Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (17:20): (1352) My matter is for the Minister for Police. The violence which is out of control in Melbourne is now spilling over into regional Victoria. We have had tragic stabbing murders in Morwell and in Mildura and most recently a close escape for a young hospitality worker in Echuca who was attacked by knife-wielding thugs when he tried to stop them stealing a sign from the business.

Regional Victorians have watched with horror Melbourne’s descent into a world of murder and violence, but now the violence is spreading into regional Victoria because offenders know they will be bailed quicker than the police can do the paperwork. When offenders eventually get to court, their sentences do not reflect community expectations, and police see all their work means nought to protect the community because the offenders are back on the street again. I now have people coming into my office telling me their teenage children are abandoning the main streets of our towns because they no longer feel safe. Some have had to run into businesses and wait inside until their family can come and collect them in cars.

Retailers in towns from my electorate have shown me video of people brazenly walking into their shops, filling bags with goods and walking out without paying. Those staff should not have to risk their safety because the government will not give the police the officers they need. Police are frustrated that the light court sentences are not acting as a real deterrent to crime. Can the police minister advise me when all the current vacancies at the police stations in my electorate will be filled?