Teens tackle Albion Park's graffiti problem in council clean-up

Partaking in the effort were volunteers from the Shellharbour Rotary Club and a group of Year nine students from Albion Park High School, along with representatives from the council and the Lake Illawarra police district.

Shellharbour's 2024 Citizen of the Year, Larry How said the Rotary Club was happy to lend a hand.

"It's a good community project and it's good to have everyone involved," Mr How said.

"Particularly the school kids, to know they'll get some benefit from it and hopefully go back and send the message of how bad graffiti is and it shouldn't be done.

Yvette Cairns, a Student Support Officer at Albion Park High said the group of year nine students were chosen from the girls' group at the school.

"We discussed it at the well-being department and thought it'd be a great idea."

"They volunteered and the head of well being selected students they thought would be best suited for the program."

The Shellharbour City Council projects that the total cost of removing graffiti over the 2023/24 financial year will be $185,000 with 103 work orders already issued compared to 95 in the previous financial year.

Graffiti is a regular occurrence in all councils not just Shellharbour according to Sergeant Ben Walsh from the Lake Illawarra Police Department

"Areas of high use like laneways or normally council assets are regularly a target for that kind of behaviour," Sgt Walsh said.

"It's definitely something we want to be on top of."

Shellharbour City Council Mayor Chris Homer said the initiative would bring pride back to the city.

"People who live in this city and pay their rates want to see a beautiful city," Mayor Homer said.

"It's not about judging or condemning people and the creative things that people do, but really this style of graffiti doesn't beautify the city."