Tuesday, 9 September 2025

Youth crime

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (16:34): I am so deeply saddened and angered about the escalating violent crime here in Victoria. Machete attacks committed by teenagers on teenagers, two innocent children hacked to death – and the Premier, this government, still does nothing. My deepest sympathies to the parents of the children murdered and to all victims of these horrific attacks.

There must be tougher action and tougher laws to deal with Victoria’s crime crisis. Victorians are demanding it, and they need it. Our children do not deserve to leave a basketball court and be violently killed with machetes.

Our brave police are at the front line of Victoria’s crime crisis, putting their own lives in danger and dealing with the tragic human consequences of crime, and they are now speaking out too about the government’s soft-on-crime approach and their utter neglect. Following the weekend’s horrific double murder of children, Detective Inspector Banks said:

… there needs to be a strong deterrent for this type of behaviour, for carrying weapons, for people who break into homes with weapons, for people who carjack, for people who assault people with weapons. Whether that balance is right is really a matter for … ultimately the government.

This is not happening in other states in Australia, and no stupid gimmick of a machete bin is going to stop these violent thugs from terrorising people in their homes or at the shops with machetes and killing people. Labor is failing our youth and our society, and only the Liberals and Nationals will deliver the changes to make Victorians safe with ‘break bail, face jail.’