Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (19:04): (2478) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Police, and it concerns the lack of police in the northern suburbs and the impact that is having on my constituents’ community safety. This is the second time this week that I have raised this issue because my constituents keep telling me constantly when I am out in my electorate – I am constantly talking to local residents, particularly in the City of Hume – that they are scared. They are scared about their homes getting invaded and robbed, their cars getting stolen and their kids being assaulted and mugged for merely walking down the street. They are scared because Labor continues to neglect them in the north and not listen.

The most recent crime statistics bear this out. Crime is on the rise in the north, with an increase of 8.7 per cent in the City of Hume. A crime is committed in the City of Hume every 30 minutes. One example that has been raised with me by a local resident is the dangerous escalation of unregistered youth motorcycle gangs who are intimidating drivers, causing chaos and adding to the general sense of lawlessness that is a result of 12 years of neglect of the north by this Labor government and a result of the continuing weakening of our laws, like we saw with the weakening of bail laws in 2023. There were 14 fewer police officers in the City of Hume last December than there were in the previous year. At a time when crime is on the increase in the area and as the population continues to grow, Labor has actually cut police numbers in the City of Hume.

The action I seek from the minister is to immediately and urgently reverse his savage cuts to police numbers in the north so that my constituents no longer live in fear of the crime crisis that has occurred under his watch. Crime is of particular concern in the north in places like Greenvale, in places like Meadow Heights, in places like Roxborough Park and in places like Broadmeadows, Kalkallo and Mickleham. Many people reach out. They note in particular motorcycle gangs along Aitken Boulevard running amok and gangs and unsavoury behaviour around Mickleham and Kalkallo as well. There are tradies having the toolboxes ripped out of their utes in places like Kalkallo as a daily occurrence. People are living in fear and crime is on the increase, and this government is doing nothing about it.