Wednesday, 29 October 2025

 The SPEAKER (16:06): I have accepted a statement from the member for Warrandyte proposing the following matter of public importance for discussion:

That this house notes that the youth crime crisis across Victoria highlights the need for stronger laws, better policy and greater investment to make communities safe again and calls on the government to:

(a)   strengthen Victoria’s justice system to ensure real consequences for repeat and violent offenders;

(b)   acknowledge that the government’s failures have contributed to rising youth crime and reoffending; and

(c)   invest in prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation programs that tackle the root causes of offending and create a pathway out of crime.

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (16:07): This is the first matter of public importance that I have brought to the house, and I could think of nothing more important than the safety of our community. I look forward to making this contribution with great gusto. Nothing matters more to Victorians than feeling safe in their homes, safe in their streets and safe raising their children, but right now across our state people do not feel safe, and with good reason. For that reason I rise in this matter of public importance to note:

That this house notes that the youth crime crisis across Victoria highlights the need for stronger laws, better policy and greater investment to make communities safe again and calls on the government to:

(a)   strengthen Victoria’s justice system to ensure real consequences for repeat and violent offenders;

(b)   acknowledge that the government’s failures have contributed to rising youth crime and reoffending; and

(c)   invest in prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation programs that tackle the root causes of offending and create a pathway out of crime.

There is no doubt on this side of the house that there is a crime crisis that is gripping our state. Our offices are inundated with calls every single day. I do not know about members on that side of the house in some of the areas that they represent, but I know that my office is contacted all the time, every single day, about crime issues that are pervading our streets and pervading our communities. We know that every single day Victorians are waking up to another crime that they hear about, another machete attack, another attack with a knife, another attack – I read the other day – with a screwdriver. They are hearing of these shocking crimes that are taking place across our state, and the latest official figures are staggering. I was so concerned and I was so aggrieved to hear the member for Morwell raise his question about a lady from his electorate named Cat, who was rammed by three youths in a stolen vehicle, only to find out on social media hours later, after one of the alleged offenders had been arrested, had already been posting and boasting about it and had been let out on bail.

The latest official figures are staggering when we look at them.

It is so clear that youth offences are on the rise, with more than 25,000 youth offences committed this year, meaning if you look at that, that is one every 20 minutes in our state. The truth is that in our state it is less than 1 per cent of the population – 5400 repeat offenders – who are responsible for 40 per cent of the crime that happens here in Victoria. These repeat offenders have been charged 10 times or more, and within that group, 1100 of them are repeat offenders aged 10 to 17. They are repeat offenders that are let in and out of bail in this catch-and-release policy that the government has upheld to let these youth offenders out. So there is this same group of youth offenders, aged 10 to 17, 1100 of them, that have been arrested at least 7000 times in the past year – 7000 times, 1100 kids. These are kids aged 10 to 17 that keep being let out on bail, that have criminal offences against their names of ramming people in their cars with stolen vehicles, of machete attacks, of gang violence. These are the youths that are being let out on our streets under this government’s watch. And this same cohort are responsible for more than 60 per cent of home invasions, almost half of the aggravated burglaries, as well as at least one in five thefts of cars.

Every single day young people as young as 10 years old are being drawn deeper into a life of offending and reoffending. Families are being confronted, threatened and attacked in their own homes, in their own driveways. And this is not isolated offending; this is a pattern of violence, of theft and of fear spreading through our community. Over the last decade aggravated burglaries have risen 218 per cent. Car theft has nearly doubled. These are not fluctuations, these are failures – failures of policy, failures of prevention and failures of resourcing. It is a failure and an indictment of the Allan Labor government.

While the Premier insists that her tough new bail laws are working and that they are putting community safety first, Victorians know the truth because they are the ones paying the price. They know the truth is that crime under Labor has meant that there is an offence committed every 50 seconds, that there is a break-in with a weapon – an aggravated burglary – that happens every single hour in our state. A car is stolen every 17 minutes in our state. I have heard from people who are paying for private security where they are grouping together with their neighbours, where they are crowdfunding together to get private security to patrol their neighbourhood, patrol their streets, so that they can feel safe in their own homes at night – not even at night but during the day. This is what it has come to in Victoria. Victorians know the truth, and they are the ones that are suffering under the Allan Labor government’s failure to do anything about crime.

Why is it that we have this crime crisis? It is so clear to us on this side of the house. It is so clear that it is because Labor weakened the bail laws to make it easier for people to get out on bail after committing an offence. We also know it is because they cut crime prevention funding by 46 per cent in the 2024–25 budget. We also know that there is a 2000 police shortage – that is the gap in the policemen that are not out working because of the reduction of support to police. We can also see that what has led to this is that the judges’ handbook – the manual that teaches judges and magistrates how to apply bail laws – in practice encourages judges and magistrates that:

… a child … should be released on bail, with conditions, whenever possible.

So if you are releasing these 1100 offenders with 7000 offences to them, 7000 charges – these catch-and-release criminals – you are releasing them wherever possible, is it any wonder there is a crime crisis in our state and any wonder we are all getting calls to our offices day in, day out about the fear and the panic and the terror that our communities are feeling because of the machete attacks, because of the home invasions, because of the carjackings and because of the crime?

On top of all of that, just this week there was this backflip from the Allan Labor government. They closed Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre only two years ago, but they have now reopened it, saying, ‘Oh, my bad. Let’s reopen it again at the taxpayers expense.’ What has happened here with Malmsbury? Let me just break it down.

In 2020 the Labor government spent $32 million of taxpayers money to upgrade the youth justice centre. Then in 2023 they closed the centre, with the Minister for Youth Justice boasting about how they did not need it anymore. And then in 2025 a complete about-face – a complete backflip – from a desperate and panicked government, and now they need to reopen it because they are not doing enough on youth crime. Well, there you have it. And now what is the cost of that to taxpayers? $145.8 million to fix up and reopen this same Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre that you already spent $32 million on to refurbish, renovate and get ready, only to close. Now you are spending another $145 million –

The SPEAKER: Member for Warrandyte, the use of the word ‘you’ is a reflection on the Chair.

Nicole WERNER: Apologies, Speaker – to reopen the same centre that would have been cheaper to have kept running. Do you know how many beds are in this youth justice centre in Malmsbury for $145.8 million that they are going to spend to fix it up, to get it ready to release, to use to house people that are on remand? Thirty beds. Thirty beds that they have spent $32 million on, plus $145 million – I cannot make sense of it. Reopening Malmsbury is an admission of failure from a panicked and desperate Labor government. This is a youth justice centre that they chose to shut down that they are now forced to reopen because they weakened bail laws, they cut the budget for crime prevention and they let youth crime get out of control in this state. This is chaos and waste at its worst from the Allan Labor government.

The other day, speaking of the calls that we are getting to our offices, I received a call from a local mum in Doncaster East. She was in total distress. Her teenage son, who is in year 10 at a local high school, was simply catching the bus home one afternoon after stopping at the shops with his friends. It was broad daylight, 4 o’clock, after school, when he was cornered by a gang and thrown to the ground, and then one of them pulled out a knife and slashed at him. He raised his arm to protect himself and the blade cut deeply into his wrist, severing the tendons that control his thumb and fingers. The knife also struck his thigh and cut through his schoolbag. He was bleeding heavily when his attackers fled, leaving him lying on the pavement to bleed out. His mum has asked, calling me in desperation and in fear, ‘Nicole, can you raise it in Parliament? Can you please tell Victorians what is happening in our state, what is happening in our suburbs, what is happening to our children?’ What happened to this boy was that a good Samaritan stopped and drove him to the nearest police station, where thankfully he was able to be transferred for emergency surgery to the Royal Melbourne. What is chilling about this crime is that it was not a midnight attack in a dark alley. It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon, metres from a busy shopping strip in Doncaster East. The alleged offenders were around 17 years old. Police believe they were part of a group involved in local robberies deliberately targeting schoolchildren. This young man is now home and recovering, but his life has been changed. His mother has told me that she still wakes up in the night to check that he is breathing, terrified that he might not recover fully.

That is the reality of Victoria’s youth crime crisis – ordinary kids doing ordinary things now being cornered and attacked on their way home from school to be stabbed to bleed out on our streets. And yet time and time again we see the same pattern: repeat offenders out on bail carrying knives, given community service or good behaviour bonds instead of real consequences. Nothing is more apparent to me and nothing is more evident of this catch-and-release policy than the example of the 15-year-old boy who was facing five armed robbery charges, car theft and threats to kill who was then granted bail to travel to Europe for a family holiday. That is the state of justice here in Victoria – that while victims of violent crime are still recovering from trauma, a teenager is accused of armed hold-ups and then gets to board a plane for a European holiday. When 15-year-olds accused of armed robbery can walk free to go to a holiday in Europe it tells every youth gang member and every child in the criminal justice system that the system will always give them another chance. It tells victims that their justice comes second to convenience and it tells police, ‘Well, your hard work isn’t really paying off.’

I have youth justice workers telling me that there are children, there are teenagers, who get in and out of jail, who are charged, bailed and charged again, only to commit a crime again, and they boast about it – ‘I’m going to do this again because I know I’m going to get away with it.’ There are children, there are teenagers, now boasting about being addicted to stabbing – addicted to stabbing. These are the criminals that are being let out on our streets again and again because of this failed Allan Labor government.

That is why we are here today proposing solutions. Here on this side of the house we have solutions to the crime crisis. We have talked time and again about break bail, face jail. If you break bail, then you have to face jail. There need to be consequences for these repeat offenders. We need to have justice for victims and we need Victorians to feel safe, as they deserve to feel. We have Jack’s law, which is a policy to get knives off our streets. Our message on that is clear: to give police the wanding powers that they want. It has proved so effective in Queensland, taking 1200 weapons off their streets and resulting in over 3200 arrests. And that is not all: on this side of the house we also believe in early intervention. Whilst on that side of the house they are cutting crime prevention by 46 per cent, we believe that there is rehabilitation that is possible. We have seen the transformational stories of cognitive behaviour therapy, of rehabilitating young people, of getting them off our streets, of having these crime prevention measures that actually divert them from a life of crime. I speak to the community all the time, and we know the stories of youth workers that have had these opportunities to get their lives right, to get out of a life of crime because someone believed in them. We believe in the young people in our state. We believe that they are the future. We believe that they are worth investing in. We believe that they are worth rehabilitating. We believe in the early intervention. We believe that they are who we need to invest in. We stand here on the side of young people, on the side of Victorians and on the side of victims because Victoria deserves better than the Allan Labor government.

The SPEAKER: I remind members that their contributions are to be directed through the Chair.

 Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (16:22): That was quite a performance, and I think that it really does show the difference of these two sides of the house. No Victorian should feel unsafe and every victim deserves justice and support, but our response to crime must be grounded in facts and in what works, not in fear, distraction or recycled culture war talking points that divide communities and make us all feel less safe. Today’s matter of public importance (MPI) from the member for Warrandyte asserts a youth crime crisis and then demands that we repeat the same failed punitive scripts. It is an argument that is built on cherrypicked numbers, social media spin and the very scare campaigns that have been condemned by experts and frankly rejected by Victorians time and time again. So before we get into this policy we must clear up some factually false claims spread on the member’s social media.

Cindy McLeish interjected.

The SPEAKER: Member for Eildon, you are not in your place. I would ask you to give the same respect to the member for Eureka that was afforded to the member for Warrandyte.

Michaela SETTLE: Let us clear up some factually false claims that this member and many senior members of those on the other side continue to assert falsely. The opposition has repeatedly asserted that the government spent $325,000 per bin, a number concocted by dividing the total amnesty program budget by the number of bins – this is in the very important machete reform work. Of course many independent fact checkers have found this claim is false, that the bins themselves cost about $2400. The false figures were pushed in posts and in videos by senior Liberals, including the member for Warrandyte, and they have been called out again and again by independent fact finders and by local media alike. Why I bring this up is that if we are going to be serious about safety, we have got to be serious about accuracy and we have got to come up with some ideas. I note that on the MPI put forward, the contribution from the member for Warrandyte seemed to go nowhere apart from point (b), which was to condemn the Allan Labor government.

It was 1 minute and 23 seconds before there was even a suggestion of what those on the other side might do about this issue, and that 1 minute and 23 seconds seemed to be a lot about what they believed they could do. There was not one word of policy to help young people. There was not one word of policy to change the crime statistics in this state. This government, on the other hand, has put through some really important bills, and I might add that they are often not supported by those on the other side.

The machete bins that the member for Warrandyte likes to mock on social media have in fact been very successful. In the last fortnight we have had a thousand machetes surrendered. Since the start of the amnesty over 6400 knives have been surrendered by members of the public and over 3400 by major retailers. That is nearly 10,000 dangerous weapons taken off the streets in the last two months. Those on the other side can continue to believe endlessly in solving crime, but they have not been in government for a long time so perhaps they have forgotten that government is about making legislation and taking action, not just believing in things.

The Crime Statistics Agency, independent of government, publishes the official records. In the year to June 2025 Victoria did experience a post-pandemic rise in total incidents, driven predominantly by property crime and a small cohort of repeat offenders. Youth offending is a real concern, but it is also important to remember that it remains a minority share of offending overall. Tragically the biggest issue in our state remains family violence, and those on the other side do not seem to have any policies or discussions on those victims of crime. Instead they continue to focus on this youth crisis. When I was doing my masters degree we did an essay on the idea of moral panic, and I can only say that sums up the attitude on the other side. Instead of dealing with crime as the incredibly important issue that it is in our state and coming up with legislation, they just want to come up with slogans that they can shout again and again. At the moment it is ‘youth crime crisis’ and ‘I believe, I believe’. But those of us on this side of the house know how this ends.

We cannot talk about youth crime policy in Victoria without acknowledging the very, very real damage that those on the other side did with their African gangs rhetoric back in 2018. Senior Liberals claimed Victorians were too scared to go out to restaurants at night because of African gangs.. We have to remember what that did – it stigmatised communities, it fuelled that moral panic and it was condemned by experts and community leaders. Even the Liberals’ own internal review concluded that this tactic backfired. We owe it to our African Australian communities to say plainly that demonising a whole community is wrong. It makes policing harder and it makes communities less safe. We now have the African gangs replaced by the ‘youth crime crisis’, despite the fact that it is a smaller proportion of the offending in the state.

But all I can say is that for those on the other side policy is conflated with slogans. We have just had in the previous contribution an endless list of slogans performed for social media, with no suggestions on how those on the other side would help Victorians to feel safe in their homes. They like to say that this is all down to the Allan Labor government, but that is because they choose to cherry-pick and ignore what goes on across Australia and across the world. There are some really deep cultural issues happening, and they would be well minded to consider those rather than just considering the numbers in their internal party room wars.

Things like the cost-of-living pressures, social dislocation and technology-enabled offending have contributed to an increase in crime across the world, but that does not fit the trope of those on the other side.

Part (c) of the MPI is about investing in early prevention and rehabilitation programs, but all we heard was ‘I believe, I believe, I believe’. I did not hear one word of how they were going to do that or what they were going to invest in. We know, because the Shadow Treasurer has made it very clear in the media, that they are going to rip a $5 million to $10 million hole in the budget with all of their slogans about cutting taxes. But what they are not telling Victorians is what they are going to cut. I would like to know how they intend to reduce crime – not one word of it. Oh, I beg your pardon. There was one, which was a knife policy. It did not seem to have anything to do with rehabilitating youth, but they do believe in it. They believe in it, which is good.

On our side of the house, that is one of the driving forces. I think we know and understand that crime is often driven by social inequity, by social division, and we are very keen to make sure that we bring all Victorians along with us. The youth crime prevention program has been a big part of that response; we have invested over $40 million since 2016. What I think is really interesting to note is that an evaluation of that program in 2022 found that the incidence of offending dropped by 29 per cent after going through the program, so it really is something that works. But we have to ask: what does not work? I can tell you what does not work: slogans and stunts. We went through the African gang crisis, and nothing changed from their rhetoric – nothing except social division and more pain for communities that were feeling marginalised.

I think that when we are looking at what works in crime prevention, we can certainly look to many of the policies that this government has put through, like the machete amnesty and the bail laws. There was an interesting contradiction in the presentation from the member for Warrandyte. I could not quite understand what was going on with the Malmsbury conversation. On one hand she was upset that we had closed it, and now that our bail laws are seeing more people go to remand we have reopened it. But somehow the reopening seemed to be being put forward as some sort of suggestion of failure of policy, when needing more beds must point to the success of that policy. It really just goes to show that rhetoric is all that those on the other side have. There is no real suggestion of how we are going to fix this. They just want to have another slogan. I am sorry, young people of Victoria, but this time you are it with the youth crime crisis.

I do not want to undervalue the crime issues that we have. I am very proud of this government for acting so decisively and comprehensively. I am a regional MP. We hear the stories of shopkeepers and families with break-ins and cars happening. I must say that it is not the river of phone calls that the member for Warrandyte seems to be getting. Personally I would suggest that her constituents call the police rather than the member for Warrandyte when there is an incident, but certainly I do not want to undervalue the trauma that all of these people involved in those crimes go through. I am very confident of all that we have done on this side and in this space, but I think what distresses me most in this debate is that our public deserve a higher standard of debate.

They deserve more than just Instagram algorithms and slogans. When the opposition circulate figures and a neutral fact checker labels them ‘way off’, that actually corrodes trust. We saw today in question time that they felt the need to talk down our police and the numbers – they were just attacking police about unsolved crimes. Whether they do not understand the way that government and agencies like police work, where we resource them and give them the resources that they need and then they make those decisions, they are clearly attacking the police, and really they will stop at nothing to attack someone for a good slogan. Let us all remember that the last time they were in they cut 450 police jobs and they slashed $130 million from the Victorian police budget. So I think people that are worrying about police resourcing can look to some facts. There are facts out there – do not go to the Instagram post of someone from the other side. In fact go and have a look at the figures and you will see that this government has invested in the police very heavily, unlike those on the other side. And of course when they come to deal with their $5 billion to $10 billion budget hole that their Shadow Treasurer was happy to talk about in the media, the slashing of taxes that would create a $5 billion to $10 billion hole, is it going to be the police that get cut? Is it going to be the youth crime prevention programs that get cut? I have grave concerns that they will.

This house needs to reject this MPI not because youth crime is not serious but because Victorians deserve better. They deserve better than emotion that is built on misinformation and a history of divisive scare campaigns that have already failed this state. Let us get on with the hard, proven work that actually makes communities safer. Let us not just perform for the cameras loudly, shouting slogans about how they believe in stopping crime with no answers on the table. They have given us nothing except a gaping great hole in the budget, which can only be dealt with through cutting important frontline services like our hardworking police. We will always support them.

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (16:37): On the conclusion to the member for Eureka’s contribution on this MPI, which I am more than happy to support the member for Warrandyte on, I will tell you what Victorians deserve: Victorians deserve a government that is actually concerned and accountable when it comes to community safety, because right now all it is concerned about is looking back and sledging the opposition. There was nothing constructive in that contribution then that took accountability for the youth crime crisis in this state and/or offered any solutions. We have offered up solutions time and time again: ‘break bail, face jail’; Jack’s law, which removes machetes and knives and gives police back their powers to scan for knives and weapons; and our $100 million safer communities plan as well will invest in prevention programs – and that is just the beginning.

And this is not just a metro problem. This is a very, very real problem in my electorate of Mildura and in fact right across regional Victoria, as the member for Morwell spoke about during question time this afternoon. It is not just an abstract debate about slogans, although the Labor government are the masters at slogans with very little substance behind them. It is very real. It is lived every day by community members in my electorate, in the member for Morwell’s electorate, in the member for Ovens Valley’s electorate, and it is the same faces. We know, particularly in Mildura, and I speak to our local constabulary every week, that it is the same faces appearing before the courts time and time and time again – kids as young as 10. I spoke in the last sitting of Parliament about a young boy who is 11, who had stolen a car and driven it at 140 k’s an hour. These are kids, and we know – particularly our police – who they are, and they are sick of seeing the same faces over and over again. In fact police are exhausted. They are simply exhausted. Victims are frightened, community members are frightened, morale is frighteningly low and it is faltering even further because they feel unsupported by a system that is meant to protect them.

This is not just perception, this is data. Compared with this time last year, offences committed by young people aged 10 to 17 are up 14 per cent. That is one every 21 minutes in this state. Among those aged 10 to 14 offences have jumped 12 per cent. Among 15- to 17-year-olds they are up 15 per cent. When you compare those numbers to a decade ago, the picture is even more damning. Youth offending is up 40 per cent overall – 10- to 14-year-olds up 47 per cent and 15- to 17-year-olds up 37 per cent. That is not just a blip on the radar. This is the trajectory that youth crime is on now because we have a government that refuses to take accountability or acknowledge that there is even a problem.

The Premier said herself that the Melbourne CBD is safe. In the very early hours of the morning last Friday – I often leave my apartment in the dark – I was walking up Little Bourke Street. I had seen the member for Warrandyte’s Instagram with the news story about a stabbing in Little Bourke Street; this was two weeks after that incident. I was walking up Little Bourke Street and I was followed all the way up to Parliament. I did not get a great look, but I would imagine it was a teenager that was walking past me and doubled back and turned around and followed me all the way up here before disappearing into Parliament station.

I say this often. I look like I would be hard work for someone to attack, and I probably would be hard work. That has never happened to me before. I now carry a personal alarm for good reason. I am 6 feet tall, and I do not look like I would be easy to take down. For me to be scared to walk two blocks between here and Little Bourke Street and start carrying a personal alarm and for the Premier to sit there and say that the CBD is safe, how incredibly patronising to the people of Melbourne and Victoria.

You cannot fix a system that is broken without first acknowledging that there is a problem, and this is fuelled by a government that has weakened deterrence against crime. They have softened the bail laws even though the slogan that they use here is the ‘toughest bail laws in Australia’ – what rot – and they have left regional areas without the services that we need and without police resources. We know the police in Mildura do an extraordinary job. Our superintendent, John O’Connor, is soon to retire – shout-out to John, he is a magnificent man. He does incredible work and it will be sad to see him go. They do extraordinary work under enormous pressure, and they know many of these kids by name.

In fact the last time I raised a question in question time I had police members stop me in the street, police members that I do not know, particularly when they are dressed in their civvies. But they stopped me in the street to tell me more stories. One I found incredibly alarming was the story of an 11- or 12-year-old boy who is a repeat offender. He committed an aggravated burglary on a elderly woman’s home, stole a phone whilst he was there and went through the photos on this phone. It is a small town – 56,000 people, but it is a small town. He knew who her grandkids were. This boy ran into this elderly woman at the supermarket and started taunting her that he knew who her grandkids were and they better watch their back. He started taunting her that he knew her family, to the point where this poor elderly woman had to take out an intervention order. We know half the time they are not worth the paper they are written on anyway, particularly for youth offenders. Tell me once again how accountability is being taken by this government when we have things like that happening in not just Victoria but in Mildura. It is absolutely disgusting.

Here are some more examples. The Sunraysia Daily have done a huge amount of reporting on this, and Allan Murphy. I talk about crime in this place every week, and there are articles written by Murph every week in the Sunraysia Daily. There was a story about groups of youths going store to store in Langtree Mall – we know that happens – and Mildura Central engaging in shoplifting sprees. Another article describes a man who joined a group of young boys after they stole a car in Mildura – that man should be a role model to these kids. Traders in Mildura’s CBD have voiced that youth crime has gone to the next level, and local business owners are reporting repeated thefts, intimidation and a sense that the system is not backing them. Yet we are told time and time again that the system does back them and they have the toughest bail laws, which is absolutely ridiculous. This is government failure in one of the fundamental things a government is supposed to do – look after the safety of its people. They have failed, and they continue to because they simply will not take accountability.

The people of Mildura are proud and resilient, and we are compassionate. I have no doubt that the weakened bail laws and the crime policies of the Allan Labor government have been whipped up with some sort of utopian ideology and compassion. But I tell you what, when there are no consequences for compassion, it turns into chaos, and it has turned into a crisis.

So what will the Nationals and Liberals do? As I said at the beginning, ‘break bail, face jail’ – common sense. We believe in giving kids a chance, but there have to be real consequences for the chaos that is being caused. We will introduce Jack’s law of course, which will give powers to police to scan for knives and for weapons on the street, which will remove those knives and weapons – instead of a bin costing $13 million that those offenders will obviously go and put their machetes in! Again, what a joke. Our $100 million safer communities plan invests in prevention programs unlike the ones that are apparently there now. Coppers tell me all the time that when you lift the veil on those things, there is nothing there. It is time for a fresh start, Victoria; it really is time – a fresh start with less waste, lower taxes, less crime. It is time to get on with it.

 Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (16:47): I rise this afternoon to make a contribution on this matter of public importance. I began the debate in my office, and I listened to the member for Warrandyte’s contribution. It was a hard watch, and the reason it was a hard watch – I know we are all a bit tired in here today, but I literally had to pinch myself to make sure I was not dreaming, just to make sure it was not a case of deja vu. If you are going to steal your friend’s homework, if you are going to put your name on your friend’s homework, at least change a few little words here and there. I literally made a contribution on this matter of public importance a month or a month and a half ago – the exact same one. She has just rehashed it and put her own name to it.

And just like the matter of public importance that I made a contribution on that five or six weeks ago, this has absolutely no detail. It has no policy. It is just politics. No policy, just politics, because that is what those on the other side are all about. When it comes to crime in this state, when it comes to policing in this state, when it comes to anything with respect to the justice system, they are all about politics. It is so light on in detail – I just had some notes here – I was looking for the rest of it. I was waiting for it to provide some sort of solution, which they all say they have, but no, it is just a carbon copy of what we spoke about in this place during the last session when we had a matter of public importance. Those opposite talk a big game about crime, talk a big game about the justice system, talk a big game about what they will be able to do, but they have no solutions, they have no plan and they have no policy.

The member for Eureka touched on it. This is the same party that not that long ago hashed up and drummed up the big debate about African gangs, and we know how that went for them. We know how it went for them to demonise a cross-section of our community for about 12 months leading into an election. It was one of the more despicable things that I have seen in my time observing politics. They continue to show that they have no plan and no solutions when it comes to this area.

We have been, as a government, pulling every lever available to us to make sure that we are keeping Victorians safe. We introduced new bail laws to make sure that magistrates, when they are hearing bail cases, have to, by law, put community safety at the forefront of every decision that they make. We cannot make the decisions for them – it is a pretty fundamental pillar of our democracy that we have a separation of powers – but what we can do is introduce bail laws to make sure when they are making those decisions that community safety is at the heart of every decision that they are making. And we know that it is working – we know that component, that lever that we have pulled, is working – because we know that more and more offenders, particularly more young offenders, are on remand. That is why we are reopening Malmsbury. Listening to the member for Warrandyte’s contribution, that was one of the more bizarre parts of it. ‘You should be doing everything that you possibly can to make sure that these young offenders are remanded’ – and then she gave us a chip and had a go at us for reopening Malmsbury.

James Newbury: No, for closing it.

Dylan WIGHT: Yes, you did. The reason that we are reopening Malmsbury is because there are more young offenders on remand, so we need the extra space. It was a bizarre part of the member for Warrandyte’s contribution – a bizarre part.

We have passed our machete ban as well. We know that there has been an amnesty, which I believe has now finished. We know that there are machete bins and drop-off points for people to drop off these dangerous, dangerous weapons around our communities at different police stations. I implore anybody in the community – not just my community but right across Victoria – that still has a machete to use one of those bins and to drop that dangerous weapon in that bin without any fear of consequence. Go there, drop the weapon off and get it off the street. We also worked with commercial outlets and providers of these weapons to make sure that we got them off the shelves, and what this has resulted in is almost 20,000 of these dangerous, dangerous weapons off Victorian streets. That is a direct result of the levers pulled by this government to keep the Victorian community safe, because keeping Victorians safe is first and foremost at the heart of everything that this government does every single day.

We have also made record investments in Victoria Police. In just my community alone, we see the Werribee police station, the largest police station outside of the CBD. We see the Werribee Law Courts as well, an enormous investment into Victoria’s justice department. We see 3600 new police on the beat. We know that we cannot just arrest our way out of this, we know that we cannot just police our way out of this, but the added investment in Victoria Police has been absolutely enormous under this government. I will just make a quick point to the member for Mildura, who is no longer in the chamber but who made the contribution before me, that Mildura has the most police per capita of anywhere in the state. The investment that we have made into Victoria Police has been unparalleled and has been a record investment.

I spoke at the start of my contribution about the fact that those opposite have no plan. This is just about politics for them and it always has been – it always has been and it always will be. But all we can do is go by their track record; that is really all we can do. We can look at their track record in this space when they have had the rare opportunity to govern in this state, particularly since 1982.

When they were last in government, between 2010 and 2014, the opposition slashed $130 million out of Victoria Police – $130 million. And I note that they are not interjecting. What that meant is that cost Victoria 450 frontline police. Between 2010 and 2014 there were 450 less police on the beat. They can talk a big game all they want, but all we need to do is look at their track record in this area to know what they will do again. We know that they will have to do it again, because modelling shows that they have an $11 billion budget black hole. On the one hand they are saying that they are going to fix every issue in the justice system and every issue in Victoria, which costs money, whilst also having an $11 billion budget black hole. So either come clean and say that you are just lying – sorry, you are telling mistruths – you have no plan, you have no solution, or just come out and tell us what you are going to cut to try and achieve what you are trying to achieve. That was the previous iteration of a Liberal government.

I do not want to go back too far, but I had a quick google and a quick read of an article from 2012. It was entitled ‘Jeff revisited: it was the best of times, the worst of times’, and it went on to detail the enormous cuts in the public service, including to Victoria Police, during the time of the Kennett government. That saw police stations, particularly in regional Victoria, close, and that saw less police on the beat during that term of government. They can talk all they want about how that was so long ago. Jeff Kennett is your hero. Like, Jeff Kennett –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Tarneit, please do not reflect on the Chair.

Dylan WIGHT: Of course, Speaker. Those opposite are all about politics when it comes to the justice system. They have no cogent plan and they have no solution; it is just about politics. I would hope the next time we have an MPI it is not a carbon copy again. (Time expired)

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Caulfield, I want to acknowledge the former member and minister the Honourable Hugh Delahunty in the gallery.

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (16:57): There is no question that every single Victorian understands that we have a crime crisis here in Victoria – except for the Premier. You cannot fix a problem unless you admit that you have a problem. This is a government with a leader that has her head so far buried in the sand that the Premier believes that everything is all going hunky-dory, everything is fine, Victoria is safe, Melbourne is safe, everything is going fine. The Premier is also saying that we are doing a wonderful thing taking these dangerous machetes off the streets. Well, we know that is not true. The government had invested, or wasted, $13 million in these machete bins, only to see law-abiding citizens handing their machetes in. What have we just seen in the last few weeks? Three attacks in four days in Broadmeadows. We saw a terrible machete attack at the train station in Broadmeadows. We then saw another one at the Harmony Cup NRL football game. We saw kids running through the game waving machetes while families were there. This was all about harmony; it was all meant to be about celebrating peace and togetherness. I tell you what, there is none of that happening on our streets in Victoria, because we have a government that is lawless, that is providing no consequences, and Victorians do not feel safe.

But if that was not bad enough, the last crime that happened in Broadmeadows – three in four days – was one in the shopping centre. The irony of this is we had a machete attack, with two groups, or gangs, waving and fighting with machete swords off doing their business, while at the same time across the road there was a machete bin. So you have got the machete bin at the police station and literally across the road you have got a machete fight happening with these gangs.

What does that say? It says that these youth gangs are not listening because the government is not acting. The government says we have the toughest bail laws in the land. We do not have the toughest bail laws anywhere. The government has done big and tough, except when it comes to young people. We know that from our very own bail book, which suggests we have got to ensure that we get young people back on the street as soon as possible.

We know that the government is putting a big bracket around when it comes to youth and it says, ‘Off you go, do as you please.’ And that is what has been happening: bail after bail after bail. Youth offenders are literally laughing at the government and the laws here in Victoria. That is what young offenders are doing. We saw that happen at Luna Park, where literally it is meant to be the house of fun. You have got the big smiling face. Well, outside the big smiling face were a couple of gangs; off they were, fighting with machetes, stabbing one another with machetes – kids. And what happened after that? Two brothers were involved in that attack, one of whom had two other alleged attacks with machetes. Third time – what ever happened to ‘Third strike and you’re out’? Well, this one has had three, and he is certainly out – on the streets again. That is where he is: not locked up, out on the streets. It is catch and release. And you know what, these crooks are laughing at the government, they are laughing at the laws, and that is why they are reoffending. They have got social media and off they go, posting away, saying, ‘Look at this weak government. Look at this weak Premier that allows us to do as we please.’ That is why we are the way we are.

I thought I had seen it all until these young offenders created swap cards – footy swap cards promoting how many times they have stabbed one another. I mean, I have never seen anything like it. Only in Victoria – instead of having AFL swap cards with your favourite footballer, you have got swap cards with your favourite crook that has stabbed people on the streets. As we heard from the member for Warrandyte earlier, you have got young people saying that they actually get excited about stabbing people. They are addicted to stabbing people. Hasn’t this government failed when that happens?

And what has happened on the other side? Well, the government said back in 2020, ‘You know what? We’ll stick $32 million into Malmsbury youth detention centre,’ and then a few years later, in 2023, ‘We’ll close it because we want to put everyone out on the streets. Off you go, off you go.’ They probably handed them a machete on the way out. And then what happens? They wake up and they see all this and say, ‘What are we going to do with them?’ Because the police stations are full you cannot put them there. So what do we need to do? We need to spend $140 million to reopen Malmsbury.

Tim Richardson interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: We said, member for Mordialloc, never to close it. And you know what, if you close it and you open it, if you close something and you let it sit there for a couple of years, it is always going to cost a lot of money to reopen it, and that is the waste of this government – $200 billion worth of debt, over $1 million an hour in waste just to be able to pay for it. If you want to look at why we are all paying for it, have a look at the reopening of Malmsbury. It should have never closed. Those young offenders should have never been put on the streets, risking the safety of every Victorian.

And the government says it is wonderful – we have now got the new commissioner that is going to reorganise the police. Well, they have had 10 years to do that. Do you trust this useless, weak government to fix the problem that they made? They broke the system. They have allowed this to happen. They have allowed Victorians to look over their shoulders because they do not feel safe. What an embarrassment. As the member for Brighton said, in his own electorate an elderly woman had to stand up in the middle of the night and fight off crooks in her home. What a disgrace when this is happening in people’s homes. Your home should be a sanctuary. It is not here in Victoria. You do not feel safe in your home. And I know, as the member of Warrandyte alluded to before, about people paying for security, because they are doing it right through Caulfield – $300 a month to have security patrol the streets every night because people are breaking in and they get arrested and they get let out, and when can the police catch them? They are 2000 police short under this government.

Do not let them lie to you, because this government have actually hired less police than back in 2022. There were 500 police promised in 2022, and that has not happened. In fact, we are 2000 police short now, so we do not have enough police to do the job. At the same time, $50 million was cut from the police budget, and then police, on top of not having enough people to do the work, were told to mow their own lawns because they have cut the budget.

Tim Richardson interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: I went out to Ringwood and mowed some lawns. I did, and I will tell you what, I have been out to a lot of other stations. And you know what, when the Premier says you are safe in Melbourne’s CBD, the Premier is wrong. When the Premier says you are safe in Victoria, the Premier is wrong. In the Premier’s own seat of Bendigo, which I visited, I met with Shane. In the middle of the night 12 months ago he was on his way home from work, minding his own business, and he was assaulted by four young offenders, kicked to the ground, kicked, punched and hit. That person, Shane, is still suffering from that. He is an electrician who cannot work. He has lost movement in his hand, and his other hand was torn off in terms of some parts from the bone. He was kicked and punched to the nth degree. He met with the Premier, and the Premier said it was all going to be fixed over 12 months ago. He is a victim of crime, and he is still waiting. He is still waiting, in the Premier’s own seat. Where did it happen? Six hundred metres from the Premier’s own office. Wake up, Premier, wake up! The Premier has failed. And what has the Premier done?

Tim Richardson interjected.

David SOUTHWICK: Supported him? The guy is still waiting, member for Mordialloc – because your Premier has done nothing. She has failed. She is not fit for government. The Premier is not fit for government. The Premier should resign today, because we are all unsafe on the street. The Premier is not fit for the job. This government is not fit to govern. The government has failed at its first job – to keep Victorians safe. The first job is to keep Victorians safe. And you know, member for Mordialloc, they have failed. I have been to Shepparton, I have been to Bendigo, I have been to Ballarat and I have been to Wodonga – and 10-year-olds in Wodonga hospital are threatening doctors. There was a 10-year-old that jumped the fence, and when the doctor said, ‘What are you doing here? Get out of here,’ he pulled a machete and said, ‘You get out of here.’ That is Victoria. Welcome to Victoria – the lawless state with a weak government and a Premier that has allowed this to happen under her watch. She should resign.

 Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (17:08): I did hear a lot of commentary there, but I did not hear any solutions – I mean, zero solutions. Anyway, I am just making a bit of a passing comment there. With regard to police numbers, let us look at that issue. The Allan Labor government has made a record investment of $4.5 billion in Victoria Police, including funding for more than 3600 additional police. What does that look like? We have delivered the single biggest uplift in police numbers in the state’s history, but we know that many industries across the country are facing workforce shortages, and policing is not immune to these pressures. That is why our government has provided funding for Victoria Police to continue our major recruitment campaign. That is it – solutions, unlike those opposite, where there are a lot of theatrics et cetera, but I have not heard any solutions.

Our major recruitment campaign Made for More includes an additional $4 million invested in this year’s budget. Also, there are changes to entry requirements for the academy that are helping to attract more people to the force while still maintaining the high standards of integrity and professionalism the community expects. Recruitment is a top priority for Victoria Police and for this government, and we will always back Victoria Police with the resources they need.

I will reflect locally that I am very excited – and I know that the local police at South Melbourne police station are too. Currently it is a heritage-listed building, a lovely old building, but it is certainly not meeting the contemporary needs of police. So I am very pleased to see that the $53 million investment of our government is seeing a fantastic new, fit-for-purpose, contemporary police station that is currently well underway in South Melbourne. This is a real investment, and it is also going to be really helpful for the police, other than providing the specific tools that they need of course, because it is much more accessible to the various roadways around there. It is just a far more pragmatic outcome for them. So, contrary to allegations that we are not doing anything, a $53 million investment in the South Melbourne police station, I would suggest, is certainly a significant investment – and such investment is happening all around the state.

Of course crime is a very complex issue – no-one is resiling from that. I thought that I would reflect on a number of the aspects of behaviour that we would deem inappropriate in Victoria, and I am going to zone in on education. We know that the safety of students and staff in our schools is our absolute priority. We know overwhelmingly Victorian schools are safe. However, in those cases where someone does go too far, we are also giving the schools the powers they need to keep the community safe. Earlier this year we announced new powers for school principals, giving them the ability to suspend or expel students for behaviour that occurs outside of school, including online, if it poses a significant danger to the safety and wellbeing of our students or staff.

Just the other week we handed down our review of the school community safety order scheme. This is another Labor initiative which gives schools the power to crack down on harmful, aggressive or threatening behaviour – another tool to keep our schools safe. I do not wish to cast aspersions on parents. Overwhelmingly the majority of parents on our school councils et cetera communicate in a wonderful way, and we know that our school principals do everything they can to build those really positive relationships with their school communities. But for the very small percentage of those who are not respecting boundaries when it comes to our school principals, we are putting further mechanisms in place. It has been a pleasure to be part of recent consultation on that issue. I will say there is an Engage Vic survey right now, and we encourage parents, principals and staff alike to contribute to it, because this will only help in terms of enhancing community safety in our state.

I also do want to reflect on an issue that has been raised with me about crime against retail workers, or I should say antisocial and completely inappropriate behaviour. Retail workers should be able to feel safe in their workplaces. They should be able to turn up each and every day and not fear intimidation and aggressive behaviour. But we know that there are reported unacceptable and violent incidents and threatening behaviour, including abuse referencing race or cultural background – completely unacceptable. That is why we shortly will introduce tougher laws to protect retail workers and other customer-facing workers in hospitality, fast-food and passenger transport settings. To back in this very important work, these reforms are being informed directly by employers, police, unions and industry through the worker protection consultation group – members include Victoria Police, the Office of Public Prosecutions, the Australian Retailers Association, the pharmacy guild, the SDA, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, the United Workers Union and the Transport Workers’ Union. You can see this is very constructive, specific and targeted work to improve the safety of our retail workers in their workplaces.

Another specific issue we have unfortunately is women’s safety. This is not exclusive to Victoria. It is a worldwide problem, but today we are zoning in on matters in Victoria. We know that the scourge of family violence is insidious. We have an unequivocal commitment to stamping out this scourge on our community. We will be introducing a package of reforms later this year that will work to change the laws around protecting women, children and members of the LGBTIQA+ community from intimate partner violence. When we are looking at discussions about prevention and we are thinking about the causes of crime as well as the solutions to crime, we know that matters that happen in those early years that people are exposed to can have drastic and dramatic ramifications and unfortunately lead to repetitious behaviour later in life that perpetuates higher rates of incarceration, which is counterproductive for our community. Those reforms include extending the length of family violence intervention orders to two years rather than 12 months, fixing service rules so offenders cannot slip through the cracks, making sure orders can apply to violence that happens outside Victoria and requiring police and courts to consider context so we stop misidentifying victims as aggressors.

I know from when I was Parliamentary Secretary for Justice that sometimes when a victim of domestic violence is in the throes of a very stressful situation that extreme stress can cause them to manifest behaviour in terms of being very upset that could give a false impression of what the actual scenario is about, and therefore that victim is not necessarily getting the support they need. So we are putting mechanisms in place so we can better identify who is the actual victim in the situation and making sure that they are not further damaged by a very unfair situation that can lead to them being misidentified. We are also keeping kids protected when they turn 18 and strengthening stalking laws, as recommended by the Victorian Law Reform Commission. This is also another very disturbing behaviour, I am sure, and it is not only impacting women. It can impact so many people. Even MPs have overheard situations of this kind of incredibly disgraceful but also intimidating and frightening behaviour. It is good that there is really good work going on to strengthen those stalking laws, because it is very important when we are looking at crime as a whole and not trying to just speak one or two lines over and over and over again without solutions.

I think something that is also important to note is that the opposition slashed $130 million from Victoria Police when they were last in government, cuts that made our streets less safe and our frontline officers pay the price. They also cut 450 police jobs – 450 frontline officers gone – because the opposition thought the budget savings mattered more than community safety. And when the government brought forward the tough bail bill to put community safety first, the Liberals voted against it. So they talk about law and order, but when push comes to shove, who is delivering? You can say the words but you have got to back them in. Right? I think that is very important. If we are going to transact the matter of community safety in an honest and open way, then we would call on them to back in those reforms. And I would say the same of the anti-vilification reforms. Again, they did not vote with us on those very important protections against hate in our state. So I would hope that in future they might reconsider their approach instead of just talking. It is perfectly fine to raise issues, but actually back in the solutions, back in the reforms and maybe come up with some solutions as well.

 Rachel WESTAWAY (Prahran) (17:18): It was very interesting listening to the member for Albert Park telling us what we should be doing, but guess what, the government is the government who makes the decisions, so it is no good looking backwards; let us look forwards. I am rising today to speak on the critical matter of public importance submitted by the member for Warrandyte, and at the outset I wholeheartedly agree with the member for Warrandyte on the urgent need to address the youth crime crisis engulfing Victoria. This is not merely a matter of debate, it is a crisis that demands immediate attention.

The member for Eureka dismissed our concerns, claiming that we rely on news and statistics to talk about crime. Well, yes, we rely on news and statistics to talk about crime because we are talking to our constituents on a daily basis and we are feeling it deeply. And enough is enough: we need to fix this state. Unfortunately under the Labor government we have witnessed a catastrophic erosion of law and order. Daily headlines are telling us the story. Car thefts, home invasions, anti-social behaviour, machete attacks – they have all become the norm rather than the exception.

The most recent Crime Statistics Agency Victoria data – maybe the member for Albert Park might like to listen to this, because this is factual – was released just last month for the year ending the 30 June 2025, and it paints an alarming picture. The number of recorded offences increased by 15.7 per cent to 638,640 offences, the highest recorded figure since the agency began reporting in 2004–05. Criminal incidents surged by 18.3 per cent to 483,583 incidents. This means that across Victoria a crime is now occurring every 49 seconds.

But the statistics that should shake this government to its core relate to young people. Bail applications to the Magistrates’ Court increased by 18.4 per cent in the last 12 months, driven by increased bail refusals and revocations, and most disturbingly, unsentenced receptions to youth justice increased by 35 per cent in the last 12 months. Thirty-five per cent – this is a damning indictment of a government in denial about the seriousness of this crime crisis. Whilst the government has finally changed the bail laws, the fundamental issue remains unaddressed. I see no initiatives that go to the root cause of youth offending, nor do I see anything that is addressing the crisis we face right now. The member for Eureka and the member for Albert Park in their speeches said, ‘Well, what are we doing about it?’ What are ‘we’ doing about it? You are the government.

When it comes to the government services, nothing highlights the failures of the Allan Labor government more in Prahran than the persistent problems of crime, homelessness, mental health conditions and drug use. The latest statistics reveal that Port Phillip, which covers a significant proportion of my electorate, recorded 10,974.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, representing a 19.1 per cent increase. Port Phillip now has the fourth highest criminal incident rate in the entire state. Across Stonnington, Melbourne and Port Phillip criminal offences have increased by more than 18 per cent, with crime rates per 100,000 residents up over 20 per cent. Property and deception offences have surged by 21.2 per cent statewide, with theft from motor vehicles alone increasing by more than 28 per cent. I saw some social media recently from a local real estate agent who filmed his car, which had been broken into on his street in my electorate. The windows were smashed and the baby seats were snapped at the brackets that actually tie them in and make them safe, but nothing was stolen. I just wonder what is happening in our state. It needs to be addressed.

Local police in my area are at their absolute wits’ end. We desperately need investment. Prahran police station is still in need of an upgrade to a modern, fit-for-purpose facility, but the community is still waiting. It is great to hear the member for Albert Park talk about her police station. Well, why is Albert Park being looked after and my electorate is being left alone? Prahran police are 20 officers short and simply do not have the numbers to maintain a presence in key areas across the electorate to deter antisocial behaviour and to respond when crime occurs. Week after week we hear about aggravated burglaries, home invasions, car thefts, arson attacks, stabbings and firebombings, and investment in our police station and police resources is desperately needed. Since being elected the member of Prahran in February I have repeatedly asked the Allan Labor government for more police, more CCTV and more drug and mental health treatment facilities in our area to combat this really difficult situation to deal with crime and antisocial behaviour. So far these requests have not been met, and there is no indication of when they will be.

Similarly, I have been advocating for our desperately underfunded and undercoordinated welfare groups. All Victorians have the right to expect key service responsibilities from government. The police community youth club on Inkerman Street – that is PCYC – brings young people together through programs and deep connections, through mentoring and by providing a safe, home-like environment for young people where they feel like they can belong and escape whatever might be happening at home. It is at risk of closing, losing $30,000 a month. This facility has provided basketball courts to St Kilda Primary School students and serves as a vital community hub. We cannot allow it to close. St Kilda Primary School still does not have a school hall for assemblies or for sport, years after the previous one was demolished. This is a basic responsibility of government, not a luxury, and the failure to deliver it just is not good enough. Organisations like St Martins Youth Arts Centre run outreach programs to the Horace Petty estate in my electorate, the public housing estate which houses many children who are at risk and on the lowest socio-economic spectrum in our society.

This organisation works with children under the age of 15 who desperately need structured support programs. They work with 10 children and they require two staff members for 10 children – that is a ratio that demonstrates the high-level needs of these vulnerable young people, yet they run a program on a shoestring budget with minimal government support. These are programs for our young people, arts programs, that can actually give them a purpose, give them structure and help them escape from some of the issues that they face daily that children just should not have to deal with.

Sport and arts programs are not luxuries – they are unifying. They are healthy ways for young people to find focus, purpose and belonging. When we strip these away we should not be surprised when some young people go off the rails. Providing hope is essential. The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Victoria’s unemployment rates worsened by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 per cent. For a 16th consecutive month Victoria has held the highest or equal highest unemployment rate in the nation. This 16-month streak is the longest in almost 50 years of ABS collecting comparable monthly labour force data. This has a direct impact on my electorate of Prahran, where cost-of-living pressures bite and unemployment rates remain an ongoing concern. How are young people ever going to aspire to their own home when it is near impossible to even rent? My own daughter, a university student, talks about people of her age, 19 years old, struggling for months to secure a rental property. When 45 per cent of the cost of a build is made up of taxes imposed by this Allan Labor government, how on earth can anyone enter into the property market in their 20s or 30s? Cost-of-living pressures have been exacerbated by Labor’s taxes and charges, including an expanded and increased congestion levy, which has a direct impact across Prahran. Since Labor took office, they have introduced or increased at least 61 new taxes, fees and charges. Overall, tax revenue has been increased by 183 per cent since Labor was elected, while workers’ incomes have only risen by 38.5 per cent.

Young people need hope. The young people in my electorate want housing. They want to know that there is a future. They want to know that they have jobs when they finish school. They want to be able to have something to look forward to. If they do not, then we have a community, a group of young people, that are at risk, that do not have anything to look forward to, and then there are other options, like to go into a life of crime. In my view and from the coalition’s perspective, we have policies that we will put in place to ensure young people are directed in the right area, that there are support services for them and that we get rid of this crime crisis.

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (17:28): It is important to rise and speak on the matter of public importance raised by the member for Warrandyte. I have been in the chamber for about an hour and a half listening to those contributions, and I want to go through a couple on that side, the first one being the lead speaker, who normally gets 15 minutes, and to only cover half of a dot point of the matter of public importance shows that it was more about the attempts to try to find the best line for your grabs rather than the actual intent of lowering crime over time. Let us call it for what it is. And to have literally four coalition members in the chamber for the lead speaker’s contribution was extraordinary. This was the first shadow minister opportunity, and there was no-one in this place. We have seen the coalition true to form in this space, where sloganeering is not really believed. There was the great reference from the member for Eureka, who said that their crime narrative was a direct causation of how terribly they did in the 2018 election. It was a direct correlation to a rhetoric. Tony Barry, as their oracle strategist over that side, has talked about this rhetoric and this narrative being put forward.

And what was then the contribution of the shadow in this space? The member for Caulfield was one of the most unhinged things I have seen, where he went so red in the face I was concerned that he needed a water. The member for Bulleen was at the table, and I thought ‘Get him a drink. Let’s have just a cessation or a break.’ He described it as lawless, and this is someone who thinks they are a serious cabinet minister contender for government. The readiness for government task that the member for Bulleen has got is these people might be in control of departments down the track, where they say such unhinged things like the state is lawless to the 18,500 Victoria Police officers in our state. It is not credible, it does not stack up, it is not fit for government.

Of all the rhetoric on that side, not one of them has got to the depth of the challenges and the stats that we find in youth justice. So let us go through it, because not one of those opposite has bothered to talk about the situation or circumstances that youth offenders find themselves in.

Let us go right back. We know that education and early childhood policy are some of the biggest statewide primary prevention mechanisms. Those opposite slash, cut and burn education – state or federal, it is in their DNA. They think it should be a smaller government. The member for Kew’s first speech is an eloquent display of small government – no intervention and no protection from the state on services. Education is a key factor. Guess what? The majority of youth justice offenders have been subjected to family violence and abuse or debilitated by mental ill health. When we talk about point 3, the member for Warrandyte did not even cover it as the lead speaker. In 15 minutes – 900 seconds – not one second of that contribution of a shadow minister in this portfolio area was dedicated to the root causes of eradicating these outrageous behaviours.

We understand people come with trauma, but you cannot outsource your trauma onto others and inflict grief on other Victorians. The Victorian Labor government and our policies will always front up to caring and supporting the most vulnerable. But if you subject others to that impact, then guess what, you will face the consequences. We see that with a 46 per cent increase in youth remand. We see the overall remand number up by 26 per cent. So the narrative that the member for Caulfield came in with does not stack up. In a doorstop setting when you are surrounded by media or when you are doing a debate, if you carry yourself like that you are not fit to be a minister of the Crown in Victoria. It was an outrageous reflection and narration around our state and on Victoria Police. Put the Ryobi mower down and maybe go and work on policy. Get the whipper snipper off, get the gardening gloves off, stop the showboating and do something and work on it This government has done, year after year, reform and changes here.

Then there was the notion of the ask for more youth justice capacity and the opening of more youth justice capacity, and then the attack on the opening of the youth justice capacity. No Victorian can find their way through the mental load of trying to figure out whether the Liberal Party is a credible opposition, because their policy change is based on where the wind goes, who is backgrounding on who, who gets a stinging attack and maybe if the Herald Sun writes about it and they read the paper at 7 am. That is where their policy might go, because there is no coherent narrative here. The Leader of the Opposition has a one wood. It is to rock up to crime scenes, sometimes with the person literally still under the towel, to narrate what might have happened. That is the one wood for the Leader of the Opposition. There is no crime prevention frame to it. There is nothing narrated. There was a phantom number put out there in an environment when the former Shadow Treasurer, now Attorney-General, had so many holes in his costings that we now know that $10.8 billion is the floor to the cuts. How can you say you are going to put money into crime prevention when you have got to find nearly $11 billion in savings?

We know that those opposite cut and Victorians pay. Those opposite will cut services. They will strip back police. They will cut funding like never before. If you do not believe us, read the first speech of the member for Kew, the Shadow Treasurer: ‘We believe in small government. We don’t believe government creates any jobs.’ I mean, David Limbrick in the other place – the Libertarian – was blushing. He was thinking, ‘Hang on a sec, have I got a star recruit from Kew?’ This is small government: ‘Get out of the way. Don’t do anything. Don’t do anything ever again.’ I bet now, knowing the polling and the demographics of the electorate and looking a bit deeper in, that first speech is regretted. It is regretted, but it is an opportunity for the member for Kew to come out and say, ‘No, we will not cut police in the savings of $10.8 billion. We will not slash our corrections facilities and outsource our education programs to the private sector, rather than investing in schools and education.’ At the moment it does not stack up. Everyone can point to a problem and narrate a problem; the harder thing in government is to come up with solutions.

The narration around the Premier is outrageous. The Premier is a compassionate, empathetic and thoughtful leader. The stunt yesterday was something that we have seen before – but rarely – around the narration of people impacted by crime. Well, guess what? The Premier fronts up and meets them with compassion and care and empathy, because those are her values and that is who she is as the longest serving minister and as the Premier of our state.

Those are the values of our Premier: care and compassion. She knows that consequence is absolutely undeniable. People have to front up to their accountability, but tackling the root causes of crime to lower it over time means dealing with things like the prevention of family violence. Kids subjected to abuse who then inflict their trauma on others, kids who have been impacted by family violence, kids that carry poor attitudes towards others in the community – how do we erode that away? The narration of the member for Warrandyte and the member for Caulfield about this had no description of how we prevent that. How do we stop that? What is the early intervention? They narrated it almost like a boundary commentator of what has happened. Nine News and others do that; that is the news frame. You have got to govern. People have got to put forward policies and solutions, so what does that look like? Early intervention looks like dealing with trauma and dealing with the mental health and wellbeing impacts on these kids who do not have a protective structure around them, but holding them accountable – holding to the fact that when they do offend they are remanded. They are facing that consequence. That is the reality of it.

As the police commissioner has stated, Victoria Police are restructuring to deal with this directly. This wave is coming of response and impact, and it will have consequences for those that have used violence and traumatised other Victorians. We acknowledge that harm. There is never an excuse for that level of unaccountability, because those people on remand are still facing their circumstances before the courts. On recent statistics a third of the prison population, which is around 6000, is unsentenced. That is the description of the increase right there of holding those offenders on remand. They still have to face their time in court. They still have to face sentencing. It is an important frame here. But the notion that suddenly a coalition thought bubble will create a utopian scenario where people will not commit crime does not have any basis in reality and credibility. The real hard work is to understand how we find those kids where they are at and deal with their accountability. There is never an excuse for violence being used in a youth justice frame or in a prevention of family violence frame.

Guess what? If people want to improve their lives and be supported in the future, they have no better champion than this government. If kids want to get on a better trajectory to stop using violence and be backed in through education, through TAFE and through learning, then there is no better government than the Allan Labor government to support that into the future. Those are the things that I was hoping the members for Warrandyte and Caulfield might narrate. They never got to dot point 3, because it is all about sloganeering and it is Liberals first, Victorians second.

 Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (17:38): I rise to support the member for Warrandyte on the matter of public importance. I do note that we are here to talk about this:

That this house notes that the youth crime crisis across Victoria highlights the need for stronger laws –

I 100 per cent agree with that –

better policy and greater investment to make communities safe again and calls on the government to:

(a)   strengthen Victoria’s justice system to ensure real consequences for repeat and violent offenders;

(b)   acknowledge that the government’s failures have contributed to rising youth crime and reoffending; and

(c)   invest in prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation programs that tackle the root causes of offending and create a pathway out of crime.

We talk about youth crime, and we acknowledge that it is children as young as 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 that are in that big bubble of this crime wave that is happening in Victoria at the moment. We sometimes try not to make excuses but we see that we do not want to go too hard because these children are so young. But these are well-organised criminal gangs that have no concerns about committing crimes. We are talking about crimes of walking into supermarkets and stealing stuff off the shelves and going into small businesses and stealing profits and materials when mums and dads have worked so hard to be able to keep their businesses open.

Then we talk about these same offenders, and they are getting arrested and held sort of accountable – ‘Don’t do that again’ – but they are then back out on the streets. This is at 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 years of age, so the cycle is there and the cycle has started. The member for Mordialloc relayed how these children are coming from some horrendous backgrounds, and I agree with him – it is a cycle that needs to be broken, and I take that on board. But these children as they move through, they are doing worse crimes. All of a sudden they are breaking into a tradie’s car on the street or a tradie’s car that is parked in the driveway and stealing his tools just for the hell of it – just because they know they are virtually untouchable. Then they are moving into breaking into a house and stealing the car keys or taking mum and dad’s car and causing grief. And they are driving that car. They do not care if the speed limit is 60. They think they can do 160 in a street around a town, or they can do over 200 kilometres an hour on a highway. They are now driving a lethal weapon that is going to cause damage. Then they move on because they get caught, they go through the court system and again they are back out on the street. This time they now progress up to violent attacks against people in my community where they will bash with whatever they have – if it is a bat – or they will stab someone. They do not care. It is unfortunate that we are not breaking that cycle, and they move all the way through.

I spoke today of a young mum from Churchill that was hit by a stolen car. The perpetrator was arrested and was back out on the street posting and boasting about the day that he had had while she was still in hospital. That is where we are at, but it gets worse. I have members in my community that have paid the ultimate price, and you might think, ‘Well, what’s the ultimate price?’ It is the price of their son being killed – stabbed to death. I had one a couple of weeks ago, a young Aboriginal kid who was targeted, stabbed to death on the street. I sat with his mother, and she relayed, ‘This goes on. What can I do?’ And I sat with this mother – goodness me, I cannot believe how strong she is – and talked with her about the options of what we do about youth crime, because it has now changed from crime from adults to youth crime that is causing us the grief. These are children that do not want to go to school. How we break that cycle I will come to with a couple of programs that are in the Latrobe Valley shortly.

Dr Ash Gordon was another one stabbed multiple times. I have spent a lot of time with his family. He was a doctor, someone that actually looks after the health of our community. Kids broke in and stole some of his property, so he was trying to get it back from these youth offenders. They murdered him – stood there and stabbed him multiple times. This is what we are dealing with. We can talk and come up with facts and figures, but this is the cold, hard truth: we are dealing with a fraternity of people who are criminals. It is hard to call 12-year-olds hardened criminals, but that is what they are – 12-, 14-, 16-, 17-year-olds. This is what they are. We need to change our philosophy about how we tackle it. We cannot just let them go back out on the streets.

The police are doing their job. They know who they are. A crime will happen, and the police will know who to go and talk to.

We have issues in the Latrobe Valley where at the moment we are getting a criminal element being sent down to the Latrobe Valley to live in rooming houses. The police actually do not know who these new criminal elements are. It is cheaper rent when they come out of prison to actually house them down in Morwell. That is the issue that we have. We have got a huge problem at the moment with the structure of the justice system, and it puts the pressure on our police. I stand with our police officers in the Latrobe Valley. They do what they can.

The government came up with free travel on the trains and buses in regional Victoria. Well, I tell you what, there are not going to be a lot of people on the trains and buses down in the Latrobe Valley, because that is one of the thoroughfares for these criminals to travel on. I have pleaded with the Minister for Police to give us some more PSOs that we can stick on the trains. We need to stamp it out. An example of how it could work: we had the court case with the mushroom lady. Do you know what happened? They wanted to make sure, because the world’s media was going to be in Morwell at the courthouse. So they stopped and searched people in the CBD, and within 40 minutes it was finished – done until the end of the court case – because uniformed officers, whether they be police or PSOs, make a visible presence. There is their test case. It really, really does work.

Public drunkenness – the government took away police powers to move people on if they are drinking on the street, so we have got this element that congregate.

We have a youth program called Mountain Track Youth. It is a great organisation in Jumbuck; it is run by Laura Myer. They take disadvantaged youth and get them out of that cycle. These are the programs that we need to look at together, because at the moment I do not want the next person that comes through my door that has been attacked by criminals to have lost their child, and that is what we are getting to. It is time to put up now.

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (17:48): I too rise to speak on this matter of public importance this afternoon raised by the member for Warrandyte. In doing so I feel like I have said time and time again that this is not a new matter of public importance, and I stand here again as a very proud western suburbs MP to speak on another ridiculous MPI that is brought before this house for no other purpose than for the member for Warrandyte, queen of TikTok, to go and do another video talking about crime here in Melbourne. I mean, if this person was the poster MP for Victoria, it would be an absolute travesty.

I have had many, many conversations for a very long time with folks in Melbourne’s west, with perpetrators of crime, with victims of crime and everyone and everything in between, and I am going to start my contribution by saying Victoria has amazing young people. Our young people are incredible Victorians. They make a tremendous contribution to this state, and most of them, the majority, grow up and do amazing things here in Victoria and indeed right across our country. They are people – children, young people, kids, whatever you want to call them – that we should feel proud of, and I think starting my contribution on a positive and thanking young kids for being amazing in growing up and in their contribution to Victoria is a really important way to start.

I am starting that way because I am going to read something out, and I do not usually do this. It comes from the member for Warrandyte’s Instagram page. It was published on 11 October, and if you will indulge me, I would love to read it out. It has got a lovely photo of her and a very smiley, happy-looking Leader of the Opposition. She says:

I’m honoured to join Shadow Cabinet in @bradbattinmp’s team.

I’m thrilled to have been appointed as the:

Shadow Minister for Youth Justice,

Shadow Minister for Youth & Future Leaders –

wrap your head around that one –

Shadow Minister for Children.

These are all areas I’m extremely passionate about.

I’m looking forward to taking the fight to the Allan Labor Government in an even greater capacity.

I am assuming she means greater than her TikTok and Instagram accounts. The irony is not lost on me, and I do not think it is lost on folks on this side of the house. I am reading this out because we have had this new shadow minister from the opposition stand here – it is not the first time that she has stood here and carried on like this – and talk down young people in Victoria. We have serious challenges with young people – with youth and with children – not just here in Victoria but across the country and across the globe. You do not need to be a researcher on this. You do not need to be a shadow minister to understand this, and you do not need to be a government minister to know this.

There are serious challenges facing young people, but what we need is serious people to rise to the challenge of tackling crime here in this state, most importantly. We hear many terrible stories from those opposite of appalling crimes that are committed upon them that they bring to this house. I have them in my own electorate, but they bring them here to play politics. With such a serious, serious challenge facing young people, facing Victorians, facing Australians and facing people across the globe, what do we do with young people? If you are out on the hustings and you are talking to people about crime, they want to tell you they are tired of it, and they are right. They are tired of it, but they also want to know how to prevent it in the first place.

Someone who brings an MPI to this place on the very issue of youth justice and crime here in this state, a person who is a Shadow Minister for Youth and Future Leaders and a Shadow Minister for Children, failed to mention one single thing she would do in government to improve the lives of young people here. In fact I am not sure that the member for Warrandyte actually knows why kids are committing these crimes, and these are conversations I have on a very regular basis with my community. They want to know why young people are doing this. And you know how I found out why young people in the western suburbs are getting involved in the types of behaviour that we absolutely do not want them to be doing? I go and speak to the cops, and I have been to the three big cop shops in Melbourne’s west – that is, Werribee police station, Wyndham North police station and Sunshine police station.

Every cop who is working tirelessly to turn these kids around says to me – when I ask, ‘What is the problem with these kids?’ – that there are two things. The first is the unbridled use of, yes, iPhones and social media. It is the normalisation of violence, of knives, of machetes and of God knows what else they are looking at on social media. It is the way they talk to each other on social media. It is not normal. The federal government have put a ban on social media – I think it is for 16-year-olds and under. That is one of the key reasons why. It may not be talked about a lot, but that will be beneficial to kids here in Victoria.

The second reason – which the member for Warrandyte has never stood in this place and talked about, and as the Shadow Minister for Children, she should start doing her research – why we have a problem with youth is because of domestic violence. It is men in the home of the family, with children watching, beating up and bashing mothers and wives and girlfriends and partners. That is the combination, the two key reasons, why kids in Melbourne’s west are committing these crimes.

Both of those things are not going to be solved by just locking up kids and throwing away the key. It is not going to be solved by ridiculous cheap TikTok videos by the member for Warrandyte to incite fear in the local community. That is not how you address these issues. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition that he is going to have his hands full with that one. She needs to do a whole lot of reading, get off social media and spend more time getting out and speaking to the services that deal with kids like this every single day. In fact I would invite the member for Warrandyte to head on over to the western suburbs, because we have heaps of these programs and they have been funded by Labor. They were set up by Labor, and they have been funded and continue to be funded. I would encourage her to thank the tireless workers who every day turn up to deal with kids who have the most appalling backgrounds and have committed the most appalling crimes. I would encourage the member for Warrandyte to do the work so when she stands in here and she brings to this house a matter of public importance, she can at least stand here and talk on it and create her TikTok videos with some kind of level of credibility, because that is what the member for Warrandyte lacks. God help this state if the member for Warrandyte ever ends up in government as the minister for youth justice, youth and future leaders and the minister for children.

This matter of public importance is nothing other than politicking what is a very serious issue. There are very serious challenges facing young people here in Victoria, and we need very serious people, desperate to be in government, who when they eventually get there will take the action needed to ensure that young kids and young people have a better future and become those future leaders that seem to be so important as part of her title. This is a ridiculous matter of public importance.

 Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (17:58): Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the member for Warrandyte on this matter of public importance, noting that the youth crime crisis across Victoria highlights the need for stronger laws, better policy and greater investment to make communities safe again and calling on the government to ensure real consequences for offenders, acknowledge their failures so we can actually get solutions and invest in proper prevention, rehabilitation and early intervention.

I want to open with a story. Picture this: a quiet suburban evening in Cobblebank in Melbourne’s west. Two boys, one just 12 and the other 15, are walking home from a local basketball game. Out of nowhere they are ambushed by a group of up to eight masked youths wielding machetes and long knives. In moments the unthinkable happens. The boys are chased down and brutally hacked to death in the street. This is not the script of a horror film; it happened here in Victoria last month. A senior detective described it as one of the most horrific crimes in a substantial and growing list of crimes of this nature. The children who were murdered were not gang members, just innocent kids in the wrong place. Now two families, friends and a community are shattered. As the father of one victim lamented, their community had buried four children in the past month from similar violence.

This is not an isolated incident. Earlier this year midday shoppers at Northland shopping centre in Melbourne experienced a nightmare of their own. A brawl broke out between rival youth gangs in the food court, some armed with knives and a machete. Panic spread as hundreds of people ran for the exits in fear. One man in his 20s was slashed and taken to hospital with serious injuries. Three others were treated for anxiety attacks amid the chaos.

Imagine being with your children at the local mall and suddenly seeing a gang member wave a machete and everyone screaming and fleeing for safety. These are scenes we never thought we would see in our community, yet they are happening right here again and again in Victoria. And Victorians are feeling it.

Parents are afraid. Young people are afraid. Elderly residents fear break-ins. Small businesses face brazen robberies. Our community is on edge, and with good reason. These stories are not just media hype. The hard data backs up what we all sense and know – that youth crime in Victoria has exploded in recent years. Crimes committed by children aged 10 to 17 have risen to their highest levels in 15 years. According to stats from February, in 12 months the number of recorded youth offender incidents jumped by 17 per cent, reaching around 23,800 incidents – a huge spike compared with a few years ago. Youth crime is now at a decade high, and Victoria Police leadership is also fed up. Frontline officers are frustrated at seeing the same young criminals reoffending with impunity. It is telling that Victoria has just notched up its highest number of total arrests on record. Police made 75,900 arrests in the year to March 2025. That is 208 arrests every day on average.

And yet with the community reeling from this crime wave, the government’s first instinct was to downplay or deny the problem. The Attorney-General at the time, in 2023, declared, ‘I do not want a discussion about a youth crime crisis that does not exist,’ before saying that youth crime was just about perception. The government seems more concerned about managing optics than confronting reality.

We do need action, therefore, in this space. We need proactive solutions. Managing crime, as with manners, behaviour, civility and everything else, is really just like parenting. With parenting you need both a carrot and a stick. You need to give your kids positive things to do and a purpose and direction, whether that is in sport, community, crafts, schooling, education or other things. With your kids you also need consequences and discipline for bad behaviour, both to stop and prevent such behaviour. Yet we have had insufficient consequences here in Victoria, and we have had a lack of crime prevention investment. What we therefore need are actual consequences for offenders. That does not necessarily need to mean jail, but there need to be consequences. Talking to local CFA commanders, they mentioned that in the past youth were required to go and volunteer at their local CFA, which meant that they had a consequence, but they also developed positive relationships and positive thrills. Or they might go up and clean graffiti for 80 hours or do many other things that are actual consequences. We also need investment in prevention, like with the Icelandic prevention model which I have proposed in the past, which I will mention soon.

On consequences more generally, the first is with respect to bail. In Victoria this Labor government increasingly kept reducing our bail laws and weakening our bail laws. We kept calling that out, and we put many bills to Parliament, which were blocked by this Labor government, to try and restrengthen our bail laws. They were not listening to us. But with the increase in crime rates and people getting bail again and again and again, they finally did start to listen when the community was in an uproar, and they worked to restrengthen some of the bail laws that they had weakened in the past. But this goes nowhere near the level that they need to actually get to to ensure that people who commit, say, 300 offences or commit crimes again and again do not just keep getting bail.

So what will we do in the coalition? We will have a policy around ‘break bail, face jail’. If a youth offender on bail commits a further offence or breaches their bail conditions, they will be swiftly returned to custody. No more slaps on the wrist for breaching bail. The message will be clear that bail is a privilege which must be respected, not a free pass.

On machetes as well, we kept on saying that this was a major issue and we brought bills to Parliament, which were again blocked by Labor. We tried to reclassify machetes as prohibited weapons five times from late 2023. Labor kept on voting it down, but eventually, with the massive community pressure as well, they too took action in that area, but much more slowly than they should have and, as we have seen with the rollout, not very effectively and with a very high cost associated with it as well.

We need to do more in this space though as well. We have said that we will introduce Jack’s law in Victoria, so police and PSOs will have the power to use handheld metal-detecting wands in any public place – train stations, shopping centres, music festivals, you name it – without needing special preapproval for designated areas. We also need to have proper move-on laws. This Labor government weakened these laws. We would do the opposite. We would restore and enhance police move-on powers, allowing officers to break up groups of youths loitering with intent to cause trouble and ensure prevention before trouble starts. On drunk laws as well, at the moment we cannot arrest people for their own safety or the safety of those people around them, even if it does not lead to court or convictions. That was something that police were able to do in the past, and police are spending so many resources now because of the lack of these powers. We also need to invest, as I mentioned, in alternative consequence pathways – not just jail, but also many things like helping your local CFA or cleaning up graffiti and so much more – because there need to be actual consequences for offences.

On prevention – this is a key element – we do need the carrot approach as well. I have mentioned in the past that we in Victoria have had a situation where this government keeps on reducing funding for crime prevention programs. I have talked about programs that could be effective here in Victoria. One is the Icelandic prevention model. In the 1990s Iceland had one of the highest levels of youth crime, substance abuse, anti-social behaviour and so much more. Twenty years later they have one of the lowest levels in the world. Planet Youth have been working with countries around the world to roll out this model. This is something that I have proposed that we should consider here in Victoria, because this is a program that has been shown to work, and we should roll it out. We will also do other things like the Restart program. We will have a Victorian-first residential responsibility and discipline program for serious repeat youth offenders aged 12 to 17. We will also invest in our Youthstart program to coordinate these efforts statewide. We envisage establishing youth justice hubs in high-needs areas. Ultimately we need a vision that ensures both consequences – the stick and the carrot, the positive things – in Victoria so we can stop this youth crime crisis.