Wednesday, 8 February 2023

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (19:17): (24) My adjournment is for the Minister for Police and Minister for Crime Prevention, and the action I seek is that the minister join me in visiting Sunshine police station. As the minister well knows, our government has made a really significant investment into supporting our police, with over 3000 new police officers being trained and deployed since we came to government. They do an amazing job in keeping our community safe, whether they are on the beat or in a more specialised capacity, such as our PSOs, and they are delivering fantastic results in reducing the number of criminal incidents in Melbourne’s west, including in my electorate of Laverton.

According to recent crime statistics, the City of Brimbank, which includes my communities of Sunshine, Sunshine West, Albion and Ardeer, has seen a drop of 9.1 per cent in the number of criminal incidents in a 12-month period, also bringing them to their lowest number in more than 10 years – in more than 10 years. This is something that we all can celebrate whilst acknowledging that there is still so much more to do to make our community safe and also to ensure that they feel safe. That is why I look forward to accompanying the minister to meet with the police stationed at Sunshine, thank them for their really hard work in delivering these outcomes and also to listen and to discuss what further support they need to do their job and keep Brimbank and Melbourne’s west more broadly a safe place to live.