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Greater Dandenong's Independent Weekly
The Dandenong Local
Issue #6 · Wednesday 1 July 2026 · Free
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📬 From the Editor
G'day, and welcome to Issue #6.
This week's big story isn't a one-off incident — it's a pattern. The latest official crime figures show Greater Dandenong bucked the statewide trend, recording a slight rise in offending while the rest of Victoria trended down. Theft is the headline, but our reader from Springvale puts it better than any statistic could. More on that below.
On a brighter note: Dandenong South has landed on the global fast food map in a big way, the council workers' dispute grinds on without resolution, and this week's Only in Dandenong is genuinely one of the best we've received. Jenny from Noble Park, you've made my week.
It's also school holidays — so there's a solid What's On this week, including a free Christmas lunch on Monday and an NRL clinic for the kids on Tuesday. Worth a look.
— Topher, Editor · The Dandenong Local
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📰 This Week's Big Story
🔒 Crime & Safety
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Crime is rising in Greater Dandenong while the rest of Victoria goes the other way.
The Crime Statistics Agency released its latest quarterly figures in June, covering the 12 months to March 2026. Statewide, the picture was cautiously positive — overall crime fell by 1.9 per cent. Greater Dandenong did not follow. The LGA recorded a slight rise in offending against that statewide drop, and within the municipality, the numbers are more pointed: crime in the Dandenong suburb itself was up 8 per cent over the same period, and Dandenong North was up 12 per cent.
Theft remains the dominant crime type — in the Dandenong postcode alone, there were more than 2,600 theft offences recorded in the most recent 12-month window. Stealing from vehicles is the biggest single driver, followed by other theft, breaches of family violence orders and criminal damage. Motor vehicle theft across Greater Dandenong runs at a rate nearly 80 per cent above the Victorian average.
What's behind it? Victoria Police points to a mix of cost-of-living pressure, recidivism, and the growing use of technology in offending — including key-mimicking devices used to steal vehicles without the owner even noticing. State-level data shows motor vehicle theft reached its highest levels since 2001 last year, with up to 40 per cent of stolen cars taken using signal-relay technology rather than physical break-ins.
For residents, this isn't abstract. A Springvale reader writes this week that she's hearing theft stories "almost every day" — and that pickpocketing at busy shops and train stations is something she's now hearing about for the first time. She's not imagining it. The figures back her up. What this means practically: keep valuables out of sight in your car, store your car keys away from your front door (signal relay devices can read through walls), and stay aware at busy spots during peak hours.
Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or crimestoppersvic.com.au
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⚒ Also This Week — The Dispute That Won't Go Away
Seven months in, still no pay offer. Work bans are now active.
The ASU dispute between the Australian Services Union and eight Melbourne councils — including Greater Dandenong — is now in its seventh month with no wage offer made by any of the councils involved. The union held its second major strike on 17 June, shutting Dandenong Library for the day. Indefinite work bans are now active, meaning services including library after-hours returns, mowing, parking permits, planning applications and pet registrations are running at reduced capacity or not at all.
The ASU wants 10 per cent in year one, citing real wages down 7.3 per cent since 2021. Council is constrained by the state's 2.75 per cent rate cap. Council CEO Jacqui Weatherill says the council wants to reach an agreement. No date has been set. We'll keep tracking it. Full details here.
🍔 Also This Week — A Very American Arrival
Wendy's chose Dandenong South for Victoria's first-ever location. Queues went well into the night.
The American burger chain opened its first Victorian restaurant on 24 June at 1A Assembly Drive, Dandenong South — and it also happens to be the first Wendy's drive-thru in Australia. The chain describes the drive-thru format as deliberately different: no speaker box, staff take orders face-to-face using handheld tablets in the lanes. Whether it's actually a better burger is something readers will have to judge for themselves.
Queues stretched into single-digit temperatures on opening night, with Wendy's expecting to move 20,000 burgers in the first week. The chain says Melbourne customers were "the most vocal" nationwide in calling for a location — and they made their point by choosing one of Melbourne's fastest-growing industrial and residential corridors to plant the flag. The chain has plans for 200 Australian restaurants over the next decade. Trading hours: 9am–11pm Sun–Thu, 9am–midnight Fri–Sat. 1A Assembly Drive, Dandenong South.
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📅 What's On This Week
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K-Pop Dance Workshop (Ages 12–25) 💃
Drum Theatre, Dandenong · 1:30pm · Free · Registration required
Led by X-Dance Station instructor Kristie Ho. Perfect for beginners and those who already know their way around a chorus. Free — register via greaterdandenong.vic.gov.au
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Mixed Community Street Soccer Program ⚽
Gloria Pyke Netball Complex, Bennet Street, Dandenong · Every Wednesday · 4pm–6pm · Free · No bookings
Open, inclusive, and no experience needed. Just show up and play. A regular weekly fixture for the community.
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Christmas in July — Free 3-Course Lunch 🎄
Dandenong Workers Sports Club · 1pm–3pm · Free · First 50 to book
A free three-course meal at the Workers Club. First 50 bookings only, T&Cs apply. Book via the Workers Club website at workers.net.au
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NRL Holiday Clinic 🏉
Alan Carter Pavilion, Greaves Reserve, Sinclair Road, Dandenong · 10:30am–12pm · Free · Registration required
Non-contact school holiday clinic run by council, open to primary school-aged boys and girls. Register at greaterdandenong.vic.gov.au or call 8571 1000.
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UNO Tournament 🃏
Dandenong Workers Sports Club · Registration 6pm · Games from 7pm · $10 entry
Championship trophy plus prize pool (minimum $200). If you think you've got what it takes to be the last one standing, this is the one. Details at workers.net.au
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FIFA World Cup — Live on the Big Screen
Harmony Square, Dandenong · 24/7 until 19 July · Free · Alcohol-free zone
BYO picnic, blankets and folding chairs. Family-friendly. Also screening at Bunjil Place outdoor screen for selected games.
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🚆 No planned disruptions on the Cranbourne or Pakenham lines this week. ptv.vic.gov.au
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🔎 Suburb Spotlight
Dandenong South
Postcode 3175 · 38km SE of Melbourne CBD
You don't hear Dandenong South talked about the way you hear about Springvale or the market precinct, but it punches well above its weight in terms of what actually keeps Greater Dandenong running. This is the LGA's industrial engine — a sprawling corridor of manufacturing plants, logistics hubs, warehouses and trade suppliers running down toward the South Gippsland Highway. One in 10 manufacturing fatalities in Victoria happens in the Dandenong postcode, which tells you how much industrial activity is concentrated here.
It's also where the new Dandenong South residential community is growing — newer subdivisions and townhouse developments that have quietly made this one of Melbourne's faster-growing corridors in the south-east.
That growth is exactly why Wendy's chose to land here. The American burger chain opened its first Victorian restaurant — and Australia's first-ever Wendy's drive-thru — at 1A Assembly Drive on 24 June. Queues stretched into the night. The chain says Melbourne customers were the most vocal nationally in calling for an outpost, and whoever scouted the location made the right call: good highway access, a fast-growing residential base, and a community that clearly knows how to make a queue feel like a party.
Dandenong South doesn't have a village main street or a community centre people rally around — it's a place people come to work, to build, to make things. But that's its identity, and it's a legitimate one. The square burgers are just the latest thing being assembled here.
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🛡 Safety Update
Teen charged following alleged abduction outside Springvale South school
Detectives from the Armed Crime Squad have charged a teenage boy following an alleged abduction in Springvale South last Friday. Police allege a 17-year-old girl was entering a secondary college on Janine Road at around 8.30am when she was approached by a male offender. A charge has been laid. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestoppersvic.com.au
Fatal crash on South Gippsland Highway, Dandenong South — slow down in the wet
Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are investigating a fatal crash on South Gippsland Highway, Dandenong South in the early hours of Friday 26 June. A 21-year-old passenger died at the scene. The driver, a 23-year-old man from Cranbourne, was taken to hospital under police guard. A 20-year-old man from Narre Warren South was also hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries. The highway has since reopened.
As winter conditions continue, a reminder to everyone on the roads: increase your following distance in the wet, slow down through bends and intersections, and give yourself more time to stop. Wet roads significantly extend stopping distances. If you have information about this crash, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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⚡ Quick Bites
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🏔️ A former refugee from Greater Dandenong has become the first Hazara woman to summit Mt Everest. Zakia "River" Ahmad — who fled Afghanistan with her family, lived as a refugee in Delhi and later came to Australia — was celebrated across the South East in mid-June. She's now the ambassador for the Baba Mazari Foundation's campaign to raise $200,000 for women's education in Afghanistan. "I had this fire inside me," she says. "I was thinking about women back home." Read the full story here.
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⚽ More than a dozen five-a-side teams from refugee communities competed at the Refugee Week Cup in Dandenong. Around 60 players formed teams with AMES Australia, South East Community Links, CITC Young Leaders and others — with Big Issue Street Soccer Program taking out the trophy. The AMES Dandenong and Noble Park teams shared the Fair Play Award. As AMES chief executive Melinda Collinson put it: as the world game, soccer was the perfect vehicle to bring communities together. Read the full story here.
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♻️ Public bins across Greater Dandenong are getting open-topped baskets for 10-cent containers. Following council's vote last month to defer the purple glass bin rollout, a new addition to public bins makes it easier to recycle eligible drink containers through the Container Deposit Scheme — either by leaving your bottles for someone else to collect, or by dropping them in and picking up the returns yourself. A practical follow-on from the glass bin debate. greaterdandenong.vic.gov.au
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🗞️ The Wendy's drive-thru in Dandenong South isn't the only first for the area. Victoria's first Wendy's is also Australia's first Wendy's drive-thru — with staff taking orders on handheld tablets in the lane rather than customers shouting into a speaker box. The chain says it's a more personal approach to what is, admittedly, still a drive-thru. But hey, it's Dandenong. We've always done things a bit differently. 1A Assembly Drive, Dandenong South. Open daily from 9am.
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🍲 Since March 2020, Kindness Community has served 60,000 free meals in Greater Dandenong. They're still going every Tuesday. The free weekly meal and community connection service runs at John Hemmings Memorial Park, 61A Princes Highway, Dandenong — arrival from 5pm, meal served from 5:30pm. Open to anyone experiencing homelessness or financial hardship, no questions asked. Worth sharing widely. kindnesscommunity.org.au
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Supported by a local Dandenong business
United Painting Service
Interior & Exterior Painting — Done Properly.
Over 20 years established in Dandenong. Fully insured, guaranteed work, free quote. No job too small. Pensioner discount — 10% off for pensioners and readers of this newsletter.
Mention The Dandenong Local for your 10% reader discount
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🗣 Resident Voice
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"Theft and burglary are on the rise — almost every day I'm hearing another story of items going missing overnight. And for the first time, I'm hearing about people being pickpocketed in broad daylight at busy shops and train stations. I think it's getting worse."
— Patel, Springvale
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Patel, the numbers back you up entirely. The latest Crime Statistics Agency figures show Greater Dandenong recorded a slight rise in offending against a statewide drop, with theft driving the majority of incidents. Dandenong suburb was up 8 per cent, Dandenong North up 12. For the pickpocketing specifically — it's a pattern police associate with busier shopping periods and crowded train platforms. Stay alert in peak times, keep your bag in front of you, and keep your phone in a pocket rather than your hand. It's not about fear — it's about not making it easy for someone who's already looking. Got something on your mind? Drop us a line at [email protected]
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😄 Joke of the Week
"I used to be indecisive once.
But now I'm not so sure."
— Phil, Dandenong
Got a good one? Send it to [email protected]
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🌏 Only in Dandenong
TRUE STORY
"She thought I'd converted."
Jenny from Noble Park took a quick drive around Dandenong and somehow came home with more than she planned. A bloke cleaned her windscreen for $1. She grabbed a HSP for $10. Then picked up a hijab for $15.
When her Mum asked where she'd been, Jenny told her she'd spent the afternoon in Dandenong. Mum looked at the bag, looked back at her, and asked: "Is there something you need to tell me?"
"Well... I did buy a hijab."
The look on her Mum's face when she thought Jenny had converted — priceless. That's Dandenong. You come for the HSP and leave with a whole new wardrobe and a family conversation you weren't expecting.
Got an Only in Dandenong moment? Send it to [email protected]
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✍️ Until Next Week
Thanks for reading Issue #6. Crime data is never cheerful reading, but knowing what's actually happening — and having the numbers to back up what people are feeling on the ground — matters. Share it with a neighbour if it's useful to them.
The council workers' dispute remains the open thread to watch. Seven months without a pay offer isn't sustainable — something will have to give eventually. We'll be here when it does.
And if you know someone who'd get something out of this — forward it on. Free. Always.
See you next Wednesday. ☀️
— Topher · The Dandenong Local
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© 2026 The Dandenong Local · Independent & Free
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[email protected] ·
[email protected]
Greater Dandenong's Independent Weekly · Published every Wednesday 8am
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