Overview

• The City of Port Phillip installed a roving, signposted camera at Hewison Reserve in Balaclava to monitor compliance with leash requirements.
• According to the council, the unit is motion-activated and viewed live by animal management officers rather than recorded and stored.
• The device will be rotated to other local parks about every fortnight across a municipality that contains more than 100 parks.
• Privacy experts are pressing for transparency on recording, retention, sharing or AI use, noting the council has not provided detailed answers and that its CCTV code prioritizes assisting police.
• The council reports about 3,500 pet-related complaints in the past year, including 10 off-leash incidents at the reserve, and the penalty for an off-lead dog is $204.