Tuesday, 7 June 2022

 Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (19:20): (6404) My adjournment is to the Premier, and the action I seek is for the Labor government to commit to opening a new Brighton police station. Everyone has a right to feel safe and be safe in their homes, yet we know that many people in my community have not been. My community is fortunate that Bayside has one of the lower crime rates in the state. Concerningly, though, the crime rates are not low across all types of crime, especially in the case of aggravated burglary. We know that because of data provided by the Crime Statistics Agency. The data shows a 10-year high in aggravated burglaries, with 105 offences recorded in 2021. The figure is four times that of 2014—it was 26 in that year—and even though 2022 data is not yet available, Victoria Police has confirmed that incidents have increased this year. The local area commander recently said the area had:

… seen a number of serious incidents recently …

and that there:

… has been an increase in offences …

On the ground in my community we also know there has been an increase because we have seen a number of violent incidents. Two weeks ago Brighton was victim to three home invasions and a police shooting, with many more crimes over recent weeks. Over the long weekend in March there was a home invasion in Bay Street. In that instance the home owner had recently gone through a particularly difficult personal issue, and the crime must have had a compounding effect. For background, there have also been similar incidents in Chelsea and Cochrane streets, Downes Avenue and Elwood, Kinane, Martin, Sussex and Yuille streets in recent months. These issues have been raised in the house repeatedly, most recently in March, April and May.

My community deserves more than being ignored when it has called for action, and frankly when a Brighton woman put her voice to the fear of many, Ms Judd deserved a lot more than being sneered at and victim blamed. Every woman deserves to be heard when they speak out, irrespective of what postcode they live in. It is clear that the Bracks Labor government’s closure of the Brighton police station was a mistake. As a community we welcome Victoria Police launching Operation Ibis, which aims to target aggravated burglary in my community, but this fix needs a permanent solution. I call on the Premier and the Labor government to commit to a new Brighton police station.