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June 19, 2026
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SIG N U P N O W!
Lighting up winter
(Ivan Kemp) 559643_07
West Park will light up for the longest night of the year during the Geelong West Winter Solstice. The free event will feature many activities and experiences, including a lantern parade, with everyone invited to attend on Saturday 20 June. Event organiser Mia Devani is pictured showcasing her fire twirling skills, which the community can expect to see more of during the event. The winter solstice (which occurs on Sunday 21 June) is an astronomical event that marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, and highlights the official start of winter for Australia. Community members can bring a picnic rug, a reusable cup, a picnic dinner, and a homemade lantern to the Geelong West Winter Solstice. Turn to page 3 for the full story.
Crime reports up By Jena Carr
showing a decrease in recorded numbers from 13,777 in 2025 to 13,548 in 2026. Corio featured one of the highest total offence increases among Greater Geelong’s suburbs, with 370 more offences recorded this year (2562 in 2025 to 2932 in 2026). Recorded theft offences were at their highest level in Corio over the past 10 years, with 1006 offences recorded this year (up from 953 last year), marking the fi rst time the number has risen above 1000. Property and deception offences also decreased across some suburbs, including Norlane from 1381 recorded offences last year to 1120 this year and Highton from
425 recorded offences last year to 270 this year. CSA chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said incidents attributed to youth had decreased across the state by 6 per cent to 22,654 during the past year. “For the fi rst time since 2022, incidents alleged to be linked to youth offenders have decreased, with adults now responsible for 88 per cent of offender incidents,” she said. “There has been a 10.8 per cent increase in adult offender incidents recorded over the last 12 months, driven by increases in breaches of bail conditions, stealing from retail stores and breaches of family violence orders.”
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The Greater Geelong community is reporting more crime offences to police as family violence numbers rise, according to the latest crime statistics. Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) released its latest data, for the year ending 31 March 2026, on 18 June, which found an increase in Greater Geelong’s total offences by 2.55 per cent (from 25,332 in 2025 to 25,979 in 2026). The region saw the total number of recorded offences increase over the past year across many categories, including justice procedures offences (from 4823
to 5257) and drug offences (from 1490 to 1696). Victoria Police Western Region acting commander Michael Reid told the Independent that an increase in numbers could reflect that more people are reporting incidents to police rather than staying quiet. “Justice procedure offences relating to family violence have increased in the region, but there is a positive in that, as the data shows, more people are reporting these incidents to us,” he said. Property and deception offence numbers were the highest out of Greater Geelong’s categories, despite the data