Tuesday, 28 July 2026

 Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Leader of the House, Minister for Police, Minister for Community Safety, Minister for Victims, Minister for Racing) (14:24): I am pleased to rise to update members of the Carroll Labor government on the work we are doing to keep Victorians safe, backing Victoria Police with the tools and the powers that they need to drive down crime and deliver a safer Victoria. Youth crime is down 6 per cent, aggravated burglary is down 22 per cent, robbery is down 15 per cent and sexual offences, family violence, theft and property offences are all down under our government.

In May this year some $62 million was announced for 200 police reservists. Those police reservists will be deployed across the city, across the suburbs and across our regions to make sure that they release more frontline professional police to keep people safe, driving vans and not driving desks. We also have invested in 170 additional police shifts, thanks to the work of those additional police reservists who have been graduating from the academy just this very week.

I note also our PSOs and the investments we have made that have seen some 209 arrests being made and 400 charges laid during the past school holidays alone. We know it has been a game changer to have those PSOs at our shopping centres through Operation Pulse – at Pacific Werribee, at Bayside, at Frankston, at Highpoint, at Fountain Gate, at mighty Northland, at Watergardens, at Southland, at Eastland and of course down there in Geelong. That is why there are an additional 50 PSOs in this year’s budget. Some $44 million will continue to ensure that those PSOs are where they need to be to keep people safe: in our shopping centres and supporting our businesses and supporting local people where they live, where they shop and where they come together.

There are threats to these PSOs and there are threats to our police reservists, and I want to thank these retired police officers who are coming back to serve once more – to serve our community, to serve Victoria Police. We thank for their contribution, because all this is threatened by $40 billion of One Nation–Liberal cuts. That is what is at stake, and we will not let it happen here in Victoria.