Tuesday, 10 September 2024

South-Eastern Metropolitan Region

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:59): (1103) My question is to the Minister for Police. Since the recent breakdown of negotiations over a new EBA, enterprise bargaining agreement, with Victorian police officers seeking a 6 per cent annual pay rise over the next four years, five of the nine police stations in my South-Eastern Metropolitan Region have experienced periods of not being manned after hours. Will the minister reassure the community that public safety is not being compromised in the process of these negotiations? My constituents would like to know whether the government is considering revisiting the proposal for 9-hour shifts and nine-day fortnights, since crime statistics in parts of the south-east have skyrocketed well beyond the state average in 2023, with nearly 15,000 offences recorded in Frankston alone, for example – an increase of 17.4 per cent on the 2022 figure.