Tuesday, 3 February 2026

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (17:33): My question is to the Premier. There are 367 fewer police on this Premier’s watch. Why?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Laverton is warned.

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (17:33): It is good to see the Leader of the Opposition could fit us in – that in her diary there were no scheduling clashes for the Leader of the Opposition being here in question time today.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I know it is late in the afternoon. It is no excuse. Members will be removed without warning.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker: relevance.

The SPEAKER: The Premier to come back to the question that was asked.

Jacinta ALLAN: Of course we on this side of the house, who will always back our frontline Victoria Police, know that Victoria has the largest police force of any state or territory in the nation, and we thank Victoria Police.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Rowville and the member for Polwarth are both warned. You are very fortunate that I am giving you a warning.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question went directly to the Premier’s cuts to police.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order. The Premier was being entirely relevant to the question. She was asked a question about numbers of police, and she is only making the point that we have more police here in Victoria than any other jurisdiction.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has only been on her feet for a short time. I will give her an opportunity to answer the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: Of course we have funded and have supported more than 3600 new police. What we do is we back the men and women on our front line. We back and support the work of the chief commissioner, who is working incredibly hard, as he said, bringing about a new-look Victoria Police to get those additional police men and women out on the streets to prevent and respond to crime. I will make this very clear: we will always back the chief commissioner, not undermine them like those opposite.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is required to answer the question and the Premier has not yet dealt with the question. She has been evasive but has not yet answered the question.

The SPEAKER: I cannot tell the Premier how to answer the question. The Premier has concluded her answer.

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (17:36): Crime has increased 29 per cent on the Premier’s watch, and 41 police stations remain closed or on reduced hours. Why is this government failing to keep Victorians safe?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (17:36): As we have demonstrated a number of times over the course of the last year, we understand very keenly from listening to many victims of crime and their families that the levels of crime are too high. We are backing the work that the chief commissioner is undertaking to get more police out on the streets. We have the largest police force of any state and territory, and the chief commissioner is working to get more of those police out on the streets to both prevent and respond to crime. But also we have made important changes to the law. Adult time for violent crime is about understanding that there need to be serious consequences for this new type of offending. Also new responses are needed, which is why the work of our violence reduction unit is so crucially important – tackling the root causes of crime while we are being very clear that there need to be serious consequences for those causing the crime.