Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (09:53): I wish to talk about the rise in crime in my area. Since 2023 crime in Baw Baw has gone up 32 per cent – in the last year alone a 12 per cent increase. It is unfortunate that in my area of Baw Baw, which covers 4000 square kilometres, we only have one 24-hour police station in Warragul. The fact is that I have got the townships of Drouin and Warragul, which have a population of 43,000 people, and it will take a police car to get from Warragul to the other side of Drouin about 15 minutes. This is not serving my community. The fact of the matter is I had a constituent come into my office yesterday. She is in her mid-60s, lives alone and had an attempted break-in, and the response from the police was – and it is not their fault: ‘We’re sorry, we don’t have the resources to attend. We don’t have the resources.’ This is to lady in her mid-60s.

I can see the Minister for Police sitting there, and it would be great to get the police minister down to show him the police station in Drouin. I have actually asked him before: ‘Come and have a look at it and tell me if you don’t think this needs an upgrade,’ because when you have got a population of nearly 20,000 people in Drouin, to have a station that was built in 1974 that cannot service the community is absolutely abhorrent in 2026. The minister is here now; I invite him again.