Tuesday, 2 December 2025

 Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (02:24): (2184) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Police. The action I seek is for the minister to mandate the collection of ethnic appearance data for all police stops, including vehicle stops, and all police searches, including those in designated areas. This data is essential for understanding systemic issues in policing, particularly racial profiling. On 24 November the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project released its 2024 findings, revealing that Victoria Police continue to disproportionately target First Nations, African, Middle Eastern and – my community – Pacific Island communities. The report highlights the disproportionate use of both physical force and threats of force such as tasers. Before you say that there is zero tolerance for racial profiling, Minister, the evidence says otherwise. The Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project found that people perceived as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander were 15 times more likely to be searched than white people yet no more likely to possess drugs or weapons. African communities were nine times more likely to be searched, Middle Eastern communities 5.3 times and Pacific Islanders, my community, 5.2 times. Less than one in four searches across all groups resulted in a find. Furthermore, the data demonstrates that these differences are not justified by offending rates, highlighting the disproportionate targeting of non-white communities compared with white people.

Victoria lacks proper accountability mechanisms to monitor racial profiling, and it is a mockery to suggest current complaints systems prevent these practices. Minister, relying on the Victoria Police Manual is inadequate for addressing community concerns related to misuse of power. Internationally, stronger monitoring is standard. The UK has collected and published ethnicity data for 30 years through its stop-and-search initiative, New York’s stop and frisk data program responds to racial disparities and Canada’s 2024 race-based data collection initiative requires officers to record perceived race to identify systemic bias and to understand the outcomes of police public interactions in the use of force, wellness checks and arrests. Minister, it is clear that there is merit and an urgent need to make the collection of ethnicity data mandatory for all stops and searches by Victoria Police. Furthermore, it is urgent that the racial disparities in everyday police practices are closely monitored by an independent body. Minister, will you commit to ensuring this practice is embedded in a system that desperately needs it?