Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Arson attacks

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (02:25): (753) My adjournment tonight is directed towards the Minister for Police, and it concerns recent arson attacks in the northern suburbs. No, I am not just talking about tobacco shop arson attacks, which seem to happen on a weekly occurrence. Minister, as you would be well aware, in the past fortnight there have been five arson attacks against venues in the northern suburbs. Victims of these attacks include the Phoenicia Receptions venue in Brunswick, the Furlan Club in Thornbury, the Emerald Receptions centre in Thomastown and the Al Nafoura restaurant in Mill Park. I have actually been to most of these centres, visiting and celebrating with our great multicultural community in the northern suburbs. Al Nafoura was targeted by a group of 14- to 16-year-old teenagers last Tuesday and again on Sunday morning. CCTV footage from the recent blaze actually shows armed thugs with military rifles violently pulling a security guard out of his car and holding him on the ground at gunpoint while they committed arson to the reception centre.

The escalating brutality and frequency of this gang violence leaves members of our community fearing for their own safety. I was actually really looking forward to an upcoming event with our Lebanese community in the north at the Emerald Receptions centre in Thomastown. Unfortunately, that has had to be cancelled. The owners of the Emerald were deeply devastated by the tragic incident that happened earlier at their venue and they have been left reeling from the attacks, as have their affected customers. I feel really bad for those affected bridesmaids, brides and grooms. It is not acceptable to have people destroying property like this, stealing vehicles and dumping them before setting them on fire. In the case of the Furlan Club, staff were actually still inside when these thugs set it on fire. It is a really serious situation; people could have died. The youngest arsonist was 14, and yet this government wants to raise the age of criminal responsibility. I think these 14-year-olds know exactly what they are doing, and they are being used by thug gang members as pawns, and that is exactly what will happen if we raise the age. I seek the action of the minister to update me on these arson attacks and what the government is doing to ensure similar crimes will not happen again.