Thursday, 28 August 2025

Retail workplace safety

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (23:43): (1909) My adjournment is to the Premier. In Eastern Victoria youth gangs are ramraiding shops with stolen cars, and they are terrorising shopping centres by swinging machetes and hammers. Staff at Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings are now being equipped with body cams. A mother asked me how the government could let crime spiral out of control so much that her 16-year-old daughter has to wear a body cam when working on the check-outs. What has Jacinta Allan done? She has not followed the advice of experts; she has spent $13 million on 40 machete bins. New Zealand has not let their crime go unchecked. They have cut ramraids by 60 per cent by using a zero-tolerance approach. They are using tougher policing, instant fines and stricter bail enforcement. Their lead crime expert has now given Victoria the same advice to follow. The action that I seek is for the Premier to follow the evidence-based bail recommendations put forward for years by the Liberal Party, which will keep our community safe and repeat offenders off the streets.