Tuesday, 18 November 2025

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (23:34): (2135) Over two days in the last fortnight five locals from Pakenham, Officer and Beaconsfield have reported the same car ramming cars on the Monash Freeway at night while brandishing large kitchen knives, egging people and cars on the Pakenham high street using the eggs that they had stolen from Coles that morning, destroying the paint of both car parks and driving cars at 80 kilometres per hour along 60-kilometre roads. Of course all reports said that the car’s occupants were teens. It is the same car, by the way, and they are believed to be the same teens who drove by and egged my office last week at around 8 am. They were also later seen chasing a local resident’s son along the Princes Highway, attempting to run him off the road and waving a knife as he tried to reach safety at the Pakenham police station. Sadly, what has happened in Pakenham is not an isolated event or an isolated act of vandalism or intimidation; it is part of a statewide youth crime crisis. According to the Herald Sun last week, police pursuits in Victoria have surged to almost 1000 per year – that is two to three per day, fuelled by teen criminals in stolen cars who ram parents that are doing school drop-offs, live streaming their crimes, only to be let out on bail again and again. There are 2000 vacancies across Victoria Police at the moment at a time when there is a horrific crime crisis, so the action that I seek is for the Minister for Police to explain what is being done to address this issue. Locals are stressed out; some are even terrified, they have told me. The action is for the minister to outline what is being done to make Pakenham and the area safe again.