We are launching an ambitious Clean Melbourne Graffiti Blitz that will run for two weeks starting in the central city on Clean Up Australia Day.
Council is doubling its street cleaning team to combat graffiti, improve public spaces and ensure the city is sparkling as workers, students and visitors return.
The amount of graffiti cleaned every month has increased by more than 60 per cent since the start of the pandemic, from an average of 4000 square metres a month in 2019 to over 6500 square metres in 2021. Graffiti reporting has also doubled in this time.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the City of Melbourne is taking a stand against illegal graffiti and tagging, by more than doubling the capacity of our Rapid Response Clean Team, cutting red tape and encouraging people to report anything unsightly.
‘We’re proud to take the lead on this important initiative, but we can’t do it alone. This Clean Up Australia Day, we’re calling on property owners to join us and make our city as welcoming as possible,’ the Lord Mayor said.
‘We’ve made significant investments to revitalise our iconic streets and laneways with large-scale street art and creative installations. The blitz will target only illegal graffiti and tagging, while protecting our much-loved laneway art.’
The blitz will see illegal graffiti and tagging removed swiftly across the central city, including Southbank and Docklands, as well as key city entrance points.
We are partnering with property owners and government agencies, including Australia Post and Yarra Trams, who are also cleaning assets like phone boxes, power poles and public transport infrastructure.
A new approach has been implemented to help fast-track graffiti removal from private properties, enabling Council to remove graffiti more swiftly.
Council is also calling on other businesses and property owners to help remove graffiti from their buildings and assets and is encouraging residents and visitors to report graffiti using QR codes located around the city.
After completing a two-week blitz in the central city, the clean team will move into other neighbourhoods across the municipality to blitz graffiti over the next four months.
For more detail on the Rapid Response Clean Team or to log a request, visit Home, neighbourhood and streets.
