Friday, 14 November 2025

 John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (21:19): (2119) My adjournment is for the Minister for Police in the other place. Prahran police station is located just a short walk from my electorate office, and I would first like to acknowledge the work that they do in serving the community. Prahran police are made up of 51 officers, nine of whom are specialists in family violence matters. Our government has introduced some of the toughest crime laws in the country over the past year. Earlier this year the Allan Labor government implemented the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Act 2025, introducing new criminal offences for vilification and protecting Victorians from hate speech and conduct. The Crime Amendment (Performance Crime) Act 2025 signed into legislation in August made it a crime to post and boast about certain crimes online, and last month it was reported that over 1300 machetes were surrendered by Victorians and over 3400 by major retailers throughout Victoria through its machete ban, facilitated by disposal bins located at police stations such as Prahran police station’s machete safe disposal bin site. In Victoria’s state budget 2025–26 we invested $5.4 million into police recruitment and $3 million into community crime prevention. This adds onto the $4.5 billion invested into Victoria Police last year. These changes have given our officers more power to crack down on crime, and the hardworking individuals of the Prahran police force work tirelessly to keep the community safe. This is why the action that I seek is for the minister to visit Prahran police station to hear about how their work is going with these changes and the investment.