Tuesday, 29 August 2023

Police resources

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:45): (434) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Police and Minister for Crime Prevention and concerns the alarming news that single-officer police stations, exclusively in smaller rural communities, may soon be for the chop. Despite Victoria’s ever-growing public service and spiralling spending, Victoria Police faces 800 full-time vacancies and has another 900 serving officers absent due to workplace injuries and long-term leave. The Andrews government’s failure to deal with this growing problem despite growing calls for some time now could have shocking consequences for regional Victoria.

For some time now the closure of single-officer stations has been rumoured in the media, and I was concerned to hear about the recent radio interview with the Police Association Victoria CEO Wayne Gatt. Mr Gatt noted the officers employed in the 98 one-person stations are already frequently called out to cover vacancies in larger regional centres and the cities. New enterprise bargaining negotiations seem to indicate the move could be formalised, with a consequent loss of service in smaller areas.

Regional Victoria already suffers from neglect. To pick just a few random examples, in recent years I have spoken about the lack of infrastructure spending, the state of the roads, the paucity of doctors and the withdrawal of banks. Regional police officers give outstanding service to small towns. They live and work in their communities and have deep knowledge and connections which could never be replicated by part-time officers visiting from other areas – and in terms of emergency response they are obviously on the spot. The idea that this service should be stripped away is unthinkable and would be the greatest betrayal yet of country communities by the Andrews Labor government. The solution is clear: Minister, recruit more officers, do not cut country cops. Why should our communities have to pay for your failures?

In my own electorate, shutting the stations would create vast gaps. There might be no manned stations on the 150-kilometre stretch of the Glenelg Highway from Ballarat to Hamilton and only two between Ballarat and the South Australian border. There could be just one, at Mortlake, along the 225-kilometre stretch of Hamilton Highway between Geelong and Hamilton. That is inconceivable. Minister, the action I seek is simple: an ironclad commitment to keep these stations open for good.