Tuesday, 4 February 2025

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:09): (1354) My adjournment is to the Minister for Police for urgent action to address the rising crime in Greater Bendigo, which continues to spiral out of control. I could read you the statistics in Bendigo from the 12 months to September 2024: stealing from retail stores has doubled, aggravated robbery jumped 69 per cent, residential aggravated burglary has risen by 89 per cent, motor vehicle thefts are up 50 per cent. But statistics do not matter until you actually meet the people. I have spoken with residents in residential streets of Bendigo who are fed up with the hoon drivers, the reckless drivers who are regularly screeching in the streets, and you see the marks and the burnouts on the road in the morning. A couple of weeks ago a 67-year-old man in Long Gully was bashed and run down with a car after he told a gang of hoons to stop doing burnouts. I visited a local newsagent just last week in Bath Lane, Bendigo. He has faced personal threats. They threatened to bash him. His business has been robbed, and his wife witnessed a group of youths brutally bash another young person in broad daylight in the middle of Bendigo.

I could tell you about many people I know whose cars have been stolen, whose homes have been broken into. I can tell you about the lady that I met who 12 months ago had her home broken into. A man tried to steal their car. In the process he actually ran over her husband. A neighbour who tried to assist was stabbed three times. In court the perpetrator had 80 pending charges and was told he would get 15 months imprisonment. But within a week he was out on bail, and he has broken the law countless times.

We called for tougher bail laws 12 months ago. Labor has done nothing. It takes an election this weekend in Prahran and Werribee for the Premier to admit that Victoria’s bail laws are failing. Look at the tobacco licensing laws. It took forever for the state government to introduce a bill to regulate the industry, and then they delayed the date of implementation. Over 110 stores have been firebombed, including in Bendigo and Rochester.

Police are frustrated. They are doing what they can to get criminals off the streets, only for a magistrate to let them off the hook because our laws need reform. Victoria also needs to follow the lead of other states and introduce permit-to-protest laws. Melbourne is now known as the capital of protests, and police resources are being absolutely wasted. I witnessed a protest myself in front of the Flinders Street train station. Masked protesters took over the whole major intersection there and dumped rubble in the middle of the road, and hundreds of people swarmed to that protest and set off flares and sirens. It was extraordinary to watch that happening in our city. With a growing population we need a growing police force, and right now we have over 1100 vacancies and no recruitment campaign. Crime is out of control in this state, and I ask the minister to address the reforms needed to change it.