Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (13:21): With Latrobe city feeling unloved and disrespected by the Allan Labor government, the member for Caulfield and I sat down at a crime forum on Thursday night. 120 people were in attendance that night, including the family of Kaiden Morgan-Johnston, who was murdered not so long ago on the streets of Morwell, and the family of Harry Wright, who was murdered in his house in Morwell. It coincided with the family of Dr Ash Gordon giving their victim impact statements in court.

Business leaders are at breaking point down in the valley and all across regional Victoria. Retail offences in the Latrobe Valley have increased 65 per cent in the last year. Our retailers are on their knees and crying out for help. We heard how vehicle theft is happening every 16 minutes in the Latrobe Valley and how serious assault crimes are happening every 29 minutes, and there is a youth offence every 21 minutes. The community and the people of the Latrobe Valley and regional Victoria have lost faith in the government being able to help keep them safe.

We spoke about our thoughts moving forward: bringing in ‘break bail, face jail’, bringing in Jack’s law so we can actually stop people carrying knives on the streets, which are killing our community members. It was a great night. I do wish to thank the member for Caulfield for coming down and helping out with this forum.