Every afternoon at Frankston station, a small group of social workers and mental health professionals in purple hoodies hangs around the platforms, talking to whoever needs it. The Community Connectors program is now being credited with reducing antisocial behaviour in Melbourne's outer south-east, the ABC reports — and it is about to be replicated on the other side of the city.
"We just try and sit with them, listen to their story, what their needs are, what their priorities are and try and link them into services," said Damian Anderson, the program's Frankston team leader. The method is patience: "Having the ability to sit with them and build that trust and rapport — early on, especially — is really vital."
What the numbers say
A report compiled for Frankston City Council by South East Community Links, the organisation that runs the program, shows that between November 2024 — when the connectors arrived in Frankston — and December 2025, they supported 2,452 people in the Young Street precinct, prevented harm in 535 situations and de-escalated 180 incidents. The most common issues were mental health, housing, and alcohol and other drug problems, and the report found antisocial incidents dropped when the connectors were at work. Crime Statistics Agency data showed a 44 per cent decrease in disorderly and offensive conduct crimes around the station between 2024 and 2025. "I've seen a huge difference in Frankston," Mr Anderson said.
Paul Lloyd met the connectors when he had been evicted from his rental and was sleeping rough at a local arts centre, having dealt with addiction issues in the past. "They make friends with you for a start," he said. "They're not aggressive, they won't be judgemental in that way, and so it's made it a lot more easy." Last week, he moved into a place of his own — something he said he could not have done without the program's help. "It was through persistence and their support, so I'm very, very happy and back on a level field again."
Born in the south-east, heading west
The program launched in 2023 and now operates around the Frankston, Dandenong, Springvale and Noble Park stations in the city's south, and Footscray and Broadmeadows in the inner west and north. It gained prominence last month when its expansion to Sunshine and St Albans formed part of the government's response to the death of a popular shop owner in an alleged youth bashing — an area whose mayor, Virginia Tachos, has described as facing a "crime crisis", with the issue likely on voters' minds before November's state election. South East Community Links is recruiting local staff for the new sites now.
Back in Frankston, the push is for permanence. Mayor Sue Baker said the council would match funding if the state government invested $750,000 over five years, noting the connectors had helped three people during drug overdoses and that council data showed people were starting to feel safer. "We've got a long way to go, but it's that type of feedback from community that gives us confidence this is working," she said. Traders agree: Frankston Business Collective chief executive Bernadine Geary said the highly visible workers were achieving results. "There's a place around the corner, the husband said [to me], 'I feel much more comfortable leaving my wife in the shop than I used to', so hats off to the Community Connectors program."
Local Labor MP Paul Edbrooke — who is also the state's police and crime prevention minister — called the program "an absolute belter" and said he would speak with the treasurer about the council's funding push and possible expansion elsewhere. "I back in the program 100 per cent, even if it's just the economy of it, where we're not utilising police resources, ambulance resources and hospital resources where we sometimes don't need it," he said.
Walking along Young Street, Mr Anderson put the whole model into two lines. "Everyone has a backstory," he said. "It's just understanding it could be anyone."
