Thursday, 23 June 2022

Ministers statements: Victoria Police

Ms NEVILLE (Bellarine—Minister for Water, Minister for Police) (14:15): I just want to remind the house of the incredible work that Victoria Police members have done over the last two years. We have asked much more of them than ever before. They have been in the community supporting the health response to the pandemic. We have also during this time been reminded, unfortunately, of how dangerous their jobs are, with five police officers’ lives lost in the line of duty since 2020. These sacrifices and service must be acknowledged and respected. But they also must be met by more than words; they must be met with actions.

That is why this government has always backed in police with the resources, the equipment and the new laws that keep Victorians safe. That is why we have invested in policing in every single budget. In fact in 2016 we made the biggest ever investment in Victoria Police’s history in staff and equipment, taking the budget now to $4.5 billion over the past eight years—an 86 per cent increase. When we first came to government, just in 2013–14 expenditure on police per head of population was $394, below the national average, but not only that, the lowest in the country. Now it is $610 per head of population, the highest of all the main states other than the Northern Territory and WA. So lowest to highest—that is our record. We funded the modernisation of the police force with new equipment, tasers, longarms, body-worn cameras, modernising it with smart devices. We support police every single day. We support the chief commissioner and police members, and we do not undermine them. And it is showing real outcomes, with crime rates being reduced down to, in the last lot, 11.5 per cent—down below 2013–14 and what we came to government on. I am so humbled by the service that Victoria Police members give every day, and this government will continue to support them.