much-needed facility. In 2022/23, 239 drop-in sessions were attended by more than 5,100 people, 45 school holiday activities were attended by almost 500 people, and 95 activities were attended by more than 11,900 people. We are currently finalising the 2023/24 information and look forward to sharing it as soon as it is available.
We will start construction of the Ellenbrook Community Hub, which will provide valuable space for community groups and clubs in a fast-growing community.
Planning for Swan Active Ellenbrook will continue to progress, with construction scheduled to start in 2025.
Construction will start on the multimillion-dollar Ballajura Intergenerational Playspace, while the Alta Laguna Park tennis courts and BBQ area will be renewed.
Many parks across the City will receive upgrades as part of the play space renewal and shade sail programs.
