Crime prevention
Kim WELLS (Rowville) (09:53): I rise to speak on the growing crime issues not just in the state of Victoria but also in my electorate of Rowville. As we all saw from the most recent crime stats released by the Crime Statistics Agency today, crime is on the rise. Over the last year crime has risen in Victoria by over 10 per cent, and in my community of Knox crime is up over 8 per cent. And what is the Labor government’s response to this – cutting community crime prevention funding. This is funding that is directly aimed at crime prevention. The community and residents in my electorate have been calling on this government to increase funding, not cut it by half. What Labor will not cut to fund their unwanted and cost-blown-out projects is astounding. Labor have sacrificed the airport rail and upgrades to major hospitals, and now we are seeing them sacrificing our community safety for a Suburban Rail Loop which goes from nowhere to nowhere. Labor needs to seriously reconsider what their priorities are. My priority would be to keep our community safe, not cut crime prevention funding by 46 per cent.