Thursday, 20 June 2024

Adjournment

Youth crime

Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (17:02): (721) I ask the Minister for Police what tangible steps he will take to keep the law-abiding members of my community safe. It almost breaks my heart to stand here and tell the house of a 77-year-old lollipop lady in my electorate who has been so traumatised by youth violence that she is literally trapped in her own home suffering nightmares and ongoing anxiety.

The job she loved has gone. The Campaspe shire has closed her school crossing for the safety of its two dedicated staff who were there every day, rain, hail or shine, while it works with Victoria Police and the Department of Transport and Planning to ‘resolve an ongoing safety issue which has escalated’. That is an understatement. By ‘escalated’ it means that it is no longer safe for the two dedicated lollipop team members, who had been arriving at this site to clean up the broken glass and gather up the screwdrivers, hammers, assorted knives and, on one occasion, an axe at this crossing before the children used it. For 18 months both ladies complained to council about the pack of boys, some as young as nine, subjecting them to verbal abuse and threats, only to be told they were minors so nothing could be done.

A few days after the tragedy of the Sydney stabbing horror, the lollipop ladies were confronted by one of the pack with a seriously large knife, and at last the police were called. From then on the attacks worsened. Rocks were thrown. One of the women was aggressively confronted by an 11-year-old as she sat in her car waiting to start work. He tried to grab the keys from her ignition. She managed to push him off and lock the car. Finally, council intervened and suspended services – hardly a preferred option, considering the number of children using this crossing on a busy highway.

Minister, please do not tell a 77-year-old lollipop lady that these vicious youths are too young to understand what they are doing wrong. Please do not tell this 77-year-old woman that the 11-year-old that tried to assault her in her car was too young to know what he was doing. The police and the courts are hamstrung by the current laws when attempting to protect people like this 77-year-old, who has now lost her job and is suffering nightmares and anxiety. Minister, what tangible steps will you take to make sure these two lollipop ladies and many like them are protected from the wave of youth crime in this state and can feel safe going about their normal lives?