Tuesday, 16 June 2026

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (13:42): I rise today to speak on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. From the outset I will just put that the Liberals and Nationals will be supporting this piece of legislation. Further to that, when we come to government, we will increase sworn police officers by 3000, because our police force is under pressure. They need greater powers and they need greater resources, and we will deliver that because we back our police. We will also replace every PSO that the Labor government have taken off 119 stations across Victoria, and we will add an additional 200 PSOs. Crime at train stations is up by 74 per cent, and the decision of this government to take PSOs off 119 of those stations is not only abandoning the community that they are there to support but a reckless and irresponsible decision.

There are less police today than when Jacinta Allan came to the Premiership. Despite population growth and despite a rising crime crisis, there are 500 less sworn police officers today in Victoria than there were when Daniel Andrews was Premier. In the last two years and eight months, we have not seen a growth in our police force; we have seen it being cut down – a cut of 500 police officers – and it is not okay. There are now over 1500 vacancies in Victoria Police. The Allan Labor government has either shut down or reduced hours in over 40 police stations in the middle of a crime crisis. This is not because there is no crime to deal with – I wish that was the case. Crime in Victoria is at an all-time high: just about every crime in almost every category in every region across the whole state. The statistics are moving in the wrong direction, and I am going to give you a little bit of a snapshot of what that is like.

Every single day in Victoria there are 750 new victims of crime. The fact that that has not been you or me is just chance. It is fate. It is an accident of where we are at the moment. But we also must admit that the fact that we are not being attacked or in danger today is because, in order for somebody who is not a passholder to get into this building, they first have to walk up the stairs past some safety officers. What they then have to do is line up at another checkpoint. Then they have to put all their stuff in a scanner so it gets scanned and looked at. Then they have to walk through a metal detector, and if anything goes off in that metal detector, then they are assessed with a wand. That is one of the reasons why we are safe in here today, and I am so thankful for that. I am thankful every time I see any person that plays a part in our safety, I really am. It is a privilege we have. Yet in Victoria we have not even enacted Jack’s law in shopping centres and train stations. Jack’s law is the ability for a PSO or a police officer in any place to scan somebody with a handheld metal detector, something that costs about $300, to find if that person is concealing a weapon. We have that here, yet we as lawmakers are recipients of a protection that we have not yet legislated for the people that put us here, the people that we are meant to serve.

In Victoria there is a crime committed every 50 seconds, and they are not minor crimes either. According to statistics there is a serious assault every 28 minutes and there is an aggravated burglary almost every hour – unbelievable. From December 2023 to December last year all incidents rose by 23 per cent. Aggravated burglaries rose by 24 per cent, motor vehicle theft rose by 56 per cent, family violence serious assaults went up by 47 per cent, youth incidents were up by 13 per cent and unsolved crimes, which is one area where these reservists are really going to be able to add strength to our police force, were up 47 per cent. At what point will the government realise that this is a serious problem and a serious situation like this requires a serious response?

Since the report into the inquiry into non–family violence stalking by the Victorian Law Reform Commission was tabled in this place in June 2022, non-family violence stalking has increased every single year without exception, every single year. If the death of Celeste Manno was not enough for reform, you would think that a year-on-year increase would be enough for the government to pull that report out of a drawer, read it and implement the advice. The issue has not gone away. It has increased, not once, not twice, but every single year since June 2022 – every single year since it was tabled. The irony is that the report that the government is sitting on holds the answers to the escalating crime that we are seeing. I think the government should stop pretending to search for what is not lost, and it should implement those recommendations. I remind this house that the cost of that report was the life of an innocent 24-year-old.

Despite crime on train stations being up 74 per cent, PSOs have been taken off 119 stations. We are a state in crisis, and that is one of the many reasons that we are supporting this bill today. This is one step in the right direction, but my word, we must take many steps after this. What this bill does is it establishes a police reservist framework that can open frontline work capacity – capacity that we so desperately need. When Jacinta Allan took the reins there were 500 more sworn officers than there are today. It reinstates the Chief Commissioner of Police’s power to appoint reservists, allowing the incredible men and women that have served this state to continue to come back into the force and to contribute in an area that this state so desperately needs. It allows reservists to perform administrative tasks and support duties. They can also make initial inquiries to support police investigations. This is so important when a crime is happening every 50 seconds and when 47 per cent of crimes are left unsolved. It allows appointments of reservists on a part-time, a full-time, a fixed term or an ongoing basis, and it includes amendments also to the Firearms Act 1996 and the Victoria Police Act 2013.

I often catch up with police officers that have retired, and to me it seems once a cop, always a cop. We are probably going to hear from a former cop at some stage during the day. I would imagine that the things these incredible men and women experience, which are unlike the things that general members of the public like us experience, change them, change their perspective, and give them a way to relate to and support each other in a way that others cannot. In Mr Battin’s speech in the other place he spoke about the difference between what you learn in the academy versus what you learn when you are on the ground. The example that he used was this: you are at the station and you are about to go to a domestic violence crime scene. You know who the victim is and who the perpetrator is. The example he used is when you go in and then you are surprised when you are attacked by the victim. He said it is not because these people hate cops; it is because they are afraid of the retribution that could come after the arrest. These are things that only police officers can relate to and can support each other through. I really do believe that that is going to be one of the brilliant things that comes out of this legislation. You have got reservists, people that are coming in who have done more than two years in the force, and they can share their wisdom. They can be an incredible support for the next generation of police officers. These reservists will do more than just supporting admin tasks. I believe they will bring experience, wisdom and a different perspective that a new generation, the next generation of police officers, can really be supported by.

More than ever before our police officers need our support. They need our backing. This is one step in the right direction, but there must be more. We must ensure that our police have greater powers and greater resources. That is why the coalition will deliver 3000 additional police. We will grow the workforce. Where the Labor government and Jacinta Allan have seen the force diminished by 500, under a Wilson-led government you will see it grow by 3000. What that will do is it will fill the backlog and the vacancies of the 1500 police that are missing today – that are vacant today. It will add that amount over again to deal with the crime crisis and the growing population.

The very first responsibility of any government is to keep its people safe. Community safety matters to us. We are not here to make excuses as to why offenders offend. We are not here to uphold the rights of the perpetrator above the victim. We are here to keep the community safe. It is the number one role. Laws are not guidelines. They are not suggestions where you can pick and choose which day you want to follow them. The law should be the law. If you break the law, there should be consequences, something that has become a thing of the past in the state of Victoria.

Police are not punching bags either. They deserve respect, and they deserve a government who has their back. That is why we will give police stronger pursuit laws. If some kid decides to steal a car and it initiates a police chase, the responsibility lies with them and it is a standalone offence. This is something that Victoria Police need. They need people that back them. We will toughen bail laws. Mr Battin in the other place also spoke about a cop that arrested a man after a double stabbing. He was speaking to this police officer. This police officer went into a dangerous situation, arrested somebody who had stabbed not one but two people, and then the next day he walked past him because he was out on bail.

Imagine that. These police officers are incredible men and women that have a sense of justice in their hearts, a sense of service – that they put their lives on the line to protect us. Imagine arresting somebody who has stabbed not one but two people, putting your own life and your own safety on the line in the service of others, and then walking past them the next day and thinking, ‘My gosh, was this all for nothing?’ This has become the state and the reality in Victoria. It is a blatant disregard for the sacrifices that our police officers make to keep us safe every single day. No wonder the police are leaving the force, and no wonder police officers are burning out. We owe them a massive debt of gratitude for what they do for us, and we need to make sure that we give them the backing that they need.

This is a point and an issue that absolutely must be fixed, and we, the coalition, will back our police. We will restore move-on laws so that our police force can move people on before a crime is committed. Prevention is better than cure. Why is it that we think it is acceptable somehow for police to be so outnumbered, not able to move people on and having to wait until a crime is committed in order to act? It is times like this when tragedies happen, and we want to avoid that happening in this state. We do not want our police officers to feel alone and outnumbered and powerless. We want to allow them to move people on.

We will give police the necessary powers to protect Victorians. They should not have to risk their own lives only to see the perpetrators that they arrested the day before out on the street again. And we will have tougher bail laws, but we will also enact that if you break bail, you will face jail. You will face a tougher test, and it is not something that is going to be overlooked again and again, like happens under this Allan Labor government.

We will also give the powers to the police to get violent offenders’ weapons off the streets by implementing Jack’s law. We will invest $5 million into handheld metal detectors and we will give them the power to use them, allowing them to get prohibited weapons off our streets. The fact that it is commonplace now in Victoria that machete attacks take place is completely unacceptable. I do not know how we ever got to this point, and there needs to be drastic action taken. The government is not even doing the bare minimum to get these weapons off the street. If they did, they would have implemented Jack’s law already, and the fact that they have not is an absolute disgrace.

We will protect women, not just in talk but in action. The Allan Labor government has let you down if you are a woman. If you just listened to their talking points, you would just about think you were the luckiest person on earth. Yet in reality, women have been bashed on government worksites. They have been held hostage by people that probably should be in jail. Women in Construction, the labour hire authority, is still registered today.

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, President, I am not sure that the contribution that the member is making has anything to do with the content of this bill, and I would ask you to make sure that Dr Heath makes her contributions relevant to the bill that is before the chamber.

Renee HEATH: Further to the point of order, President, there has been a pattern lately of lots of points of order. I would just ask for my time to be paused if it does keep happening – and by the way, this is in relation to bill.

The PRESIDENT: It is all right. We do not reinstate the time on points of order. The member should be relevant to the bill, but in saying that, the first speaker of any party gets latitude. In saying that, that does afford following speakers to actually rebut and address any comments made by the first speaker.

Sonja Terpstra: Further to the point of order, I just want to point out that the member should acquaint herself properly with the standing orders, because any member in this place is entitled to make a point of order. Dr Heath may not like that, but the standing orders are what they are.

The PRESIDENT: I do not think that is necessary to pass on.

Renee HEATH: If you are a woman in labour and a woman in Victoria, you should feel let down. We will protect women, and we will do it by implementing laws that have teeth, like ‘right to ask, right to know’, so if an abuser gets out of jail, you have the right to know and you can protect yourself. We will restore law and order for anyone in any place, because you should never be stuck in a situation where you are vulnerable or in danger. And that is why we will criminalise coercive control.

We will properly fund Victoria Police. We will grow the workforce by 3000 full-time equivalent sworn officers, but more importantly, we will give them the powers and the backing that they need. We will open the 40 police stations that have either been shut down or had their hours reduced by Labor, and what that will do is bring back the sense of safety that is missing in our communities today.

We will implement real adult time for violent crime laws. There will not be a carve-out for anyone to just get away and flout the law. We will implement a law with teeth. This government’s adult time for violent crime does not include arson at the moment, so the kids that firebombed Melbourne got off without an issue. In the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee the minister said, ‘Oh, but serious arson is captured in these laws,’ but then could not describe why what happened in Melbourne was not considered serious arson. I spoke to a firefighter this week in my region, and we were talking about that. This is what he said. He said the reason it was not serious arson is because they did not know how to do it properly, so what will happen is they will bail these perpetrators, who will then go and do a more fulsome job next time. This is the reality and the despondency that our frontline workers are feeling in the state of Victoria at the moment.

This is the part that gets me really excited about how we will address law and order. We will invest in early interventions to divert at-risk youth from a life of crime, because every child should have the opportunity to live the life that they want and to give in to the bigotry of low expectations is not okay. We should not accept that some youths are just destined to end up in a life of crime. I do not know how a lie like that has become acceptable. Who gave anyone the power to decide that a child, because they are from a certain family, a certain background or a certain way of life, should be expected to do nothing more than become a criminal. It is not okay.

One of the lives that has absolutely inspired me is the life of Ben Carson, a young black kid in America, born in the 1950s to a single mum – a divorced family – who was doing it tough, who was a house cleaner. Yet she decided that she would accept nothing less for her kids than for them to live the life of their dreams. Because of that, she was able to get them to read to break through to an education. And this guy became one –

The PRESIDENT: Dr Heath, I do think you are straying quite a lot from the bill.

Renee HEATH: I will get there. But that is okay; I will take your advice.

The PRESIDENT: I just advise you that if you could stick more to the bill, that would be good.

Renee HEATH: Well, I will tell you why it matters. I speak to a lot of police officers, former police officers like Kel Glare and Ivan Ray, amazing police officers that will now be welcomed back in as reservists if that is what they choose to do. They said the number one important thing that helps divert children away from a life of crime is somebody who believes in them. And this is something that police reservists do. That is why I am talking about this, because what kids need is not people to accept the worst for them – accept the lowest – but somebody to believe in them. And this is something that these police officers do. When there were police in schools and a child got caught up in the law, a lot of these police officers said to me that what they would do was they would come into the station, they would have to empty the bins, they would start connecting with better role models – good, strong men and women that are upstanding citizens in the community – and they would begin to see a better way of life. I think that matters. You might not think that that has got anything to do with this bill. I do, because I believe that kids can actually break the cycle and do things better, but there have got to be men and women that show them a better way and believe in better for them.

We also need to realise that it is not only when people believe in them; you also have to give these young kids off-ramps, and we will do that. Kids from difficult backgrounds will end up in difficult situations – that is a fact. You will have people from low socio-economic areas that might face different challenges to kids that are not in that situation. You might have people with a family member in jail or who has left them, and they need good people around them to bring out the best in them. This is an area where I can see that working if it is done right. But what we have to do first is we have got to stop accepting the lowest common denominator for kids. It is not acceptable that there have been over 6000 arrests with the same 1000 children, meaning they are arrested and then bailed and arrested and then bailed, and as they are their crimes titrate up. That is not okay. Surely at some stage there has to be a government that refuses to accept the status quo for these kids and begins to see them as people who can do something great in their lives. That is something that, if it is done right, by getting police reservists back – any police officer, really, if they were not so time poor – it can do. It is one of the life-changing powers of having good men and women believing in kids and telling them that they can do better.

There is something else I want to raise in this debate, and that is the fact that in schools crime has just become completely out of control. I have got a few headlines that I am going to read to you. This one is from one of the major papers on 11 April:

About 17 students are physically or sexually assaulted or threatened by their classmates every … day in Victoria.

A secret dossier obtained exclusively by the Herald Sun under Freedom of Information laws reveals schoolyard violence rates have tripled in the past three years, with at least 7930 peer-on-peer assaults across more than 1100 government schools …

Minister for Education Ben Carroll of course says that:

… schools have a zero-tolerance policy for violence and bullying.

Yet:

… there were at least 3419 incidents of student-on-student assaults across 858 government schools –

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, President, again, I am listening to the member’s contribution, and I do not think that anything related to schools and our public education system and what may or may not be happening in a dossier that the Herald Sun has gotten hold of, which is maybe real or made up, has anything to do with the bill that is before the house in terms of police reservists. I would ask that you direct the member to come back to the bill.

The PRESIDENT: I am happy to call the member back to the bill. I do accept there have been a number of precedents around first speakers getting latitude. My concern is that other members have every right to rebut the first speaker’s contributions and we could be here forever on irrelevance to the bill. So I ask the member if she could come back to the bill. That would be very helpful.

Renee HEATH: Thank you, President. I am happy to have this rebutted, because it is an important discussion and it is an area that a lot of former police officers have been advocating for for years. If you want to look at that, you could look at the Community Advocacy Alliance site. You can see some of the documentation there, and it might help you connect the dots. Another article said:

Victorian public schools teachers hit, bullied, attacked 153 times a day

That is unbelievable. It also said:

… thousands of other cases of schoolyard violence going under-reported.

This is a 244 per cent surge in workplace violence in public schools. This is one of the areas that former police officers for years have advocated for – police in schools. If reservists were allowed back, it would restore relationships between police and children so it is not a fear-based relationship but a trust-based relationship. This is something that many former police officers have really been advocating for, because it is an area that can change a life, it can change a culture and it can make the community a lot more safe.

I am really pleased to commend this bill to the house. It is not good enough if there is serious crime happening in Victoria and we are just ignoring it. I will not waste my time on this commentary here. But we must believe in something better. We must find those men and women that have served our community that are willing to continue to give back and to connect with young people that might be heading down a path that is dangerous. If you can turn around a life, if you can give children an off-ramp from a life of crime, that will do two things. The first thing is it will make communities safer. The second thing is it will change the life of that child who is at risk of maybe being locked up because they have got low expectation of themselves. It is connections with police officers, maybe through Blue Light discos or through police in schools, that can begin to give these kids something better to look forward to and something to aspire to. They will also be an incredible support for the amazing men and women in our police force in Melbourne and Victoria today. I commend this bill to the house.

 Jeff BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (14:12): I am going to start off by saying this bill is a good move. It is something that has been needed for quite some time. I will have some questions in committee about the exact role envisaged for the reservists. There are a lot of people who when they leave the force want to leave the full-on day-to-day experience but may not necessarily want to divest themselves entirely of the job. But whilst this is a good move, it is still not addressing the problem of why people are leaving. We are, what, somewhere between 1500 and 2000 police behind just in vacant positions, and then if we add the number sick for various reasons, the force is struggling day to day. What it does not attend to is why people leave. It is good to have people come, but we need to keep them, and that is the problem. Experience walks out the door, and it is very hard won experience.

I think one of the problems – I am going to go a little bit off track here; maybe not as much as the previous speaker – is there is no meaningful mental health support for members in crisis or those heading into crisis. I should not say there is none, but they need more. The things you see and the things you do in that job – people have these bad experiences once in their life. The police come; they do their thing, and off they go. That might be the third one of the night for the officer. After a while – everyone’s piece of string is different – you cannot be in that job and leave unaffected, let me put it to you that way.

It appears that reservists are going to be watch house keepers. This is what I will explore in the committee stage. My experience with watch house keeping may not be everyone’s, but I have had some pretty serious violent encounters as a watch house keeper. The only time I ever got to use a long baton was in the watch house, which sounds a bit strange. Also, I have had victims of extremely serious crimes – attempted murder in one case – just walk in. This means the reservists, presuming that is their role, are going to be, at least for a moment, not just going to be witnessing documents; all of a sudden it is full-on. As I said, in the committee stage – I do not know if anyone else is going to ask questions, but I will – I just want to explore some of the nuances and see what the government expects.

This is a good bill. It is high time we did something like this. Is it going to fix the problem entirely? Of course not, but it is going to attend to it. I personally detested doing watch house keeping, but it did not bother others. I look forward to the passage of this. I look forward to the people wanting to get back into the force getting back in, and we will see how it works out. I commend this bill to the house.

 Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:15): I am pleased to rise and make a contribution on this bill before the chamber, the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. Might I say, on this side of the house we back the Chief Commissioner of Police’s plan to get more officers out on the streets instead of behind desks at police stations. Analysis by Victoria Police shows that police officers currently spend more than 4000 hours a day behind a reception counter or on a desk, and that is 1.4 million hours every year. Staffing reception counters at police stations – it is the government’s view that these 4000 hours per day would be better spent out in the community, in vans, walking the pavements and responding to calls for service. That is what reservists will be employed to do, to free up our frontline police officers. Commissioner Bush talked about the strategy required, and the strategy is called ‘more street than station’. This is a direct response, freeing up visible policing, tackling frontline staff shortages and responding to active crime crises, for example, youth offences and night-time burglaries. There is a strategy here, and it has come directly from the police force, not just 3AW rage bait or Herald-Sun articles or secret dossiers and the like. This is our chief commissioner, who is the head of the Victorian police force, talking with his members about what they need to make this work.

I also want to point out the disinformation that has been spread by those opposite, and I am sick to death of hearing about it, because there is a lot of disinformation happening. Those opposite continue to say we have closed police stations. Well, no, we have not. What has happened is that counter hours have been reduced. Like we said, the strategy that was put forward, which is more street, less station, has meant the redirection of policing resources to out on the street and actually dealing with crime. What that has meant is that there were some police stations that had counter hour reductions. That is not a closure. That is absolutely disgraceful disinformation, because all those opposite want to do is frighten the community. But what the police service itself was saying was, ‘We have a strategy to deal with this’, and we backed it. Victoria Police guarantees that no physical stations are closing down, but front counter access is restricted overnight or on weekends, and local crews continue to work inside the buildings and deploy for 24/7 emergency dispatch and proactive community patrols. Now, again, that is not what those opposite would want you to believe. They continue to incite fear within the community with their pathetic disinformation, and again, it is a direct contradiction of what the police commissioner has said himself: ‘We want more street, less station.’ So that is what we are doing.

Might I add, when we hear the discussion around staffing and resourcing and workforce and the like – and I will come to those opposite and the claims that they make in a minute, because none of it is costed – it is actually quite challenging. The police force is an enormously big organisation with lots of people that work in it. And guess what, you are going to have retirements. You are going to have people off sick. As Mr Bourman pointed out, policing is a hard job, and you are going to have people who are affected by what they see. You cannot get away from that. It does not matter what those officers say and what their platforms might be. I have heard nothing they have said at all that has actually addressed this point. What are they going to do to support police officers who come away with complex PTSD from what they have seen on the job? They have said absolutely nothing about it – nothing. We are about supporting workers. We support workers over here. That is why we made sure that we pay our police officers properly and gave them a really good EBA that was negotiated with the government and the police union. We talk to the police all the time. That is why we are supporting the strategies that are being put forward by the police commissioner. But again, I have heard nothing from those opposite about how they are going to address workforce shortages. What pipeline are they going to build? They have said nothing about this. They have said nothing about how they are going to recruit more people into Victoria Police.

I was just doing a little bit of research myself and thinking, ‘Well, what is the average age of a police officer?’ They are not particularly young. They are in their mid-30s to 40s. It was a similar situation that happened with nursing a couple of decades back. There was a problem where we could not get enough nurses, so the government acted to make some nursing qualifications free and the federal government acted to give funding towards making your degree free if you went to university to become a nurse. Again, I have heard nothing from those opposite about any of that – none of it. I will talk about what we are doing in a moment about early intervention and the like, because again, I am not hearing anything of significance from those opposite.

We heard Dr Heath talk earlier about the fact that the Liberals are going to have this $5 million in metal detectors to get weapons off the street. How is that going to work, honestly? You are going to have all sorts of human rights abuse claims, and we have seen this happen in America. They are basically borrowing all their garbage from the American playbook. So, what, are they just going to walk down the street and pull people up and say, ‘Right, we want to wave a metal detector over you’? It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

And then they say they are going to add more police and add more PSOs. Well, let me say their claim of 3000 new police and station reopenings is uncosted. This is the largest and most expensive pillar of the Liberals platform – 3000 more police officers, hiring 200 PSOs and physically reopening 40 brick-and-mortar police stations. Mind you, none have been closed, so that is a load of garbage. But the omission that the coalition have made is they have not released a line item budget detailing the exact salaries, training expenses, equipment procurement or structural capital costs required to reopen and staff dozens of police stations. There is nothing. There is no detail, and I might add, the Liberals have said they will cut $22 billion in savings – $22 billion from the budget to cut back office public service bureaucracy positions. But is this a back office position, sitting on a counter at a police station? The craziness, the abject just pulling it out of thin air is ridiculous. Again, there are no costings at all.

They talk about their safer communities initiative. Again, this is not costed by any external party. This is what Dr Heath talked about with Jack’s law. This has only been internally costed by the Liberal–‍National coalition. There is no external third party that has given any costings, and they formulated these policies but there has been nothing. They have capped at $100 million what they will allocate to these programs.

Bev McArthur: On a point of order, President, we had to endure Ms Terpstra’s complaint about Dr Heath travelling off the track, and I have not heard anything in relation to the bill so far. She has moved on to our policy. She might like our policy. It is good that you want to talk about it, but –

The PRESIDENT: I think, Mrs McArthur, you are debating the point of order, and this is the peril I foresaw when I did advise Dr Heath that following speakers have every right to pick up and rebut speakers’ contributions, even though first speakers do get latitude. That is what I said to Dr Heath. I said, ‘Yes, you have a bit of latitude.’ So there is no point of order, Mrs McArthur, because now we are going to have a debate that has been opened up to talk about everything. That was my concern, and maybe I will think about how in the future we may be able to rein it in and people can concentrate on the content of the bill.

Sonja TERPSTRA: These policies by the Liberal–Nationals are not costed, so again, they are just whipping it out of thin air, and it is just ridiculous. I might just say we also heard from Dr Heath about what they want to do. They want to lock up kids, but then they talk about early intervention. I do not know how you do this all together. None of what Dr Heath said earlier actually makes any sense, and it is completely, wholly inconsistent. For example, on this side of the chamber we are investing $9.5 million in Blue Light intervention, which means the things that used to work, where you had police helping kids, whether it was in the gym or boxing or all those sorts of things, are coming back, and we have invested $30 million in the violence reduction unit. Again, these things matter, and they need a number of responses. There is no magic silver – pardon the pun – bullet to fix these problems. These are problems that are based in trauma in communities that have come from different places. There could be family violence – and might I add family violence is one of the main drivers for these sorts of things, but I have heard nothing from those opposite about how they are going to address family violence. Our frontline police are out there every day dealing with really difficult problems, difficult human problems, and again the Liberals have just got no answer to it.

I return to the bill, where we say the police reservist scheme in this year’s budget is going to deploy 200 police reservists to sit in police stations. The legislation provides a necessary framework for a modern, fit-for-purpose reservist scheme to be established. Again, this is why we have funded that initiative in the budget, and it is why we are progressing this important legislation. We also encourage anybody who might have retired from the police to return. There have been a number of high profile-people who are doing that. I might add, since coming to government, we have made a record investment of more than $5 billion in Victoria Police to deliver Victorians the modern world-class policing services they deserve. This includes new police, new and upgraded stations, new technology and fit-for-purpose organisations into the future. This means more than 3600 additional police have been delivered by the government since 2014. Like I said, I have heard nothing from those opposite about how they are going to address the shortage in the pipeline – nothing at all. As I said, it is similar with nursing – there was an ageing cohort problem in that profession.

Again, police do a really difficult job, and I thank them. I want to thank on record today all the hardworking police officers in this state. They do an amazing job in very difficult circumstances. We do not need those opposite talking down their efforts, actually, because that is what they are doing. Every time those opposite want to whip up fear and loathing about crime in this state, they are criticising Victoria’s hardworking police, and that is something this government would never, ever do. But you have got no solutions and no answers over there. That is why in this year’s budget, we have invested a further $18.3 million to roll out 3000 new mobile devices for specialist police, which will mean faster decisions. Those opposite cannot be trusted on community safety. It is a complete disgrace. We have just heard a crazy grab bag today of ridiculous talking points that are not cohesive. They actually do not create any strategy.

I am pleased to hear that the Liberal Party is supporting this bill, but you would not have known it by Dr Heath’s contribution. All she did was roll out negative, critical talking points to attack police officers and their hard work in this state – a thorough disgrace, because they are out there every day on the front line doing their very level best for Victorians. But what we hear from those opposite is it is never enough – it is never good enough. Let us talk about Nicole Werner in the other place and her machete bin. Oh my goodness, let us revisit that machete bin. She claimed that the bins were worth $325,000. Remember: ‘You could buy a Ferrari with that’ – that was the comment. And how wrong was she? But that went all around the universe on social media – what an embarrassment – and on 3AW and the rage bait and all that sort of stuff. But you know what, that just shows Victorians that those opposite are not fit to govern. If you cannot even get a simple proposition right about the costing of a program that was about delivering a solution – it was not, again, a magic silver bullet, it was a solution and something we would have kept working on. We never said this would resolve a problem entirely; it was part of an overall strategy. But for Ms Werner, the member for Warrandyte in the other place, to claim that it was $325,000 was completely incorrect. She did not take into account all the other line items that came with that. You cannot trust the coalition when it comes to even doing basic things like rolling out a program. They just want to have a social media hit – how embarrassing. Again, I point out that the coalition’s community safety platform has not been comprehensively costed by any independent external watchdog. There has been no independent costing, just them pulling it out of thin air, like Ms Werner did – how embarrassing – and I am sick to death of them always talking down Victoria’s police.

People want to know that they have a good frontline police service. That is what this bill is attempting to do – to free up police who can get out there and be on the street and actually do what they want to do, which is catch crooks. In the meantime these reservists will be able to man police stations. If people want to come in for whatever reason they need to go into a cop station, they will be able to do that. That is why we are putting through this bill today. I will leave my contribution there, and I commend this bill to the house.

 Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (14:30): I rise to speak on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. The Liberal–Nationals will support this bill, but let me be clear: this bill is not a solution to Victoria’s crime crisis. At most it is a modest administration measure that may assist Victoria Police at the margins. It is not the answer to a reduced police force. It is definitely not a substitute for properly funding police stations or properly rostering full-time members or for strong bail legislation. What this bill does create is a framework for police reservists, allowing former police officers to return in a reservist capacity to perform administrative and supportive duties. This will help reduce some administrative pressure. However, Victorians should not be misled that this bill will fill every police vacancy. They should not be misled that this bill will reopen police stations or restore PSOs to train stations. This bill will not fix the weak bail laws, and this bill will not stop cars from being stolen, homes from being invaded and businesses from being robbed and firebombed, as we have seen in recent months in Victoria.

In many ways this bill is an admission of failure of this government. Crime has continued to rise across Victoria, with crime rates reaching a 20-year high in 2025, with around 630,000 events recorded across the state. What this means is a crime was committed every 50 seconds and a serious assault was committed every half hour. A theft from a retail store occurred every 13 minutes and nine cars were highjacked across Victoria every week. What I have just listed are not just statistics; they all are victims. They are shop workers, the owners of businesses and commuters, but mostly they are people who no longer feel safe in our community. Under this Labor government what we are seeing is 150,000 vacancies on police rosters. More than 50 police stations are closed or on reduced hours, and PSOs were stripped from 120 train stations. There has been a rise in youth crime and a 15 per cent increase in unsolved crime over the past year; 286,329 crimes remain unsolved, and this is almost half of all recorded crime. The Victorian population grew by 8 per cent between 2020–21 and 2024–25, yet police numbers declined by 2.6 per cent over the same period. At a time when demand is rising and communities are facing a crime crisis, why has the Allan government reduced funding for the police force by nearly $50 million?

This bill in reality does not really address the crime crisis. The government wants to bring police reservists in to help with administrative support duties. Traditionally police reservists were a practical solution to make the police force larger, cheaper and more flexible without hiring more full-time police. Full-time police members now exit the police force quicker than the Labor government can hire them. The last new reservist was appointed back in 1991, when I was in the job. There have been no new recruits after that point, and only a small number of ageing reservists remained in service until early 2020, when the final two members retired. So yes, this bill helps the police force in administrative areas, but we should not let the Labor government use reservists as a cover-up for the broader failure of a properly resourced Victorian police force and the retention of valuable, experienced members. We have seen the consequences of this failure across the state in recent years. Turn on the TV or look on your phone or on social media. The horrific series of firebombings and related attacks against people have been reported everywhere.

Now, let us put this in context. I keep mentioning all these numbers. On 26 March there was an arson attack at the Love Machine nightclub in Prahran. On 15 April, two weeks later, there was an arson attack at the Albion hotel in South Melbourne. On 16 April there were two arson attacks, one at the Emerson nightclub in South Yarra and one at the Kittens Strip Club in South Melbourne. On 17 April there was an arson attack on the Soho restaurant. On 23 April there was an attempted arson attack at France-Soir Restaurant in South Yarra. On 25 April there was an arson attack at Bar Up in Prahran and on 26 April a drive-by shooting at the Emerson nightclub in South Yarra while patrons were still inside. On 27 April there was another arson attack, at the Left Bank restaurant in Southbank. On 2 May there was an arson attack at the George Hotel in South Melbourne. On 4 May there was attempted arson at the Electric Bar in Prahran. On 5 May there was an arson attack at a Chery car dealership. On 15 May there was an attempted arson attack at Bar Bambi in Melbourne’s CBD and on the same day another arson attack on trucks at businesses in Tottenham and Sunshine North in my area.

What I have listed is 16 incidents of serious offences within days of each other. Police have reported more than 40 incidents overall linked to this crime wave. This should not be normal. This is not the Victoria I grew up in. This is definitely not acceptable in any civilised state. When businesses are firebombed, venues are being shot at and members of the public inside premises are being targeted, the government cannot pretend that community safety is under control and that these reservists will alleviate the crime crisis.

We are seeing a pattern across my electorate as well. Crime is out of control. Across the Western Metropolitan Region, in my electorate, total offences have increased from 123,182 to 128,875 in the year ending December 2025. This is an increase of 5693 offences in 12 months – motor thefts, residential aggravated burglaries, family violence serious assaults. Total serious assaults rose by 336 offences. There were prohibited weapons offences. At the same time, under this Labor government’s weak bail legislation, we have seen a revolving door where these young offenders have been apprehended by police and then released again and again and again. Offenders are constantly being rebailed and rebailed and rebailed. This sends the wrong message to young offenders. It tells them there are no consequences and minimum accountability is an option.

This bill may reduce some of the administrative burden on Victorian police. However, police reservists cannot replace full-time members and frontline officers. Police reservists cannot open police stations. Police reservists cannot replace PSOs at train stations. Police reservists cannot replace strong bail laws. This is why delivering 3000 more police is necessary to address the 1500 vacancies we have at the moment, to reopen all those closed police stations and to restore public confidence in the Victorian police force.

We will restore confidence in the community that there are consequences if you commit a crime, through ‘break bail, face jail’ and strengthening the existing law of ‘adult crime, adult time’, and restore confidence in public security and safety on our train networks, which is vital. An additional 200 PSOs will do that, returning to all the 120 stations that were originally manned. By contrast, this bill is a modest attempt to address the 1500 vacancies in our police stations. We support it because it is a measure that assists the police and is worth supporting. However, no-one should be pretending this is enough. Victoria is in a crime crisis. Businesses are being firebombed, cars are being stolen, families are being confronted in their homes. Young offenders are cycling through bail like we have never seen. Police stations have been closed and hours reduced. PSOs have been stripped from train stations to go into shopping centres. It is clear that the police are overworked, under-resourced and buried in paperwork.

I can attest to that. I know the pressure police are under because I wore that uniform for 28 years. Our dedicated men and women in blue do extraordinary work, but they cannot be expected to be able to continue to hold the front line forever, especially when the government continue to cut resources, weaken bail laws and refuse to take responsibility. Rather than congratulating themselves for bringing forward a reservist framework, the government should be explaining why Victoria Police has reached this point – why there are 1500 vacancies, why 40 police stations have been closed or had their hours reduced, why PSOs are being removed from 120 train stations, why business after business is being firebombed across Melbourne – and the list goes on. These are the questions we should be asking the government and demanding answers to.

We support this bill because it assists the police and wherever we can support the police we will, but do not mistake our support for satisfaction with the government’s approach. This bill does not really address the police shortage in any way. The rapid exit of experienced members from the police force during a crime crisis is a warning sign. Victoria needs more police, stronger laws, police stations to stay open, visible patrols, PSOs to be at stations where they are supposed to be and consequences for offenders. Offenders need to understand their actions have consequences. But most importantly Victoria needs a government that backs victims and backs police officers.

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:42): I would like to start by saying that the Libertarian Party will be supporting this bill, the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. It is my belief that this bill will provide some modest assistance to the police force in managing their resources, and for that it is welcome.

Of course the pandemic dominated the last term of Parliament, but in this term of Parliament, especially after engaging with many, many constituents in the south-east, the dominant thing that many people are concerned about is crime – absolutely. I have been to lots of listening post things at supermarkets, I have been to markets and I have been to community events, and the thing that people always bring up is they are worried about crime. They are worried about home invasions. They are worried about having their car stolen. They are worried about their wife or daughter being attacked. They are worried about all sorts of things. They are worried about going to the supermarket. These concerns are real because the crime is real.

I was rather shocked recently. I went to a forum in the City of Berwick that was about crime for local traders. We had Neighbourhood Watch, some local police, people from the council, lots of other people and lots of local business owners there. The police were volunteering out of their own time, by the way. They were not getting paid for this; they were doing it because they care about community safety. They said that on many shifts in the City of Casey there are only 12 police officers available. To put that in context, one of the things that they said was that the population of the City of Casey is not far different to that of the entire state of Tasmania. The idea that there are only 12 police officers there just seems incredible to me. That is just the way it is. I was talking to the retailers there. A lot of them said that they just do not bother reporting crimes anymore. People would just come in, especially to liquor shops, steal their products and walk out the door. They do not care that there are CCTV cameras there. They know that the police will not turn up in time. It is too dangerous for the staff to intervene, and if they have to do a police report, then it is a lot of paperwork. They have got to deal with the police report, they have got to deal with the insurance company and all those sorts of things, and they just do not report it.

Ultimately, those costs end up with other Victorians, because it means we have got higher insurance rates and we have got higher margins required by businesses to recover those losses. Ultimately, everyone pays in Victoria for this sort of crime, except for the criminals themselves.

The government here is doing one thing that is good. It was not something that I was planning on when I went for election to get into Parliament in the first place, and indeed even this term I did not foresee it, but crime has been a huge issue that we have been forced to engage in. Indeed I have been doing what I can to engage in these issues to help the community feel safer. One of the things that the government did that was very good was listen to the community on the concerns around the Frankston serial killer. The government actually agreed with that, and that was a good thing that the government did.

Another thing that I have been bringing up – I think that the government’s approach here is far too modest but at least they are doing a bit of it – is increasing access to pharmacotherapy for opiate addicts. I think that this is a key measure, and I would urge the government to push a lot harder on this, because every person that you get on to pharmacotherapy is another person out of the hands of organised crime, another person not committing petty crime to feed their habit, and maybe you have got a chance of getting them straight – or if you cannot get them straight, at least you can get them to be a functioning member of society who is not committing crimes to feed their habit. I urge the government to do as much as it can on increasing access to pharmacotherapy.

Some of the other things that the government has done, though, are either hopeless or counterproductive. I know that the opposition loves ridiculing the government about the machete ban, and indeed I have engaged in that too, but I think everyone should be reminded that it was not government policy to come up with the machete ban. They got goaded into it by the opposition, and eventually the government did it. Now they are getting ridiculed by the opposition for the machete ban, and maybe the government has learned a lesson not to cave in to opposition policies, because I do not know how the opposition was intending on machetes being surrendered, but it would seem that if you are going to have a machete ban – which I have said before and I say now I think is stupid and does not actually achieve anything – having a bin out the front is probably the most sensible way of doing it rather than tying up police time accepting these things, because I am not sure how else you could do it. I do not think they are going to put them in by post – they are pretty big and heavy. On that note, I would urge the government to not go along with what the opposition is proposing – this Jack’s law that they have been promising. In my view this is just another ineffective feel-good policy that does not actually achieve outcomes. Indeed the research in Queensland has proven that it has not actually decreased crime overall, so I do not think that that is a very good policy to implement.

I would also urge the government to, as we have been talking about for ages, look at the incentives that are driving these crimes rather than at the enforcement end, as by then it is far too late and the crimes have already been committed. Look at the government policies that incentivise much of this. I have spoken many times about federal excise tax. I know that the state government is not responsible for that, but it should at least publicly state that and make it clear to the federal government, as the New South Wales Premier has done. Premier Minns in New South Wales has actually been very vocal about this issue and done a very good job in advocating for the federal government to change policy here.

But there are things that the state government is responsible for. Their procurement policies – we have seen how organised crime is taking advantage of that. The government need to totally rethink their procurement policies. The government has acknowledged that there are problems with the justice system as a whole and in particular bail, and we need changes here. We absolutely need changes to the bail system. I have spoken to police personally who have been absolutely demoralised by arresting someone multiple times – sometimes multiple times in a day. They get out, they arrest them, they pick them up, they get out. It does not require a lot of imagination to see how demoralising that would be for police who feel they are doing their job and are being let down by the law. I think that that is a very clear thing.

Another thing that I have been speaking to a lot of people about – I have brought up in this place and it turned out to be wildly popular, far more popular than I anticipated – is castle law: the idea that the law should lean more heavily in favour of the home owner when defending themselves against violent criminals.

I do not advocate for this sort of thing because it is something that I think is cool or whatever; it is because there are so many people who feel threatened and confused in this situation and they have brought it to my attention, and we need to have some sort of solution, like self-defence and pepper spray. There are so many people I have spoken to – mums, young women and older people in particular. They often bring up the idea that they want some way to protect themselves. They feel vulnerable, they feel scared and they have got no way to protect themselves. Recently I was at a market in Cranbourne, and I spoke to an older man. He said, ‘I don’t know what I can do to protect myself if someone comes into my home or if someone attempts to harm me on the street. I’m just an old man; I can’t physically defend myself.’ He wanted to be able to access pepper spray so that he at least had some chance of defending himself. I think he should have that right. I think he should have that right to fight back. It is sad that we have got ourselves into a situation where it is necessary to think about that. It is sad that our constituents feel so scared that they feel the need to arm themselves, but that is the reality at the moment, and we need to fix that.

I have been going to a lot of these forums that have been happening – either I or my staff. In fact it has got to the point where I am actually running my own forum in the City of Casey. I have invited along a bunch of experts to try and listen to people’s concerns about crime but also to give them some practical advice. That will be happening next Monday night right near Casey Central. Hopefully we will get some people along to that and be able to hear from some experts about practical things that people can do to increase the security in their home and what they can do about reporting crimes.

One thing I would urge anyone listening to this to do is to not just ignore crimes. One of the things that was brought to my attention was that the areas that get the police resources are the ones that report the crimes. Apparently in the south-east a lot of people just do not report crime, and therefore the crime does not exist as far as the data is concerned. I would urge people to at least report crime, either through a police station or Crime Stoppers or something like that, so at least we get it on the record that a crime has occurred and someone has been harmed. Hopefully that will lead to better acknowledgement of the levels of crime that we actually have in the south-east.

It is sad that we have got to this situation. It is sad that so many members of Parliament are having to push on the issue of crime and that crime has got so bad, but nevertheless, that is where we are at, and that is what we need to do. This bill provides some modest, increased human resource planning for the police, and for that I commend it. But I would urge the government to go harder in these areas, acknowledge the underlying incentives that are driving crime and try and at least acknowledge it and do something about it if they can. Take people seriously when they say they feel scared and want to try and protect themselves and their family. I think that the government’s position that people should just call 000 and wait to be hurt is not acceptable to most people.

We absolutely need to fix these problems in the justice system and with what is happening with bail. I think the government has heard that. Whether their actions will actually solve it or not is another matter. I know that the government is very good at selling things but often fails very badly during execution. I hope that is not the case, but anyway, we can only hope for the best. I am hopeful that we will get better resourcing for police, because we clearly need it, especially in the south-east in the City of Casey. Police in and of themselves are not the answer. I think the government knows that. There are many other things that the government could be doing to prevent crime, and they should be doing a lot more.

On that, I will leave it, but I will say that everyone in this place must realise the community concern around crime. We might have different ways that we want to deal with it, but ultimately that concern is real. The dangers are real. People are really upset. They want action taken, and this is a small action. Therefore I will support it.

 Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (14:55): I am pleased to speak on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. This bill is about acknowledging expertise. It is about acknowledging currency and experience in policing and about keeping active or serving police officers right where they want to be and where their skills and qualifications should place them, and that is doing active policing. The bill establishes a contemporary police reservists framework that gets more sworn officers out of stations and into communities. It backs the Chief Commissioner of Police’s plan, it has the support of the Police Association of Victoria and it is funded in this year’s budget.

This is achieved by the bill amending the Victoria Police Act 2013 to reintroduce the chief commissioner’s power to appoint police reservists, providing the necessary framework. This includes a new oath or affirmation; regulation-making powers covering qualifications, training and long service leave; and consequential amendments to related acts. Reservists will hold the powers of a constable at common law in the exercise of their functions. This will include the duty to maintain public order and prevent anticipated breaches of the peace. To be eligible an applicant must have a minimum of two years cumulative service as a police officer in Victoria or another jurisdiction. These are experienced former police officers with real institutional experience and knowledge, and that is the exact point.

The Allan Labor government has backed the scheme with funding to deploy up to 200 reservists delivered in the 2026–27 budget, and Victoria Police has already received over 600 expressions of interest from former officers motivated to come back and support their former colleagues. This is a vote of confidence by previous officers in this reform.

Victoria Police analysis shows that officers currently spend 4000 hours a day behind reception counters and desks in total, across all of the police. That is 1.4 million hours every year tied up in administrative duties. Active police officers want to be out educating their communities and preventing and solving crime, and that is exactly the skill set that they have. They have the currency of training and practice and all of the expertise to do that, so reservists will change the equation, reducing administrative time and keeping police officers more on the street. By taking on key administrative and back office functions they free highly trained sworn officers to be present, visible and responsive in their communities.

I recently met with Warrnambool police, as I do on a fairly regular basis, and I was quite pleased to hear that youth crime in our region is remarkably low. In fact the most common crimes committed in my community are family violence, speeding and driving while distracted. I think that is a sober reminder of the persistent significance of family violence in our criminal space. Reservists will help with policing family violence and traffic offences. They will keep processes moving behind the scenes so that experienced frontline officers can stay where they are needed most – out in our communities, building exactly the kinds of relationships that make a difference.

This government backs Victoria Police. Every day, in any weather and at any hour, Victoria Police officers put themselves at risk to keep our community safe, and I want to take this opportunity today, on behalf of western Victorians, to thank them and their families for the service they give our state. The Allan Labor government has backed that service with genuine investment. Since coming to government we have committed more than $5 billion to Victoria Police. We have delivered more than 3600 additional officers since 2014, we have new and upgraded stations across the state and we are providing the technology needed to keep the force modern and fit for purpose. This budget adds $18.3 million to the rollout of 3000 mobile devices for specialist police. This will put real-time information in their hands in the field rather than back in the station, letting them make decisions faster and creating less paperwork and more time to protect Victorians. Those opposite cannot claim this record. The last time they held government they did not fund a single additional police officer for four years. We can only suspect that if Jess Wilson gets a chance to govern, she will cut these types of roles that have a particular set of expertise. Administrative and procedural expertise – that is what these roles are going to be good at. While they choose to politicise community safety, we choose to act on it. The Allan Labor government works with Victoria Police and with command, rather than against them.

This bill establishes a framework to make sure that administrative work is done by those skilled and talented in administrative work, and the budget provides the funding. Our communities provide the proof that when police are supported to be present and connected, it works. This bill is about putting the right expertise where it needs to be, and I commend the bill to the house.

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (15:02): I also rise today to contribute to the debate on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. This is an important bill addressing administrative burdens on Victorian police, because it is going to allow for the availability of frontline police in the police portfolio. I live in the City of Casey. People in the City of Casey are very, very aware of how our police resources have been stretched, so much so that even though we have one of the highest crime rates, one of the highest domestic violence rates and one of the highest rates of aggressive assault and criminal activities taking place in the City of Casey, we do not have the highest call-outs for police, because people have simply got to a point where they are starting to despair and think, ‘Well, there must be somebody that’s worse off than me, or they’re not going to get here.’ There are so many stories of people feeling let down. If we can actually have our frontline police stations open and if we can actually have more police able to go out on the beat, it is going to make a massive difference to the people in my region in the south-east.

This particular bill has a number of elements to it. It is going to establish the police reservists framework, which is going to open up police workforce capacity. These appointed police reservists, on probation, are going to take the same oath that police take, and they will have to have at least two years prior service as a police officer in Victoria or in another jurisdiction. They also may have to meet other prescribed criteria, although these criteria are probably going to be waived in exceptional circumstances. Appointments can be full-time, part-time or casual and may be fixed term or ongoing. This is good news for Victorians.

I am so aware of – in fact I speak regularly in this chamber about it – the crime situation and the need to support our police force. We know that crime is at an all-time high under this particular Labor government, with a criminal offence occurring every 50 seconds. So while I am speaking over this period of 10 minutes or so, think of how many people have just endured some form of criminal activity in their businesses, in their homes, on their cars, maybe on their own personal bodies. It is simply not good enough.

Every day 746 people become victims of crime here in this state. The yearly Crime Statistics Agency data reveals that crime is up in Victoria. I know that we are getting new statistics this week, and I am looking forward to seeing what those are, but I do not think that the news is going to be particularly good news, because in the City of Casey we know that crime was up by 12.7 per cent in 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, and in the City of Greater Dandenong, where my office is, in the middle of the south-east of the 11 electorates that I represent, crime rose by 6.5 per cent. When it comes to police, there are currently about 506 fewer full-time Victorian police officers than when Jacinta Allan became Premier. What an achievement – just when we need more, we have less. There are 1500 vacancies on Victorian police rosters. Think about that – 1500. Forty-one Victorian police stations remain closed or are operating on reduced counter hours. And let us take the machete bins that were introduced here by this particular government – what an epic failure – which cost $13 million.

Members interjecting.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: Well may you moan – that is the taxpayers money that was spent and we have rising crime and not enough police. Let me just add, as a person from an education background, if we were to bring in some of our people that have had to retire in the education force as well, maybe we would not have a situation with such a shortage of teachers.

I know that I have mentioned many times in many motions and in many different debates and adjournments statistics that are important for us to remember. Crime across Victoria has increased more than 25 per cent, with almost 295,000 offences remaining unsolved. Think about that just for a minute. In my area it is well known that that we have had people who have had firebombings, whose businesses have been burnt down, and in just over a week the young people who caused those fires have been released to walk free, to do it again. Reports that come to me through local people suggest that these young people are being offered large sums of money in order to burn down businesses. That is very concerning. That is organised crime; that is not random.

How are we going to combat that when the average Joe Blow that has something happen to them does not even feel they can ring their police because the police are so occupied with so many other issues? We have, for instance, in my City of Casey, some of the highest statistics for domestic violence, and the police have to prioritise that to try to save a life. But while the police are doing that – and that could maybe take them a few hours to sort out – that is a car and a police unit that is not out on the beat to come when someone rings because they have got a criminal situation. I have heard about it because I have also attended these local community group forums that the City of Casey has been holding. Just about everybody had a crime story, and just about everybody had a situation where they did not feel that they could call the police and see them actually turn up. That is a real concern. It is a real concern when we are living in a what is supposed to be a civilised, organised culture and situation and not only do we have young people who have just committed horrific crimes being able to walk free but the police are stretched so they cannot even get to everything. I am not sure how many cars we have in the area of the City of Casey; maybe it is half-a-dozen. I do know that these people are working extremely hard, and I do know that we need to encourage them, and I want to say this to everybody in the south-east: you need to make the call to the police, or to Crime Stoppers if you do not want to have your name recorded in what you are doing, because if you do not do that, they will not realise how much we need our police services supported in our area so that we can increase them. Do not give up on making those calls just because they cannot get out. We need those statistics to help us get more police. So please keep making the calls even if you feel let down because they cannot get to you in time.

I have been calling on the government because I know that we need these police stations manned. I know that places like Dandenong and Frankston need to have fully staffed and fully operated stations. I know that we need them from Chelsea and Mordialloc right across everywhere in the south-east. We have an issue with crime, and we need more police. We now finally have a little bit of a solution here that will help some of these police to come in and work in administrative tasks. It is going to make a huge difference.

I have to pay attention, though, to the fact that this government promised a police station in Clyde North, where we have some of the highest numbers of domestic violence incidents taking place. This newly built police station that we in the community were all told – and I live in the City of Casey – was going to provide 24-hour access continues to remain closed to the public, despite the population growth and rising demand in the area. I also want to acknowledge that Victoria recorded more than 640,000 criminal offences in the past year, which is a 12 per cent increase on previous reporting periods. We will know a little bit more about how bad things are when we get the current statistics and they come out. I have to also comment on the fact that Victoria’s police numbers remain lower than in New South Wales, and that contradicts what the Premier claimed in terms of the workforce. Quite clearly the Premier has been corrected, because now we have this bill before the house.

Ms Ermacora said, ‘What is the coalition going to do about it?’ Well, number one, we are supporting this bill because we want to see more police. We know that we need them, and we know that they need more support. I know that my community needs to be able to ring a police station, they need to be able to ring 000 and they need to know that the police are going to be able to come out to them when they have those situations arising with criminal activity and that they will not be in a long list of people who are simply waiting for that police car to turn up. The police do an amazing job, but we need more. This is a short-term solution, and it is one that the Liberals and Nationals 100 per cent support because, as you may have noticed, we have ex-police on our side. Yes, we do. Trung Luu just spoke earlier; he is a former cop. Brad Battin, who is our shadow minister, is a former cop. We actually have former police who are members of Parliament, not ex-staffers. We have people who have worked in real jobs in the community, and that is why we care about what happens under these policies and what happens when these bills become law. It was mentioned: ‘What will the coalition do?’ Well, let me tell you, we have an actual plan. We have a plan for Victoria because we want to actually see things change.

Harriet Shing: On a point of order, Acting President, it may not have any substance, but the document that Mrs Hermans is holding up is clearly a prop.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): Ignoring the preamble, do you wish to speak on the point of order, Mrs Hermans?

Ann-Marie HERMANS: I am actually using it as my notes.

Harriet Shing: No, you are not. You did not look at it once.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: I am about to.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): I am going to rule on the point of order. It was being used as a prop. I would ask you not to wave an item for the camera or for the broader chamber, Mrs Hermans, but apart from that you are free to use your notes.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: Thank you, Acting President. We have a plan to keep Victorians safe, because Victorians deserve to feel safe. They deserve to feel safe in their homes. They deserve to feel safe in our streets. Victoria’s crime rate has reached a 20-year high. A crime is committed, as we said, every 50 seconds. Every 13 minutes we have a theft in a retail store. There is a serious assault every 28 minutes. Every week there are nine carjackings across Victoria. There are, as I mentioned earlier, 1500 police vacancies, and 40 police stations have closed or have reduced hours. These are not just statistics. They are not just numbers on my page. They are reality for every Victorian. So what will we do? We will deliver more police on the beat. We will deliver more PSOs for community safety. We will deliver stronger police pursuit powers. Under a Jess Wilson–led government, we will deliver tough bail and sentencing laws, not like the flimsy, revolving door things that we see currently under this government. We will deliver targeted prevention and intervention programs because we also care about changing the person and their future, not just talking about it.

I am a person that has formerly worked in social work and youth work. One of the rules of that, and I have said this in this chamber before, is that there must be consequences for actions. You cannot teach people things if there are no consequences for actions. You are teaching them when there are no consequences that they can do it again and that next time maybe they can take it just that little bit further. Basically, you are teaching them to continue to have a life of crime. There is nothing that is getting turned around in that time, so there have to be some consequences for actions. But there also has to be some thought put into it, because when people are given the opportunity to have an education and to be given a hand up over a handout, they can turn their lives around. We want to see people have that opportunity. In some cases they are turning to a life of crime because they simply do not have that.

We want to see a stronger police force, and we have a plan to boost frontline safety that will deliver 3000 more police, reopen police stations, restore public access and put police back on the front line. I am glad to see that the government had to copy our ideas to try to put a little bit of that together in this particular bill, and that is why we will be supporting it. There will be 3000 more police if we have a coalition government in November. As I said, we will reopen our police stations so that we have more visible law enforcement in our communities and more consistent protection.

 Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (15:16): I am going to rise today to make a brief contribution on this bill, which introduces reforms to provide a police reservist scheme in Victoria. The proposed scheme will boost capacity and ease pressures on frontline police officers by enabling police reservists to perform a number of administrative and supportive tasks. We know that this is a temporary measure to plug the gap, essentially encouraging retired police officers and former serving police officers to come back on board into the police force to provide some administrative duties and take that pressure off frontline workers. We know that there are currently 1500 to 2000 unfilled positions within Victoria Police, so this very much is a temporary measure. The situation is not unique to Victoria. Staff retention and recruitment is a huge issue in every state in Australia. Police are leaving the police force in droves. That is due to toxic workplace culture, to burnout and to an ageing police force. But this gives us an opportunity to rethink where police resources are best utilised, and that is some of the contribution that I want to make today.

We know that police are currently being called out to deal with mental health issues and family violence issues and to deal with poor behaviour in out-of-home care. We think that they could be better utilised by looking at alternative first-responder models – mental health workers attending sites and specialised family violence support services attending. Currently when it comes to family violence – and as Mrs Hermans raised, in Casey City Council we have a huge issue with family violence, predominantly – police are being called out to family violence incidents as the first responders. Obviously for any sort of violent incident it should be that the police that are first responders, but often they do not have the specialised family violence training that is needed.

I have spoken many times in this chamber before about the Alexis model. What we are seeing with the Alexis model, where we have a specialised family violence unit supporting both perpetrators and victims of family violence, are very positive outcomes in that space. This model is currently only in a trial phase, and it is active in five family violence units within the police force. I have advocated time and time again for that model to be implemented in the south-east. As I indicated before, and as many in this chamber have spoken about, family violence in the south-east, and predominantly in the Casey council area, is highly prevalent. It is quite a unique space to be looking at, particularly as there is such a culturally diverse community in Casey. There are new developments in Casey. It is a fairly new community.

When we do look at the Alexis model and how successful it is, in its trial phase only we are seeing an 85 per cent reduction in family violence recidivism. Think about the police time and resources that could save through ongoing recurring call-outs of police. When we have a specialised family violence unit allowing people to access services quickly and effectively, we are seeing a reduction in misidentification, we are seeing survivors being able to access the support services that they need and we are also seeing perpetrators access services they need to change their behaviour, because let us face it, not everyone wants to leave a family violence situation. They want the behaviour to change, and that is what these units are doing. They are specialised units, and they are effective. Interestingly, 75 per cent of victim-survivors felt that the program helped decrease family violence in their lives. This is an example of a way better model of operating where you have a specialised family violence unit working with the police and effectively taking away a lot of the burden on police to be those responders to family violence time and time again. This is about changing behaviours.

Another issue I want to raise in particular around rethinking police resources and how we could better utilise police resources is obviously drug law reform. Today the Penington Institute issued their Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2026,and what it showed, alarmingly, is that seven Australians are dying of overdose every day. These are preventable deaths. One person is dying every 3½ hours of overdose, and that data is from 2024. How is this related to police resources? Well, when you have police attending or stigma associated with criminalisation of drug use, you are less likely to see people who need access to health services provisions accessing those provisions.

I heard on the radio this morning Alison Ritter from the University of New South Wales, who is an illicit drug policy researcher and expert. What she says is that a much bigger share of government funding is spent on law enforcement than on harm reduction. She said:

We’ve got good evidence from research that we’ve done that it would be far better to refer people … into harm reduction and treatment services than put them through the criminal justice system.

She went on:

… only half the number of people who are seeking treatment are able to receive it …

She said:

There’s no other health-related condition where society says we’re only going to treat half the number of people who might require it. That’s a huge gap in our system.

Imagine if we decriminalised all drugs and treated drug use as a health issue, not a criminal issue. These were some of the experiences that we got to delve into as part of the Legal and Social Issues Committee. We went to the ACT and spoke to Scott Lee, who is the ACT police commissioner, and a number of public health experts around decriminalisation of cannabis but also decriminalisation of drugs more broadly. What the police commissioner identified was that the administrative burden that has been lifted because there is no longer the criminalisation of all drugs in the ACT has had a huge impact on their ability to put frontline services and frontline police officers where they are most needed, not dealing with victimless crimes around drug offences.

When we reduce stigma, we know that those that need access to help and services do in fact access it. By removing stigma, by removing that criminalisation, you allow people to effectively move forward with accessing help where they need it. Obviously, with cannabis reform we still see a roughly 4000 Victorians arrested every year for cannabis possession. We are talking about small possession charges, under 50 grams. It is a young person having a joint on them and getting busted at the train station; it is someone at a rally having a little bit of weed in their pocket and getting picked up by the police. We know 4000 arrests a year has to be a huge weight on the police resourcing that we currently have, especially when we are down 2000 officers. Eighty per cent of the community believe that cannabis should not be a criminal offence – 80 per cent. I am not the only one saying this in this place.

When it comes to the cost of police time and resources, the PBO, the Parliamentary Budget Office, recently did some costings where they indicated the operating cost of policing cannabis-related crimes in Victoria is estimated to be approximately $5.8 million per year. That accounts for around 56,800 hours of police time. If we equate that to a full-time workforce, that is 27 full-time police officers – and that is just on cannabis reform. That would be an extremely low result as to an estimate, I would think.

In summary, I think that we can identify that a huge amount of money is currently spent on policing, and I am not too sure that it actually makes our community much safer. I think we have a real opportunity in this place to talk more about where police resources are fundamentally needed, and we know that that is in relation to any violence within the community. Police should be the first responders and right there protecting our community. There is no denying people should feel safe in their community. But it is time that we rethink some of these outdated laws that currently impede police from actually being those frontline support workers where they are needed, in comparison to drug-related offences.

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (15:26): I am pleased to also rise to share a few remarks on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026, which is an important part of our package of continuing to reassess, re-evaluate, listen to genuine need and implement genuine reforms that make Victorians safer. Many colleagues in this place have shared their experiences with their local communities with their local police forces, and I believe I am now the third speaker in a row representing the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region. On that note I wish to also join in thanking and acknowledging the incredible work that our police officers do – our sworn officers and our PSOs, obviously, here in the precinct, on railway stations and in shopping centres – and the work that both civilian and sworn officers do day in, day out to keep our communities safe.

Recently I did have the opportunity to attend a crime forum in the City of Casey which was held by local command, and it was very good to hear the direct feedback touching on some of the points that have already been raised by other speakers in this debate. We do know, for example, that domestic and family violence continues to be the driving cause of their workload, and my colleague Ms Ermacora, before she was in the chair, was remarking on that aspect of their work. Indeed at that point, following the initial tranche of bail reforms, it is early stages, but the police have been reporting positive feedback back to the community on them. Since that time we have had the second tranche of bail reforms come through, and throughout the process and in the lead-up to it I did have the opportunity to speak with many of my constituents, including one who I have spoken about previously in Berwick, and their input and their sharing with me of their story, their really traumatic story of their experience, really did help to drive our advocacy, which led to these new stronger, tougher bail laws to be in place, which are having an impact. There is still further work to be done, but they are having an impact and they are keeping Victorians safe, as they deserve to be.

As Mr Limbrick mentioned, the City of Casey is a very large area, and combined with the Shire of Cardinia, the population is already larger than that of Tasmania. We do have a large and growing area, and it is for that reason that this government has been investing in a rebuild of Narre Warren police station. That has just reopened – a full rebuild – and of course there is the new Clyde North police station, which has already been mentioned in debate today as well. We are continuing to make those investments, and as other colleagues have noted, we do still have the single largest police force in the country. Notwithstanding that, and notwithstanding the many investments that have been made in police resources over a long period of time, there is an acknowledgement that in Victoria, as in other states, we are seeing a shortage of police officers, and whilst the funding is there and the resources are there, we really do want to encourage more people who think they might have the appropriate skills to consider putting their hand up to become a Victoria Police officer. These people do incredible work day in, day out.

Joe McCracken interjected.

Michael GALEA: I see your interest over there, Mr McCracken. You might be looking for a new career, as we are very sad to be losing you from this place this year. Maybe it would be something that you could do. You could come out to the academy in Glen Waverley and we could catch up there, and you could tell us and give us an update on how you are going in the academy. I am sure you would make a fine officer.

Whatever your background – and I understand that they do seek to have people from very different backgrounds – it is something that we want to see. Just as with every other state undergoing similar challenges, we are really keen to see this. There is the Made for More campaign underway right now, which is promoting policing as a career to Victorians. Indeed, as I have previously commented, even the Queensland police force is getting in on the action by mistakenly putting their policing recruitment adverts onto our trams – but we will certainly take it.

In the meantime, that does not mean that we are just going to sit and say, ‘We’re doing our best to recruit. We’ve got this in place. There’s the new academy in Mildura on the way as well. We’re doing all these things.’ We are not just going to sit on our laurels and wait. The bill before us today is a real opportunity to find an innovative approach through the re-engagement of police reservists, something that has not been a big feature of our system for some 30 years now. Under this bill, and indeed the $62 million of funding that has been provided in this year’s state budget, we will provide for the Chief Commissioner of Police to appoint police reservists as he or she – currently he – deems necessary to perform non-operational duties, like supporting the commencement of an investigation, supporting officers and assisting them with public inquiries and doing that background administrative work and indeed the public-facing side at the police counter as well. It will really ensure that Victoria Police can – as they are in the process of, and quite frankly, as they already have – shift towards a model of deployments, not just sitting around at stations. They are on the roads, they are out on the streets and they are in our shopping centres and indeed on our public transport network as well. Whilst that is the case, it is important to keep our police stations open for as many hours as possible. Police reservists will assist us in doing that, ensuring that these officers will be able to do so whilst the sworn officers are out on duty.

Any police or former police members with a minimum of two years of service in the force will be eligible, but it will not be solely restricted to former members of Victoria Police. It will also of course be open to those from other jurisdictions within the country as well. The processes, which will be outlined through the bill or its regulations, will enable the chief commissioner to ensure that these reservists are most appropriately engaged and then most appropriately deployed to support the work of sworn officers on operations such as Operation Pulse.

I have spoken a few times about this very significant and very important initiative of the current Allan Labor government. We have seen a very successful rollout and deployment of PSOs across train stations across metropolitan Melbourne.

David Davis interjected.

Michael GALEA: What we saw, though, with a fixed program, Mr Davis, was that stations such as Dandenong did not get any PSOs until 6 pm. It was terrific for them to have PSOs of an evening, but there were no PSOs under the previous model before 6 pm. This new model, firstly, allows for the intelligence-led deployment of PSOs so that they are at the busiest stations, at the stations where crime incidents are more likely to happen, and so that they are there at the times when they are needed, not just waiting around at a quiet station that sees very little traffic from 6 pm onwards. That is part of the intelligence-led deployment.

Operation Pulse itself is about putting extra police resources but also PSOs themselves into our suburban shopping centres, with a pilot currently of six centres, including Fountain Gate, Bayside in Frankston in my electorate as well as Eastland, which is not too far away. This is a really important response. We did bring in last year stronger laws and tougher penalties for those who do seek to assault or violently abuse retail and other frontline workers, doubling the summary offence to six months and bringing in a new indictable offence with five years. It is a very important new set of laws that I was very proud to be a part of, and indeed it is the first tranche of a package of reforms, the second of which will be with us in the Parliament very soon. The impact of that is supported by Operation Pulse and the resources that are being put into these shopping centres. We have seen across the centres over the summer trial of Operation Pulse a 50 per cent drop in violent crime at these centres since the start of the program and indeed a 73 per cent drop in retail stock loss as well.

We have heard emphatically from shopping centres, from the retailers, most importantly from the retail workers themselves and also most importantly from the customers themselves. I have had people, retail workers and customers alike, talk to me about their experiences in visiting Fountain Gate and the difference that that visible police presence has made. Indeed I was just out there the other day again, with the hardworking member for Narre Warren North Belinda Wilson, talking with shoppers and seeing the firsthand impact that is happening and indeed seeing some PSOs out there in the centres too. That is just one example.

Given the commentary that was brought up in relation specifically to the City of Casey and to the south-east, I thought Operation Pulse would be a very good way to highlight the work that we are doing, not just resting on our laurels and relying on old models but actually looking at what is working when it comes to fighting crime, looking at what we can do better, acknowledging that and, in some cases, bringing in those tougher penalties, the serious consequences, the tougher bail laws, making the tough calls, not because it is the politically easy thing to do but because it is the right thing to do. That is backed up with our resources, our investments into Victoria Police and innovative ways of ensuring that they can do their job fully.

Having reservists in police stations to do the backlog, the admin work and the customer-facing side of things from time to time as well frees up the resources of our sworn officers to do the job that they are trained well to do and that they excel at. That also means of course that the Victorian public will be seeing the vast amount of officers that we do have on a more regular basis, giving all Victorians that little bit of extra peace of mind. This is a very straightforward bill. It is a sensible bill. I am glad to see support for it, perhaps near unanimous, from across the chamber, and I hope to see it pass later today.

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (15:37): I am pleased to rise and support the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. As has been pointed out across the chamber, this is a sensible bill. It brings back a more structured role for reservists and makes use of an experienced workforce that we should use. But it is in the context of the state government having lost control of crime in this state, having lost the ability to ensure the safety of the community. This is at a high level, and we know that this is the case when it comes to the firing of retail premises and threats to hotels and so forth that are occurring on a wide front, hundreds of stores having been attacked. That is one side of it. On the other side, we know that there is personal safety. Home invasions, carjackings, all of these are becoming increasingly common, increasingly concerning and increasingly violent, as we see.

I have held a number of forums locally in the recent period, and at each of those people have come forward with terrible stories in a way that 10 or 15 years ago they would not have been likely to have done. That is the result of 12 years of Labor. It is 12 years of failure. It is a wind-down of policing. It is a weakening of our bail laws. It is a weakening of our penalty system. It is a weakening of the position of our courts. And I do not let the courts off the hook on this either. I think many of the magistrates and judges have not been as tough as they should have been. But it is true that the laws that they have had to apply and the laws they have had to implement have been weakened successively by this government. They had a little flurry a year ago to try and tighten some things up, but a lot of this is too little and too late and too weak and too pathetic in the way it has been implemented by this government.

The truth is that the community is at risk. They are at risk. I look and I do simple figure work, and in Boroondara crime is up 12 per cent over the last year – 12.1 per cent, to be honest. I can go through many of the municipalities in my area. Monash is up a lesser amount – it is up about 1.5 per cent. But again it is significant. As you move through the municipalities, there are higher crime rates now than there were one year, two years, three years ago. The truth of the matter is that the community is less safe, and the intensity of this crime is also greater. We have held some forums in and around Glen Iris, suburban Glen Iris, and in one or two of the streets there have been repeated burglaries, home invasions, shocking attacks on people, with no police nearby and often no police coming in a short period of time.

This is not an individual case here and there; this is a pattern that is occurring in our state. The community is less safe. There are less police on the beat in Ashburton. The police station has been closed. We reopened it fully. We restaffed it in government between 2010 and 2014. By 2016 this government was winding down the police at Ashburton, and now it is just a closed shell. The doors are closed, the station is there. There is nothing you can do, and the police are not accessible in the way they used to be. The local knowledge that people need in policing is not there in the way that it used to be. The same is true at Mount Waverley. The same is true across a number of other areas in my electorate. I have closely investigated this. I was down in Eaton Mall in Oakley the other day talking to people about this exact point. We have seen some very vicious attacks that have occurred in parts of the Oakley electorate as well. I could go on, and I just worry that the community is not as safe as it should be and could be. It is our intention that we are going to fix this.

I want to put one fact on the record. There are 500 fewer police than when Jacinta Allan took the top job – 500 less police in Victoria. The population has gone up, the crime rate has gone up and the intensity of crime has gone up, but there are 500 fewer police. That is the failure of this government. It is entirely Jacinta Allan and her cabinet’s fault in the end. They need to provide the resources, the staff, the wherewithal and the support when it comes to the offenders coming to court. I can point to case after case after case in my electorate where offenders are just let out – not once, not twice but dozens and dozens of times. They commit serious offences and they are out within an hour. It is actually disgraceful, and the community, I think, has had enough. The community has had enough.

Now we see a harebrained scheme, I have to call it – it is the only thing I can think of – to strip the PSOs off the key railway stations. I looked at my electorate. I went through this. There are 32 railway stations in Southern Metro where the PSOs, protective services officers, will be stripped out of the stations and two that are immediately adjacent to my electorate. So there are 34 stations where the PSOs are stripped out and are no longer there.

Michael Galea interjected.

David DAVIS: No, we have said they have got to go into shopping centres too, and we have got more police. Our plan is for more police and more PSOs – thousands more police to make sure that they can do the job and stop the crime. We will put the penalties in place and we will make sure that these frequent flyers are dealt with and that they are not able to just get out and go off and do another crime, threaten another person, do another carjacking, invade another home, frighten another family or frighten another street. That has got to stop. It has got to stop; let us just be clear. But the list is actually very long. Labor should adopt our Liberal plan to toughen sentencing, deploy 200 extra PSOs and 3000 police and restore the PSOs to all metropolitan rail stations. This was a Baillieu government policy: PSOs on every station from dark until last train. So if you are a woman and you want to catch the train at night, you can do so with safety. You can get off at a station where there are two PSOs. They are moving around and close to the station, perhaps in the car park nearby, so that you are safe and you can move around. You know when you get off the train that you will be safe. That is not the case now.

We have surveyed people extensively. Linda Fitzpatrick in Sesame Street in Mount Waverley came to one of my surveys, and I had a long conversation with her about this:

The only reason I would catch public transport after dark from the city is knowing a PSO is there at the other end. No PSOs at train stations will make me reconsider my mode of transport and which station I’ll use at night …

Of course it will. People are worried about safety, and if you get off the train, you do not know who is at the other end. You do not know. They could be thugs. You could be bashed or brutalised or robbed. But if there are PSOs there, you will be safe. It will actually force those thugs and bullies away from the stations. Let us be clear: people have got a right to be able to move around safely and securely.

John Berger interjected.

David DAVIS: You may not regard this as important, but in your electorate 32 stations have lost PSOs. Thirty-two of those stations have had the PSOs stripped out, and two more of the stations which are right adjacent to it have lost their PSOs as well. This is actually quite a serious matter for Southern Metro, I have to say, Mr Berger. But you of course live far down in the country. You do not catch the train in Southern Metro in the same way and go home late at night. You would not actually understand, because you do not catch the train home late at night.

Tom McIntosh: On a point of order, Acting President, if Mr Davis could refrain from pointing and if he could just lower the volume of his voice. We can all hear him. He has got a microphone; he does not need to yell.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Jeff Bourman): Actually he did need to yell over everyone else, so I will take this in two parts. Mr Davis knows it is unruly to point. If everyone else can keep it down a little bit, that would be awesome. We have 6 minutes to go.

David DAVIS: Thank you, Acting President, for your guidance. I will resist the urge to point. But I do want to pick one rail line out in my electorate – the Glen Waverley line. I looked at this line today. I got my staff to have a quick look and work it out station by station. We had not done it by line; we had looked at it in other ways – by municipality and so forth. At Richmond there is a PSO presence all day; East Richmond, no; Burnley, yes; Heyington, no; Kooyong, no; Tooronga, no; Gardiner, yes, from 5 pm; Glen Iris, no; Darling, no; East Malvern, no; Jordanville, no; and Syndal, no. That is the Glen Waverley line. There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine stations on the Glen Waverley line that have had their PSOs stripped off the stations. That is not a good thing. That is a terrible thing. The people who want to go to those stations should be able to do so in safety. Gardiner has PSOs from 5 pm, and Holmesglen, Mount Waverley and Glen Waverley have them from 5 pm as well. It does seem that certain lines have been targeted by the government to strip the PSOs out, and the Glen Waverley line seems to have come in for special attention. Southern Metro I think has come in for special attention, but I think the Glen Waverley line is the one that is really copping it.

The truth of the matter is you need local members who are prepared to stand up, to speak to the police, to speak to the Minister for Police and to speak to the Premier and say, ‘We’re not happy. We’re not happy about you stripping these police out of these stations.’ Where is the member for Ashwood? He has never stood up and said, ‘Put those PSOs back.’

John Berger interjected.

David DAVIS: Well, he has never said it publicly. He is quiet as a church mouse. He lets himself be run over by the government on this. He should stand up and say, ‘Put those PSOs back.’ That is what he should say. I am pointing again, Acting President, and I should stop it. I have got to stop pointing.

But it actually is a serious matter. Where is the member for Ashwood on these matters? He is nowhere to be seen. He is not prepared to stand up. He is not prepared to fight, and it is time he stood up for his electorate and demanded that all of the PSOs be put back on stations in his electorate – along the Glen Waverley line would be a very good start. There are other stations that it will also impact on: Ashwood and Oakleigh. Where is the member for Oakleigh on these matters? He has not stood up either. It is time he did.

A member interjected.

David DAVIS: ‘Softly, softly,’ you say. Well, they are not just going softly, softly. They are so soft it is silent. Actually I think the softness has slipped into acquiescence. They are going along quite calmly with what the government is doing, but their local community is not calm. The local community is furious; the local community has had enough. The local community say they want their PSOs back. The local community are very clear when I talk to them, and we have been out on the stations talking about these matters, that it is time the PSOs were put back, and it is time the member for Ashwood found his voice. He should stand up for his electorate rather than acting as a toady for the Premier and the police minister and minister who is responsible for stripping these PSOs out.

 Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (15:50): I stand to support the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. This is a good bill. It is good to have an opportunity to talk about what is contained within it. I want to start off by acknowledging all those that work in Victoria Police. They do incredibly important work keeping us all safe and supporting Victorians at some of their most important times of need. It is critical that police can respond to calls when needed, and to enable this, the government has provided funds to deploy 200 police reservists. We have already had 600 expressions of interest in these roles. It is fantastic to see the passion and the desire to get in there and do this work. The bill stipulates that police reservists must have a minimum of two years of cumulative service as a police officer, so police reservists will bring that experience and that institutional knowledge from the service they have provided previously and will be there to support Victoria Police and keep them out in the community. The police reservists will have powers of a constable in common law and will be a great addition to ensure that, as other speakers have talked about, Victorian police are able to have the maximum presence in our community possible.

Victoria has the most police officers anywhere in Australia, and Victoria Police are receiving record numbers of applicants, with the academy having full double squads graduating. I think everyone who I have heard speak on this bill supports police reservists being deployed to ensure that we are able to get our Victorian police out supporting the community and responding to calls. They will do incredibly important work to ensure that important roles – taking calls, responding to people walking into stations, following up on various forms of paperwork – are able to be done, ensuring that our police officers can be out there either responding to calls that they have received or simply showing a presence in the community. I absolutely support this bill, and I will leave my contribution there.

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (15:53): I rise to speak on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026 as well. The Liberal Party is supporting this bill. The bill will amend the Victoria Police Act 2013 to enable the Chief Commissioner of Police to appoint police reservists. The reason for our support of this bill is that the Liberals believe that allowing former police officers to work as reservists and undertake administrative tasks will alleviate the pressure on frontline officers and enable a greater focus on proactive policing and community safety as well as keeping stations open.

This bill is necessary because police morale is at rock bottom under the Labor government. Police have experienced significant workload increases and shortages in their stations, and they are leaving the force. There are 1500 vacancies across police rosters, which is putting enormous pressure on the remainder of the police. Under Jacinta Allan, police force numbers have gone down by over 500 in just the last two years. And due to the staffing crisis, Labor have been forced to close or reduce the opening hours at more than 40 police stations across Victoria, including Kyneton in my electorate and also the police stations in the Whittlesea police service area, the Mernda police station and the Whittlesea police station in my electorate, and Epping and Mill Park, which are just outside my electorate. Those closures impact on community safety.

In December last year we actually had a woman who was stopped in a car at an intersection and was approached by a man who attacked and damaged the car. The woman was frightened, and she did drive off. Fortunately, she was very close to the Reservoir police station – it was only 100 metres away – so she pulled into the police station thinking she would find safe refuge. She got out of the car and tried to enter the police station to seek help, only to find that that police station was closed and unstaffed. Even worse, the person who had damaged her car, who had attacked her car at the intersection, had actually followed her into the police station car park. He then cornered her in the car park, attacked her and slashed her with a knife. In the very place where this woman had actually gone to seek safe refuge, she was attacked. She was left alone and defenceless because the police station was closed.

We also know that domestic violence does not just happen during business hours and criminals do not just work during business hours. One of the main concerns that was raised with me about the closure of the police stations in the Whittlesea police service area (PSA) was around domestic violence services. Women were telling me that these incidents happen more often at night or on the weekend and there is nowhere for them to go to seek refuge. That is really disturbing.

We have seen a number of changes that have led to this. We know that in the Whittlesea police service area the stations have been reduced in hours. We used to have three 24/7 police stations in that police service area, Mernda, Epping and Mill Park, and we had one station with lesser hours in Whittlesea, but in about October last year the police in the area started to contact me to say that as of 2 November the stations would all have their hours cut. Mernda station opened in 2017 as a 24/7 station. We were told that that was going to provide 24/7 coverage and that there would be less officers and less hours needed at Whittlesea because Mernda would be open 24/7, servicing that area. In fact the government said Mernda police station would get an extra 45 police officers. But now we know that Mernda police station has actually been reduced in its hours. When the police started contacting me last year to say that from 2 November most of those stations were having their hours reduced, this was because, they told me, they were operating at between 40 and 60 per cent of their designated numbers at that station. Instead of having their full complement of police officers filling the rosters at the four stations, they only had between 40 and 60 per cent. So we can see why you cannot keep patrols on the road and keep a police station open if you are operating with such low numbers. From 2 November Mernda and Epping stations, which were 24/7 stations, were reduced to only opening between 10 am and 6 pm Monday to Friday. Whittlesea station was reduced to only two days per week, and that left Mill Park as the only 24/7 station.

People were concerned enough about that, but in May this year we had a second round of reductions in that area – the second reductions in just six months. The police actually put up a social media video that announced that from Sunday 31 May Whittlesea police stations would be forced to make further reductions to their operating hours. It was a rather bizarre video where someone turned up to the station and the station was closed, and then they tried to explain that because they were not at the station they were out in patrol cars. We need people out in patrol cars, but we also need police at the stations. We need places where people can seek refuge and places where people can go to raise their issues with police. That social media video finished with a page that I have a screenshot of, which said that the Mernda police station would now only operate just two days a week, from 10 to 6 – a station we were promised was going to be a 24/7 station with 45 extra police officers, operating two days a week from 10 to 6. Also, Mill Park station is no longer a 24/7 station. It is only open between 1 and 9 pm on weekdays and from 10 to 6 on the weekend. The Epping police station is open Monday to Friday, 10 to 6. Again, that was 24/7, but Monday to Friday, 10 to 6. And Whittlesea announced on this video that it would be closed and would only be available by appointment when someone could be there.

After I raised this issue the police actually took that video down, and they then reposted it a few days later with the main part of the video but without that panel at the end, which I do have a screenshot of, and they changed the wording slightly around the Whittlesea police station. The other stations remain the same hours that had been announced earlier in the week, but for Whittlesea it now says that it is going to be open one day a week, on Wednesdays from 10 till 6. This was a real concern for people in the Whittlesea PSA. They had already had their police station hours changed. We have had some significant crimes, particularly just near the Mernda police station. We had the murder of Aidan Becker at the Mernda railway station, just a few hundred metres from the police station. We had another young girl who was attacked viciously at the Mernda train station. People are very concerned about safety. I am in a chat group with residents from Donnybrook, and it keeps me awake at night, because they are concerned about people breaking into their cars and breaking into their homes.

On the very first day that the new roster kicked in for the reduced hours at Mernda, at Mill Park and at Whittlesea on Sunday 31 May, the Donnybrook residents at 12:50 in the afternoon rang 000 because there was a person in their neighbourhood who was trying to break into homes. There were several videos going up of this same person trying to get into different homes. It took until 4:40 pm for the police to call them – not for the police to visit but for the police to call them. They were not very happy with the service that they received from the police, and I have certainly raised that with the local superintendent.

The Whittlesea LGA has seen a significant rise in crime in recent times. For the year ending 2025 we saw a 20 per cent increase in serious assaults. We saw a 24 per cent increase in motor vehicle thefts, a 31 per cent increase in prohibited weapons offences and a 137 per cent increase in criminal incidents on public transport. And what has happened in that time: we have seen the police numbers go down not only in that police service area but right across the state because this government are not resourcing police with the numbers and the legislation that they need to hold criminals to account.

We know that police are leaving the force because there is very low morale due to the government not supporting them. Part of that is when the police do charge someone, they take them to court, and these people get off time and time again. There was an article in the Shepparton News on Friday last week about a man who was arrested with 17 new offences. He already had 12 counts of bail against him, and he was arrested for performing 17 new offences. Some of those offences included burglary, criminal damage, theft of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, committing an indictable offence while on bail, contravening a conduct condition of bail, eight counts of theft and three counts of handling stolen goods. Guess what happened. He was granted bail again, so he is now back out on bail to continue breaking his bail conditions and perpetrating crimes in the Shepparton region. It is a disgrace. Jess Wilson has a plan to make this state safe again, to make people in this state feel safe in their homes, to ensure that we can deal with the levels of crime in our community and to ensure that our police are resourced to do that both with numbers of police on the ground and also with the legislation to back them up. Under the Liberals, we will recruit 3000 extra police, we will recruit an extra 200 PSOs and we will reopen the more than 40 police stations that Labor has closed or reduced in hours, including Kyneton and Mernda.

In addition, we will back that up with the legislation that is needed to ensure that criminals, when they do have offences against them, are charged and pay the price for that. We will make sure that if they break bail, they do face jail, because that is what the community expects. The community want people who are breaking the law to actually suffer the consequences of the law. There is no point in letting people out time and time again to continue committing offences and not doing anything to stop that. It does not help the people of that community, and it does not help the criminals themselves. Entrenching criminal activity because people can get away with it is not improving those people’s lives. People need to understand that there are standards that they must live by and that if they do not uphold the letter of the law, they will face consequences. That is the only way we are going to reduce crime in Victoria and make Victorians feel safe again.

 John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (16:07): I rise to speak on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to my good friend the Minister for Police in the other place, Minister Carbines, and thank him for the work that he does to keep our community safe.

The purpose of the bill is to allow for the creation of a new police reservists program, which will enable reservists to undertake administrative tasks within Victoria Police. It is clear that community safety is a concern many Victorians currently have, including most of my constituents in the Southern Metropolitan Region. Is also true that Victoria Police has more staff than any other police force in the nation, yet these brave men and women who serve our state so admirably often find themselves unable to do their jobs because they are focused on sorting out administrative tasks back at the station. The problem this bill fundamentally seeks to address is that while the administrative work our police officers attend to is crucial for the effective operation of Victoria Police as an organisation, it can be a drain on resources and keep police officers desk bound for far too long. When a police officer is sitting at a desk, they are often doing important work. It is, however, often the case that that could be done just as effectively by somebody else, such as a reservist, allowing the sworn officer to spend more time in the community responding to and preventing crime. This bill seeks to solve that issue, creating a force of uniformed reservists to work in police stations to do the necessary administrative work. As a consequence, this will free up police officers to spend less time at their desks doing paperwork and more time out having a visible presence in the community. Essentially what we are doing is providing Victoria Police with more resources and giving them more efficient ways to allocate resources to different aspects of what maintaining a police force involves.

This bill means that Victorians can have confidence that there will be police on the street and fully staffed stations when they need them. This is part of the Allan Labor government’s broader commitment to ensuring community safety throughout this great state. Specifically how this bill will achieve these aims will involve giving the Chief Commissioner of Police the power to appoint reservists. While the bill does not mandate a specific number, funding has been provided in the budget for 200 positions. These reservists will be given the responsibility of supporting sworn officers through completing non-operational duties. Reservists will be given the general duties and powers of a constable at common law. They will be given the responsibility of non-operational duties – tasks such as supporting the commencement of an investigation and front desk duties such as accepting crime reports or assisting with public inquiries.

Those eligible to work as police reservists will need to be able to demonstrate at least two years of experience serving in a police force. This could be with the Victoria Police or a police force in another jurisdiction. Appointments as a reservist could be made on a part-time, full-time, fixed-term or ongoing basis, allowing for individuals to find arrangements which work best for them. This will allow more flexibility to allow different people different arrangements according to what will work best for them. We expect many different reasons why former officers or currently serving officers who might seek to transition to become a reservist might apply to become a reservist, and this flexibility will make the position suitable for more types of people. People have different reasons for exiting the force. Some retire, some move to a different industry, some move outside Victoria and some make these decisions based on thinking about what it is they wish to prioritise in their life. What this bill will enable these people to do is to continue to serve in non-frontline service, keeping their experience, their expertise and their knowledge inside Victoria Police. Under an Allan Labor government, community safety will always be a priority. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (16:12): I am pleased to be able to speak on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. The Nationals do support this bill. The reintroduction of police reservists is a practical measure that can support police operations, and we know certainly at this point in time that police need all the help they can get. I think rising crime is one of the biggest issues we have in Victoria at the moment, particularly when I speak to people around Bendigo, where my office is located and which is in the Premier’s backyard. It is certainly out of control, and Victorians want to feel safe. They want to feel safe when they are at work. They want to feel safe when they go shopping, when they travel on public transport and when they are in their own home. Victorians want to feel safe. In Victoria right now we have a crime committed on average every 50 seconds. Theft or theft from retail stores is happening all the time – every 13 minutes. A serious assault is happening every 28 minutes. Three cars are stolen on average every hour. There are nine carjackings across Victoria every week. There are over 1500 vacancies in our police force, and more than 40 police stations have closed or are on reduced operating hours. As of early this year, we have only got two CBD stations open 24/7, and hours in regional Victoria have come down as well.

These statistics that I have talked about are certainly not just numbers on a page; there are real people that are being impacted by crime, often violent crimes. I can think of so many examples that have left people feeling absolutely traumatised. I remember speaking to a gentleman in Bendigo who was attacked, and his hand was permanently injured. That is a lifelong issue that he is going to have to face now. We know businesses that have faced threats. We know parents that are anxious because they could be victims of a carjacking with children in the back seat. These events have actually happened. I have spoken to and met with a lady whose house was broken into several times. Her car was stolen, her husband was stabbed and she has now left the region. I have spoken to another gentleman who was at the marketplace in Bendigo doing some shopping, and he was hit on the back of the head and forced to the ground. There is another gentleman, a man in his 70s, who was assaulted at Kennington Reservoir. He was knocked to the ground, which resulted in a fractured eye socket.

I know Andrew Lethlean, the Nationals candidate for Bendigo East at the coming state election, was contacted by a lady. I will just read what she wrote. She said:

This morning I was home alone in my bush property with my 3 month old baby when I had someone try to get inside who had clearly been living rough for a few days. I ran around and locked my doors, grabbed my baby, locked myself in my bedroom and called 000. After calling them, I called my husband to come home from Kangaroo Flat (25 minutes drive) and all my neighbour’s. In the 1 hour 45 minute wait for a police car to arrive, my neighbour’s found the man hiding in another neighbour’s property.

They apologized to me for the delayed wait stating no staff were available to respond.

I also have a family member who found themselves in a similar situation: four people trying to break into their home. They slept in their clothes for a number of weeks because of the fear of it actually reoccurring and have since put shutters all over the house. They did comment on how amazing Victoria Police were in their response, but soon after there was a knock on the door again from Victoria Police to ask for more footage from their security cameras because the people had come back over the fence of her property to steal the cars from the house next door. This is happening all too often.

I have spoken to retailers. I know many have left the Bendigo mall area because of theft. There has been repeated crime, and I have met with businesses in Kyneton and in Gisborne and it has been a similar experience. I know in Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe has raised issues about how there have been incidents just recently of young students being bashed. There are significant crimes there, with stores being firebombed. The same thing has happened in Epsom. In Mildura there have been horrific incidents, and I know my colleague Jade Benham has been highlighting some of those cases. Just recently in Bendigo there have been further store windows smashed. I was also contacted by security just recently at Parliament wanting the CCTV footage from my electorate office because someone had stolen a car and then walked across in front of my office.

This is hitting home for so many people across Victoria. I heard from a doctor just recently in Strathdale. He has got video footage of a man walking down the street and climbing on his partner’s car. He then stomped on the windscreen seven times. The man then walked next door and smashed the ute windscreen at that address. This is all happening at 7:30 in the evening in Strathdale. Just recently we had a horrific incident in Bendigo, the stabbing of a homeless person. CCTV vision shows a group of teenagers wearing balaclavas. A 41-year-old man was allegedly set upon by six youths in Bath Lane. That was about 9 pm on 4 June. He was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital with serious injuries. In this case charges have been laid and further investigations are underway, but that is not the case for many Victorians. Nearly half of all offences in Victoria remain unsolved. The statistics show that there have been nearly 630,000 offences recorded in a year and over 286,000 crimes remain unsolved.

We support this bill, but there is so much more that needs to be done. Only by restoring community safety and breaking the cycle of crime can our community really thrive once again, because if you are in fear, it affects every area of your life. We have a plan. We are now less than 24 weeks from the next state election. Our plan will deliver more police on the streets, recruiting an additional 3000 police officers, and more PSOs for community safety. As has been pointed out by David Davis, it is so important to have PSOs at our train stations and also in major shopping centres. We need stronger police pursuit powers, we need stronger bail and sentencing laws and mandatory consequences for repeat offenders and we need targeted prevention and intervention programs, because that is so important. Just recently I met with Street Peace. They are doing incredible work on the ground in Bendigo. They are sharing meals and working with young people who are at risk and a bit disconnected and really helping them through mentoring and through that community connection to get back on track.

In Victoria police numbers are down. In the past four years we have seen Victoria’s population grow by 8 per cent, but police numbers have fallen by 2.6 per cent. There is an acknowledged and quite a significant administrative burden that is stopping officers spending more time on the front line. Some we have heard are spending up to 7 hours per shift on paperwork. We have heard that IT systems are outdated, and repetitive reporting can reduce the time for patrols to get police out there. I know that I have spoken to police that are very tired. They are tired of doing the work required to get criminals off the streets only to see repeat offenders out on the streets again in no time. We have seen so many examples of people being let off on bail time and time again – multiple times. We have heard from police that it can be a smaller number of repeat offenders that are causing many of the issues, and this needs to be addressed. We need to ensure that we back our police force, that we break the cycle of crime and that we restore community safety. The Nationals support this bill so that reservists can support our police officers, but this is not a new idea; it is not a new concept. It is a scheme that has existed in the past, and it gradually diminished.

I just also want to acknowledge that today in the Parliament we have actually got Victoria Police Legacy and the work they do to support families. They are a not-for-profit entity that started in 1980. They provide ongoing support services for police families who have suffered the loss of a loved one. We thank them for their work. It just goes to show how much of a sacrifice Victorian police officers are prepared to make when they are out on the ground supporting us and keeping our community safe. But there is so much more work that needs to be done, because this is one of the biggest issues facing Victoria at the moment, and we need to restore community safety as a priority.

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (16:22): It will be just a brief contribution from me today to say that we do understand that community safety is of the utmost importance to the community, and that is why it is of utmost importance to the Labor government. We know that every Victorian has the right to feel safe, whether it is at home, at the shopping centre or on the streets, and this government is making sure that Victoria Police have both the resources and the broader support that they need to make our community safer. We are taking the action that is required to deliver the laws, deliver the resources and deliver the support, and that is what this bill today is all about.

One of the things that we have heard from the community is that they want to see more police out on the streets and they want to see more PSOs where it matters, and that is what this bill is delivering. The police reservists that are going to be enabled by this bill not only boost the number of police in and around each of the stations but free up the resources to get police from behind a desk and onto the streets. That is exactly what our community are telling us they want to see from Victoria Police – that they are out there on the streets, a visible police presence, not stuck behind a counter or stuck behind a desk. I think if you were to ask people what they wanted – do they want people behind a desk, do they want people behind a counter or do they want police on the streets where they can see them and where police can see prospective criminals? – they would absolutely tell you that the community wants police on our streets.

The other thing obviously that we are doing, as others have spoken about, is recruiting more PSOs and giving the flexibility to the Chief Commissioner of Police to ensure the deployment of PSOs is based on intelligence and is based on data. That is again I think what the Victorian community wants to see – that policing resources, whether they are police officers, sworn officers or PSOs, are being deployed where they are needed the most to help tackle crime, and that is what this government is continuing to do. I will just make a few comments briefly about the impact of the additional support that the government is providing to Victoria Police and the changes to the laws that we have been making to give police more powers and also send a very clear message out into the community that crime is unacceptable – that violent crime is unacceptable. I know my colleague Mr Davis, in his contribution, wanted to point out what was happening with crime statistics in various local government areas in the Southern Metropolitan Region. He mentioned that rates are up in Boroondara, and that is the case. I have spent some time listening to and talking with local police in the City of Boroondara. I was with the member for Ashwood last year at the Boroondara neighbourhood policing forum, where we both listened to what the local police were telling us. They were talking about how there are both intelligence-led and patrol-led responses to the changing nature of crime in the community. We listened to members of the community as well, heard what was happening on the ground and lent our support to that effort. It was really great to join the member for Ashwood at that Boroondara neighbourhood policing forum to listen and to make sure that we heard firsthand exactly the issues in those communities, particularly in Boroondara.

The latest statistics in Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston are showing a decrease in the offence rate. In Glen Eira the overall crime rate has reduced by as much as 7.4 per cent. In Bayside it is a 1.3 per cent decrease, and in Kingston there is a 3.4 per cent decrease in the offence rate for 2025. Particularly in certain offence categories, in parts of these communities we are seeing a significant effect and a reduction in offence rates. In Kingston, for example, burglaries and break-ins are down by nearly 25 per cent in 2025 compared with the year prior. Break-ins and burglaries are down 6 per cent in Bayside and 13 per cent in Glen Eira. We know there is more to be done. We know that there is more to do to make sure that our community is safe. But what these statistics demonstrate is that the action the government is taking is working. We are making inroads, we are backing our police with resources and laws, we are doing everything we can, and we will not stop doing everything we can under this Labor government to make sure our community is safe.

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Environment, Minister for Outdoor Recreation) (16:28): I am pleased to rise to sum up debate on the Victoria Police Amendment (Police Reservists) Bill 2026. May I take the opportunity to thank everyone that has contributed to this important bill, a bill that is about practical, sensible reform to assist our frontline police force. As Mr Batchelor so eloquently put it, this is an issue that is a paramount priority for government. Community safety is what we live and breathe, and in the range of reforms that this government has already committed to and has rolled out, you would see that. I do note that this bill itself is actually quite narrow in scope, and I know many of the contributions have touched on a large array of issues around community safety. I think it is important to have those broader debates at times, because community safety touches each and every one of us, and that is why as a government we are so focused on ensuring this sensible reform is implemented today.

We have not waited for the reforms to pass this chamber. I do want to take the opportunity to thank Victoria Police and the Department of Justice and Community Safety for their hard work and insight in preparing this piece of legislation but also really laying the groundwork by taking early expressions of interest that have already seen over 600 former serving members of the police force express a desire to return to assist the current police force. The Treasurer just stepped out, but she was here, and she has already provided funding for 200 new police reservists in this year’s budget to give effect to this bill, enabling recruitment to commence so that we can see that administrative burden that so many have talked about lifted off many in our police force. They can get from under the desk back into the field, so to speak, as our Chief Commissioner of Police envisages.

I know many of us talked about the wider context, and that wider context is important to understand that we are recruiting. In fact Victoria Police is increasing capacity in a way never seen before. The academy is full. We are doubling intake from 650 to 1300 a year. The new regional academy next year in Mildura – I know Ms Benham has mentioned it a couple of times in here. She would be very happy to hear that about Mildura, for all those out there, and the Mildura community I am sure will enthusiastically respond to the academy. I think they will get a lot of good local recruits as well in regional Victoria, up north.

A modern, fit-for-purpose police reservists scheme is a central part of our justice agenda, as I stated earlier. It will complement additional recruitment of frontline officers, and the amendments in this bill will reinstate the power of the Chief Commissioner of Police to appoint new police reservists. Bringing the experienced police reservists on board means freeing up the workload of our hardworking officers, allowing them to spend more time hitting the pavement. As has been made clear, police reservists are not themselves an entirely new concept. In fact they have been in place since the 1950s. To a certain extent we had moved away from police reservists, but our new chief commissioner, commissioner Bush, as part of his plan for a new-look Victoria Police believes that police reservists have a much greater role to play than what they did in the past, and that is why we are here today. The plan will see police reservists undertake administrative duties in police stations, freeing up frontline police officers. The duties that are envisaged include managing public inquiries at police stations, assessing and triaging requests from the community, preparing briefs and supporting documents, processing evidence, organising internal communications and helping to coordinate logistics for operational teams, all subject to operational decisions of the chief commissioner, who has the power to really justify where resources should be allocated appropriately, understanding the operational challenges.

Analysis by Victoria Police shows that about 4000 hours each day are spent behind a desk, for the current police, and the chief commissioner’s view is that those hours will be better spent on the pavement and out in vans. So we are listening to the chief commissioner. That is why we are here. We are delivering the support our officers need, and this new bill sets out the requirements, and the fact is that you will need a minimum of two years of cumulative service as a police officer in Victoria or another similar jurisdiction. It means that experienced officers will come back to support their former colleagues and also gives a flexible working environment where people can return on a casual, flexible, part-time basis if needed. I think that providing that flexibility is important and will assist – I think that has been one of the keys to the expression-of-interest process. It has teased out those people that are able and willing to work but maybe not willing or able due to family or personal circumstances to on a full-time basis return to the force.

I am pleased to see many experienced former officers ready and willing to contribute, and I think this will be a vital measure that will enable the government to recruit those 200 police reservists, drawing on hundreds and even thousands of years of experience. I can see, Acting President Bourman, you may also be interested in one of these roles one day, because these are the roles that will appeal to people, like I said, of all ages, and we want that experience back in the force to assist and support hardworking police. We are ensuring they can focus on doing what they do best, and that is keeping Victorians safe. On that point, I know we will be having a committee stage, so I might leave my contributions there. I commend the bill to the house.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

Committed.

Clause 1 (16:34)

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, I want to ask a couple of questions around the consultation that was done on this bill with the First Nations community. Can you inform the house what consultation was undertaken with First Nations communities, Aboriginal organisations and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria before this bill was introduced?

Enver ERDOGAN: It is a really good question. I think the nature of this bill is it is a very time-sensitive bill, and as we have heard from all the contributions, it is an issue of grave community concern. I understand that the consultation was focused mainly with Victoria Police and Victoria Police command and the Department of Justice and Community Safety, and that is where most of the consultation happened. In terms of the discussion with First Nations people, I know that the minister’s expectation is that Victoria Police will continue working with the justice caucus as deployment commences. But in terms of the formulation, because of the time sensitivity, that consultation was with Victoria Police.

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, given the disproportionate policing and imprisonment of Aboriginal people and the continuing high number of Aboriginal deaths in custody, do you think that that is actually good enough?

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I might get you to rephrase your question because you are asking for an opinion, not –

Enver ERDOGAN: That is okay. I am happy to give it a go.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: You are happy to give it a go? The minister is happy to give it a go.

Enver ERDOGAN: I think it is important to understand that for many of the people that will be filling these roles there is a requirement of two years prior service. As part of the formulation of the training to onboard people, there will be mandatory Aboriginal cultural awareness training that will be rolled out. That has been confirmed to me by the Minister for Police’s office. I think it is important that we are aware of the challenges that First Nations people face in the criminal justice system, not just in policing – across the courts and across the justice system and in the legal sector too. But I think mandatory Aboriginal cultural awareness training is something that is being rolled out as part of this deployment.

Katherine COPSEY: I just want to comment that I am pleased to hear that. It was something I sought information on in being briefed on this bill, what training the reservists would receive, given things have materially changed. We have adopted treaty in Victoria since many of these people have been in service. So I am very pleased to hear that. But it is not quite to the point of consultation prior to the bill being formulated and introduced. The horse has bolted when we are getting to talking about implementation. How has the government considered its obligations under treaty and the principles of self-determination in designing the police reservists scheme?

Enver ERDOGAN: You would notice that the First Peoples’ Assembly was not necessarily set up at the stage when this bill was in the works, particularly in April and May. I understand that the assembly commenced in May, so it made it more challenging and we were time-sensitive. There is a compatibility statement with the bill saying that it is compatible with treaty. Nonetheless I do take your point. I think this is important legislation and where possible we should always consult with First Nations people, but this was a unique set of circumstances. Many in the chamber have talked about the community’s concerns around safety and the need to free frontline police up from administrative duties and the time sensitivity. Even before the bill was passed, there was a budget allocated to this deployment that meant that that was not possible in this circumstance.

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, as I referred to earlier, there is a disproportionate policing and imprisonment impact on Aboriginal people and disproportionate entanglement in the criminal justice system generally. What assessment has the government made of the scheme’s potential impacts on First Nations people?

Enver ERDOGAN: I think in terms of the impacts, this is about experienced officers returning to do more administrative tasks. It is not envisaged that they will be out doing operational duties. Nonetheless, I think having more police doing operational work in the field is a good outcome for all Victorians, and Aboriginal Victorians, because we know that Aboriginal Victorians are disproportionately victims of crime. I think this will have a positive impact for Aboriginal communities; that is my view in relation to the implementation of this bill. But I do take your point about the consultation process in the unique set of circumstances where this was very time sensitive and it was required that we pass and introduce this legislation this sitting week.

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, was the Aboriginal Justice Caucus or the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service consulted in the development of this bill, and have the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s findings being considered in developing the bill?

Enver ERDOGAN: In short, no, they were not consulted in relation to the development of this bill. As with my answer to the previous question, this was because of the time sensitivity. Further consultation would have potentially delayed this bill. It is urgent. We know the community need to get police from behind the desk into the field, out in the communities, doing the frontline policing that they do so well. In that nature, there was a bit of a truncated process for this legislation. It is unique where you will have a large budget allocation before a bill is even introduced. This is one of those circumstances where that is what was required in the interests of community safety. But the expectation is that Victoria Police will work closely with Aboriginal Justice Caucus going forward, especially with deployment as deployment commences. As soon as we get royal assent, the goal is to have people on the front line, and there will be that mandatory training that I talked about earlier.

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, would you be prepared to undertake to do better in future than you have on this bill?

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Actually, you are asking a hypothetical. It is not a question. The questions have to be about the actual legislation.

Katherine COPSEY: I will rephrase. Minister, you have said that this was an exceptional circumstance. Is it the government’s intent that on a bill of this nature you would normally consult with Aboriginal justice stakeholders?

Enver ERDOGAN: I think it is fair to say the goal is to consult on all justice reforms with the Aboriginal community, because the Aboriginal community is so over-represented in our justice system. It is the government’s position that, where we can, we will always endeavour to consult and work closely with Aboriginal community and stakeholders, whether it be the legal service or justice caucus, on matters regarding the justice system which do so deeply affect Aboriginal people. I think that is an expectation not just of myself; it is a commitment that I and others made at Yoorrook. This is exceptional. With other justice legislation that we see this year I am expecting that there will be some consultation with the Aboriginal Justice Caucus before bills come to this chamber, but it is not always possible. I cannot give you a guarantee because the circumstances change. These are matters of, in many instances, community safety. We are talking about potentially matters of life and death. That is why sometimes there is a truncated process such as this one, and we have had them in the past as well for bail reform. So I cannot rule it out, but that is not the goal. The goal is to have the best kind of gold-class consultation is to ensure that Aboriginal stakeholders have that consultation in relation to justice reforms.

Katherine COPSEY: I will just point out that when we are talking about a state that has a record of implementing policies that have contributed to deaths in custody, this is a matter of life and death for stakeholders as well.

Turning to the need for the scheme, why is the government focusing on recruitment of reservists when we have 1500 vacant positions currently in Victoria Police?

Enver ERDOGAN: Ms Copsey, I think the need for this legislation is to enable Victoria Police to free up frontline police officers and get them out from behind the desk. We know that there is a larger administrative burden than there has been historically, and I think that is a reflection that policing work is harder today than what it was in the past, to be frank. There are a range of reasons for that. I think the changing nature of our society and community expectations have probably contributed largely to that too. But I think this is about deploying people into more administrative functions and getting the right people. The academy itself is at capacity. We are doubling capacity next year to 1300 recruits, but we know that attrition is a challenge. These are difficult jobs. That is why I always take opportunities like this to thank police for the work that they do in keeping us safe. I think this will mean we will be able to attract a new source of talent – people that have already served in the past and for some reason have gone on to do other activities or whose personal life circumstances may not have allowed them to continue in the police force. That is why the return and the rollout of this scheme is much needed to boost recruitment. These reservists will be experienced and ready to go. There is no risk that the reservists are necessarily a substitute. I feel we need these reservists for these administrative roles, but we also still need to keep recruiting, and that is why we are doubling recruitment. We are going to do as much as we can to get the right talent in, and having this experienced workforce I think will assist in freeing up frontline police work.

Renee HEATH: Just following on from Ms Copsey’s questioning on treaty, my question to the minister is: the government did not follow the treaty process last week with the urgent bill on fundraising, and from memory the reason that was given was that that particular bill did not actually carry significance with Indigenous Australians, which I do not understand – but that is an aside. This bill does. Like Ms Copsey said, there is an extremely high representation of Indigenous Australians within the justice system, so there was a huge song and dance about the treaty. Because you have not consulted with any of these Indigenous bodies and stakeholders, can you guarantee that this legislation is going to be fit for purpose?

Enver ERDOGAN: We are talking about experienced officers returning to support the current police force. Therefore, yes, it will be fit for purpose, understanding that this is the Chief Commissioner of Police’s vision for the force in terms of being able to deploy more people back into frontline policing and free up the reservists to do the more administrative tasks. I think that is the important part. It is not like we are getting people with no experience back into police stations; we are getting people with a minimum of two years. Many of them will have decades of experience. I think it is an asset to have them back on the team, so to speak, in many instances, so I am very confident that they will be fully capable to do the roles that the chief commissioner sees fit.

Renee HEATH: I have absolutely no doubt about the experience of the reservists that will be coming back in and serving in this manner, but I just think it is worth pointing out that if you believe in the treaty process, if you think that bills must go through this process so they are fit for purpose, you must admit that you have undermined your own process and that there is no guarantee that this is a fit-for-purpose bill.

Enver ERDOGAN: I get the point Dr Heath is making about the consultation. It is a similar point that Ms Copsey made about the consultation, and I think I have already answered that question. I think the bill is fit for purpose because it is very targeted, sensible, practical reform to support more frontline policing. About the consultation, could it be better if you had more time – sure. But I think community safety is time-sensitive. Every day we stay here debating these issues is a day that we do not have these reservists doing the administrative tasks to free up frontline policing. Therefore I would say in an ideal world, yes, you would do broader consultation, but we do not have that time in this instance. We know community safety is of the utmost concern – we all hear it in our electorates and in our communities – and therefore I feel in this instance it was what was needed. But I do get your point, and I think it is a similar point to the one Ms Copsey made about our commitment to the treaty process and how it is implemented with justice reform.

Katherine COPSEY: Just going back to the need for the scheme, Minister, what functions will reservists perform that could not be undertaken by existing police employees, by PSOs or by appropriately trained civilian staff?

Enver ERDOGAN: I think the tasks could all be performed by existing police. The police reservists will do some of the administrative functions that current police do, but not all of them. The police could do all of them, but the issue is the police academy is full, and that is why we are doubling the intake next year. In a perfect world you could train a much larger number of police and put them into the field, but it is not possible. And it is also difficult to attract and a challenge. Our police force, like every other frontline workforce, is really fighting to keep the talent, that is one issue. When we have reserves, we have the talent of people with previous experience that want to return. They may not want to do all the roles of a police officer but are happy to do some of them. So this provides a pathway back and provides that flexibility needed to free up frontline policing.

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, is there a risk that this scheme will become a substitute for addressing those workload retention, morale and staffing problems within Victoria Police?

Enver ERDOGAN: In short, no, it is not a substitute. I think our investment in a new academy shows that there is no substitute for police officers, but this will complement the work of Victoria Police.

Jeff BOURMAN: Minister, just following on a little bit from what Ms Copsey was going on about, the actual role of the reservists, currently we have PSOs and we have watch house keepers. The watch house keeper role is where you can do anything from the front counter to looking after property and giving the officers guns and stuff like that and signing this, that and the other. If, say, someone wanted to go back to doing the reserve role, what exactly are they up for?

Enver ERDOGAN: That is a really good question, Mr Bourman. I think at a high level, police reservists will have the common-law powers of a constable, but other specific statutory powers will not be conferred on reservists, such as powers to arrest, detain or interrogate. So they will not have those powers, but otherwise they will have the common-law powers of a constable. They will be at the reception counters doing a number of tasks, such as responding to public inquiries, taking reports, arranging collection of evidence, taking statutory declarations – we know that is also a significant time resource for police. These administrative tasks are generally performed by police officers, mainly in stations. These are the kind of roles that we envisage, but it is not an exhaustive list because the chief commissioner, if they see fit and believe it is necessary, will have the flexibility, as operational needs require, to make changes. But that is the way it is envisaged initially.

Jeff BOURMAN: It seems to me it is kind of like a watch house keeper role. I am going back a while now, but that was kind of what the watchhouse keeper did, which brings up a few issues. As I mentioned in my speech on the second reading, the watch house can sometimes turn to worms in an instant. What training are the reservists going to get in terms of both the general law and refresher training but also defensive tactics and such?

Enver ERDOGAN: These are really good, practical questions, Mr Bourman; you just get straight to the point. I think the training is a really important point, because a lot of these people are not new to the role of policing. They have minimum two years experience as a starting point. But we are looking at training options. That is still being developed, the final training, but there will initially be five days in-person training followed by additional self-directed training, which will include e-learning and written materials. They will be offered both at the academy and at the Victoria Police Centre. At this point they will not need to carry operational safety equipment, so that is not the goal here. But Victoria Police does require all sworn employees that do not have a medical exemption to undertake operational safety and tactics training, including police reservists. So they will be subject to that same training program, most likely in the form of e-learning. It covers training in terms of frontline support work like station emergency procedures and de-escalation. Equipment use will also be provided, but it is not the goal that they will be carrying equipment themselves to use. But it is at the same time at the discretion of the chief commissioner. If in the future the chief commissioner has a different vision for the reservists, I think it is important we provide him with that flexibility.

Jeff BOURMAN: Minister, to touch on something, just to confirm: will they be sworn members? Will they be sworn in?

Enver ERDOGAN: Yes, they will be sworn in – not as police officers but as reservists.

Jeff BOURMAN: Minister, you mentioned that it would not be envisaged that they will have to carry defensive equipment, but as I said, with watch houses you get all and everyone coming in there. Will the stations where the reservists are deployed have what I would call ‘new watch house arrangements’, where they have got security glass and things like that, or would it be possible that they will be at the old open desk type arrangement as well?

Enver ERDOGAN: That is a very detailed question. I will need to go to the box on that, Mr Bourman.

Mr Bourman, they will be at different police stations across our state, but at all times they will be supervised by a current serving police officer who will be in charge of, especially, the custodial settings that come with that.

Jeff BOURMAN: With custodial settings, obviously there will be at least a sergeant in charge and so on. But you brought up another question I had not thought of: would a reservist be as well as a watch house keeper or instead of a watch house keeper?

Enver ERDOGAN: Mr Bourman, police officers will be the watch house keepers, not the reservists.

Jeff BOURMAN: That is good. Will the reservists be deployed in 24-hour stations on a 24-hour basis, or are they just envisaged to be an office hours arrangement?

Enver ERDOGAN: Mr Bourman, I can confirm that obviously operational decisions are for the chief commissioner, but it is envisaged that their contract will be from 7 am to 7 pm.

Jeff BOURMAN: I want to get on to the firearms. I read that clause 12 allows the reservists to carry and use firearms. Obviously as a watch house keeper or reservist at the front counter from time to time you will deal with property that might be firearms, so you would need to have that exemption. You said something before about how it will be up to the chief commissioner what they can do down the track. What firearms training are the reservists going to get in the event that they, for whatever reason, need to carry a firearm – because they have the exemption to do so?

Enver ERDOGAN: You are right – and that was a good pick-up – that the bill has a consequential amendment to the Firearms Act 1996 to include police reservists as a class of non-prohibited persons who are exempt from the requirement to hold a firearms licence under the act, which means that they would be allowed to carry. It is not proposed that police reservists will carry operational safety equipment, including firearms. This amendment will enable such an operational decision in future. At this stage there is no specific firearms training envisaged. I might just seek some guidance in terms of technicalities here.

Mr Bourman, I think they will have some minimal training as part of that five-day initial induction training, understanding that these are former police officers, so they already have experience in using firearms. The initial plan is not for them to be carrying firearms, but obviously the chief commissioner will have the power to make that decision in future if they see fit. But these are people that have used firearms before, because they are experienced. Initially it will just be part of the five-day training – not a large part of that, because it is not proposed that they would carry operational safety equipment, including firearms, initially.

Jeff BOURMAN: Now for the big question. The government says ‘two years cumulative service’. At what point in time will it be too long to presume that that service has stuck in? I am just asking for a friend: would 26 years be too long?

Enver ERDOGAN: Could you just reframe that?

Jeff BOURMAN: At this stage you can have up to two years cumulative service. It has been 26 years since I left the force, so I am using that as an example. Would my more than two years back then be okay? At what point in time does the government intend to say, ‘It’s been a long time – maybe a bit long’? Is there a hard or even a soft limit on it?

Enver ERDOGAN: Good question, Mr Bourman. No, there is no limit. I think there are minimum requirements, such as the two years of service, and I guess it would be a minimum two years cumulative service as a police officer in Victoria or a similar jurisdiction. I think we have got the UK and New Zealand initially. I think that is the minimum requirement, and like any other application for any other role or job, if you are fit enough for the role – because there will be broader health requirements as well; they will not be at the same threshold as a police officer, but there will be good character and fitness requirements – I see no reason why someone that is not older and experienced could return to the force to do the role. I think it would be case by case, but there is no limit. You can have a 20-year career break and then return.

Katherine COPSEY: Minister, what safeguards will prevent reservists from being gradually deployed into frontline policing without further parliamentary scrutiny?

Enver ERDOGAN: Ms Copsey, that is a really good question. I think the deployment of reservists is a matter for the chief commissioner. You are right, the legislation will give the commissioner that flexibility. It is not the chief commissioner’s intention that they use or carry, for example, firearms and be deployed on operational matters. That is not the goal. The goal is clear: to do those more administrative tasks to free up the existing police force. But legislatively there is not a restriction.

Renee HEATH: Minister, how many police stations will be reopened due to these reservists coming in?

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, that is a very clever question, but I think you would understand that operational decisions are a matter for the Chief Commissioner of Police. The Chief Commissioner of Police recognises proactive operations, allocating resources where needed and responding to calls for assistance to best address crime and community concerns. I think that is his focus. The goal of this is to open up, obviously, some police stations – and I know the Deputy President contributed some local examples – that have had shortened hours. The goal is to reopen some, but in terms of where they will be deployed across the state, I think that is a matter for the chief commissioner. It is not practice for members of the executive to get involved in day-to-day policing. That would be very inappropriate.

Renee HEATH: You must be aware of an estimate of how many will reopen.

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, I point to my previous answer. I think operational decisions are a matter for the Chief Commissioner of Police. He recognises the need to have police stations open, and that is why a lot of the roles for people will be front-of-counter roles. But ultimately that is a matter for the chief commissioner. I do not want to pre-empt his decision-making. We want to see 200 across stations across the state, and that is the reason why we are here today.

Renee HEATH: How many stations will have their hours extended?

Enver ERDOGAN: I feel it is asked and answered, Dr Heath. This is an operational matter about deployment. The chief commissioner, depending on the resources he has, will allocate resources to where he sees the greatest need, but that is a decision for him to make. Our goal is in providing the resources to him, and that is an additional 200 reservists that he will have at his disposal effectively, at his use, in terms of resource allocation going forward.

Renee HEATH: What modelling was done to come up with the number 200?

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, I understand initially it was a budget investment decision. The $62 million would provide us with the ability to recruit 200 new reservists.

Renee HEATH: You are down 500 police officers – there are 500 less today than when Daniel Andrews was Premier – so that does not really make sense as to how you came up with 200 for the reservists. How far will these reservists have to travel for work, or will you put the reservists close to where they live? What is the plan there?

Enver ERDOGAN: As in my answers to other operational matters, it will be a matter for the Chief Commissioner of Police. But in relation to the specifics of this one, I do know the answer. The chief commissioner has been broadly wanting to deploy people closer to their existing communities, so where they live, where possible, understanding that some of these people with experience are returning and some will be looking for flexible work arrangements that suit where they are in their stage of life. Therefore it is still a matter for the Chief Commissioner of Police, but I think it is envisaged that people are deployed close to their own communities.

Renee HEATH: Was the number 200 a request from the commissioner of police?

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, can you just re-ask that question?

Renee HEATH: The legislation is drafted around 200 reservists. Was that number given to you or requested by Commissioner Bush?

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I think what she is asking is: was the specific request from the commissioner for 200 reservists?

Enver ERDOGAN: I think the goal for the commissioner was to have police reservists assist and to free up police for frontline policing work. In terms of that figure, I think that was what was initially considered as something that was achievable. When you are setting up effectively a new scheme, it is always difficult to tell whether you will be able to fill those roles. Two hundred was thought of as a number that we could start off with and roll out. We have been overwhelmed, I must admit, with 600 expressions of interest already, and it is fantastic to see that there are a large number of people willing to do this work. But 200 was effectively a government decision to start with the reservists.

Renee HEATH: Will office hours or station hours in Mernda station be opened?

Enver ERDOGAN: Operational decisions are a matter for the Chief Commissioner of Police. In terms of the hours at specific stations, they will be matter for the chief commissioner to consider.

Renee HEATH: Are there any priority areas that you know of, regardless of where they are? Is this a strategic operation or is it just because it is a big place, Victoria? Two hundred could be sucked up like that. Are there priority areas for these reservists? If so, where are they or when will we find that out?

Enver ERDOGAN: These are decisions for the Chief Commissioner of Police. He knows where the greatest need is to tackle crime and so that is his decision. He has not provided me with a list, if that is what you are asking. Do I have a list with me? No, I do not have a list of where the chief commissioner has decided to allocate the 200 new reservists. I am sure he has plans and the decision is for him to make to ensure Victorians are safe as possible.

Renee HEATH: Is there a goal to get rid of the by-appointment system? This is something that has really caused a lot of stress in a lot of areas. Essentially, if you want to report a crime or speak to a police officer, you have to book an appointment. The argument – one that I strongly subscribe to as well – is that a criminal is not going to attack you and you are not going to be assaulted at a time where you happen to have an appointment with a police officer. Is that a gap that you are expecting this legislation to essentially close?

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, I feel like the by-appointment system is a bit outside the scope of the bill. Nonetheless I think having more police at counters will mean that it will be more accessible for the public to report crimes in person. I hope that I have been able to answer some of your question.

Renee HEATH: But surely you must consider that this is firmly within the scope of this bill. The reason – and it is in much of the documentation – that we are getting these reservists in is because the police force is so under pressure, so overwhelmed. How can this possibly be outside the scope of the bill?

Enver ERDOGAN: You are talking about the by-appointment practice, which is an operational practice by the chief commissioner. This bill is not going into how the chief commissioner goes about his operations and what he does or does not see as being fit. What this bill is about is providing him greater resources to allocate them to where he believes there is the greatest need. But on your issue about front counters and being more accessible, of course this will give him more resources to allocate to front counters across the state where he sees the greatest need is and where resources are deployable.

Renee HEATH: What percentage of these reservists will be allocated to country Victoria, if any?

Enver ERDOGAN: I think the goal is to recruit people from across the state. I think the goal is to have them spread across the state, metropolitan and regional. We know the need for more frontline support for police is across the state, and I envisage that you will find that once we have the 200 in place and the chief commissioner makes his deployment decisions they will be spread across the state.

Renee HEATH: Am I correct that, yes, it is a goal but there is no commitment for a percentage of these reservists to be committed to regional or country Victoria?

Enver ERDOGAN: It is not my intention to direct the commissioner on his deployment decisions, but we have been clear that this is about 200 additional resources for the whole state, metropolitan and regional. So where the police commissioner sees fit, he should be deploying these resources.

Renee HEATH: Will this change allow any PSOs to return to train stations?

Enver ERDOGAN: Again, I think PSOs are outside the scope of this bill, if I may take that point. I think with the deployment of PSOs and this assertion we have had in this debate, we are getting off track, and I am reluctant to go down this path. But I reject the premise that PSOs have somehow been taken off train stations and put elsewhere; we have actually invested in more PSOs in this budget. But I think it is outside the scope of the bill. I do not want to get into a discussion about PSOs today.

Renee HEATH: The other question that I have is: what ratio is it per reservist to police officer back on the street? Is it one reservist per extra police officer on the street? The goal of this is stated in the material. Do you understand what I am asking?

Enver ERDOGAN: In the materials, as it states, there are 4000 hours daily that police do more administrative tasks, and some of those hours will go back into frontline policing.

Renee HEATH: Okay, so it is not like it is one police reservist equals one patrol or two police reservists equals one patrol; it is on an ad hoc basis.

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, that level of detail is still to be determined, and it is a matter for the chief commissioner.

Jeff BOURMAN: I have one question that came up while I was thinking about this. I am going to give you a bit of a hypothetical, but I think it will be an important one. Should in one of the smaller stations the watch house keeper call in sick, and let us say that it is not custodial, and there is one other sworn member in the place, and an emergency occurs and that sworn member has to go off to deal with the emergency, what becomes of the reservist? Do they shut the doors? There has got to be a proposition if there is no defensive tactics qualified person. What does the government envisage will happen if, for whatever reason, the reservist finds themself alone in the station?

Enver ERDOGAN: Again, that is a very operational matter, Mr Bourman, but I think in the end there are operational decisions made all the time, even now with the existing police force. I am sure police will have their own system to determine what is safest and best practice going forward, but I think I will leave that matter for the chief commissioner.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: I am just wondering what incentives are going to be provided to encourage and entice retired people. When you think about the fact that you are asking them to stand behind or at the front counter unprotected for, let us say, $80,000 to do administrative work, I am not sure how many retired qualified police are going to want to actually come up and stand up and actually take that risk. What incentives has the government put in place in order for this particular proposal, scheme, bill, act, as it will become, to actually be effective and to work?

Enver ERDOGAN: That is a really good question because it gives me the honour of sharing that we have had a lot of expression of interest. What has been attractive to so many people is that with these roles the goal is to see them doing more administrative tasks, so it is not as physically demanding for some that may not want to do the frontline policing. Also, the remuneration is $86,000, as of June this year, for a reservist, and it has attracted quite a bit of interest, with 600-plus expressions of interest already for the 200 roles. Clearly, people want flexibility in returning to work. They can sometimes be people that have had a career break or want to return to some part-time or flexible opportunities, and that is what we are providing. Clearly, there are a lot of Victorians that want to continue serving but maybe serving in a different way as a reservist. There is the salary but also the joy of supporting the police, understanding that people that work in the justice field – I can say as a former corrections officer – are attracted because these are values-based organisations. There are many people that may not want to do the full duties of a police officer but are happy to do the police reservist role. There are 600-plus Victorians that have already expressed an interest in doing this work, so we think it is a very attractive proposition, particularly when you have not just the remuneration but the value of giving back to community safety.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: I appreciate the answer. What you are saying is that the incentives are already there because there are a number of people that are applying. Given that we are still significantly short in the workforce – say, 1500 short – and you are only looking to do maybe 200 of these positions but have 600 people who are willing to offer their services, what are the parameters you have put in place to make sure that this is going to be a functional situation? Why did you restrict it to 200? Was it just because that is the number of desk jobs you had available, or was there a reason for it to be restricted to 200 when you have got 600 applicants?

Enver ERDOGAN: This is a new scheme; police reservists being deployed in this manner is the first time that our chief commissioner has envisaged this. We thought 200 was a good number to start with. You raised another issue about police vacancies. That is why we have a new academy opening up in Mildura next year to double the intake from 650 to 1300 new recruits. We are scaling up. We accept that there are vacancies. Across the nation there are vacancies in frontline work, in particular in police work. That is why we are doubling the capacity from 650 to 1300 as of next year. In Mildura we will have a regional base for an academy, and we will have these 200 reservists to complement the police force. You need to understand that this is not to replace the full gamut of police work. Police work is quite large, and the gamut of duties to undertake is quite extensive. This is not to replace it; it is to complement the police force whilst we build up the police force with the doubled intake in recruits to close that gap of those vacancies you are talking about.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: Just to fully finish off on what I was wanting to understand, you have got the 200 positions, you have got the 600 applicants and you have got a new academy that is opening up to help with that, but what consultation took place with the people that are applying to be reservists and those who are still currently working in admin in terms of how this is going to operate? Did you actually consult with a bunch of people that would qualify to be reservists as to how they would feel? I am aware that police on the beat have always been strapped up and ready to go with their weapons. Even when they come to the front desk, they are strapped up and they are ready to go. They have that sense of protection. They have a sense of being on the front line, even if they are in admin and coming to be the face. I am just wondering what consultation took place, because these guys are going to be in a more vulnerable position. I am just wondering if you have got some feedback on that, please.

Enver ERDOGAN: Thank you, Mrs Hermans, for providing me with the opportunity to discuss this. This was a suggestion from the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, to set up the reservist scheme. A prerequisite of being in the reservist scheme is a minimum of two years previous experience in a police force, and that police force will be in an Australian, UK or New Zealand jurisdiction as a starting point – minimum two years. These are not people that are just fresh graduates, so to speak; these are people that have experienced a police force for a minimum of two years. Many will have decades of experience and be coming back and looking for something maybe more administrative – more paper based or desk based – to free up the police officers doing the desk work so they can be out in the field. This was the chief commissioner’s idea. That is his vision. As a government we are trying to empower the commissioner to have more resources at his disposal. Like I said, this is not to replace police work. We are doubling the academy to recruit more police. I am sure the local member, Jade Benham, will be excited to have the Mildura academy opening up in her electorate next year.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: Just to clarify then, what you are saying is it is the commissioner’s idea. Therefore, Minister, you do not know what level of consultation has taken place beyond the fact that the commissioner has said, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ Is that how I am to interpret what you have just said?

Enver ERDOGAN: Just to clarify, Mrs Hermans, we have consulted with Victoria Police, the organisation and command, obviously, and the chief commissioner. There has been consultation from the department with Victoria Police, but the idea has come out of Victoria Police to support frontline police work so that they are not stuck at a desk and they can be out on the beat, so to speak, in the community. I think that is the goal. That is where it has come from. It is an idea from Victoria Police itself. But again, it is not a substitute for recruiting new police. We are doubling the recruitment from 650 to 1300.

Renee HEATH: I have only got a few more questions, Minister. With the first one, I just want to clarify from before, to get a clear answer. If there is no understood ratio of reservists to patrols, then if 200 reservists are spread across the whole state, that could in fact not equal one extra patrol. Is that something we have to be ready for? I am actually being serious; I am not being cheeky. It might not release one more patrol out in the state.

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, the goal here is to give greater resources to the chief commissioner, and then the chief commissioner makes the decisions about deployment. So if the chief commissioner decides that this area is a particular focus and to put the resource there, that decision would be totally his to own and his to make. We are not going to interfere in operational decisions, but having an additional 200 people – I am sure the chief commissioner will appreciate that. The goal – again, the implementation will be up to the commissioner – is that these 200 reservists will mainly do administrative tasks at a desk, freeing up someone who was at a desk to go out and do frontline policing. That is the goal. But ultimately we are not going to make that decision for the chief commissioner. That is his role, and obviously we respect the independence of the commissioner to do that work.

Renee HEATH: However, the chief commissioner must have explained to you why this was so important in terms of operational impact, because otherwise you would not have bypassed the treaty process. In your own words you said the reason that you did not consult the appropriate bodies was because of a timeframe issue. Yes, this is important, but the chief commissioner, when directing you, must have explained to you in terms of operational impact what this would do – or did he not?

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, I might actually go back to the point you made earlier about the potential to redeploy the 4000 hours that are currently lost in administrative tasks – that is what police are doing – to do frontline policing. That is the potential. Potentially you are going to get an additional 4000 hours of frontline policing out on the streets or in vans. That decision, though, in terms of the implementation, is still for the chief commissioner. But that is the goal, the 4000 hours that will be saved from people doing administrative tasks every day.

Renee HEATH: My understanding – and I know that you said this is for people who might not want to do full duties et cetera – is that section 45 of the Victoria Police Act 2013, on the status of police reservists, does specify that police reservists have the functions of police officers under certain provisions and are taken to be police officers for those purposes. It also lists several other things. Essentially, they have got the powers, they have got the ability to undertake the tasks. However, it says and clarifies in section 46(2) of the act that police reservists must follow the direction and the control of a senior police officer while keeping their usual police powers. The way I read that is that they have the full powers of a sworn police officer, but they are under the command of the senior officer on shift. Am I understanding that correctly? After this I just have one more.

Enver ERDOGAN: At a high level, no, because they will not have the full powers of a police officer. They will have some of the powers of police officer. What they will have – let me just try and explain – are the common-law powers of a constable. Common-law powers of a constable is what they will broadly have. That is the remit, whereas other police officers – sworn officers – have specific statutory powers on top of that. On top of that, they have powers to arrest, to detain and to interrogate. The reservists are not going to have those powers.

Renee HEATH: Last question: in part 13, why will this act be repealed on the first anniversary of its commencement?

Enver ERDOGAN: Dr Heath, I am told that is just standard drafting practice. There is no specific reason other than that.

Richard WELCH: Minister, you have piqued my curiosity. I am a big supporter of the reservist program; it is very good. But I want to just understand the maths a little bit. It is going to provide 4000 extra hours – over what? Four thousand per day?

Enver ERDOGAN: Mr Welch, I am glad that it has got your interest, and thank you for your support for the bill. The goal is 4000 hours a day that police that were doing administrative tasks will be relieved, so technically they could potentially do 4000 hours a day of frontline policing.

Richard WELCH: So then exploring what Dr Heath was asking before, what is the ratio of hours to a patrol being released?

Enver ERDOGAN: The focus here is not on the ratio. The issue is we are providing more resources to the chief commissioner to deploy, and the chief commissioner is saying that potentially having 200 reservists means 4000 hours of administrative tasks. That burden can be lifted off Victoria Police.

Richard WELCH: No, I understand that is the purpose, but what is not clear in the design of what you have done is how many people it actually releases to patrol. And clearly when the commissioner came to you with this as a proposition, at the forefront probably in the first bullet point was ‘We’ll be able to either open these police stations or add this number of patrols.’ So it might be accounted for in terms of hours, but the operational impact – you are not going to simply agree with this on the basis of hours. You are going to agree with this on the basis of efficacy, and that would be reflected in how many extra patrols we are going to get.

Enver ERDOGAN: In terms of the efficacy, I think I will leave that for the chief commissioner to decide. But what it does mean is he has an additional 200 people that will assist him. An issue that many in this chamber have raised in the past has been, for example, the counter service. So it will mean he will have staff that will be able to assist in servicing the public in those roles. But ultimately, these are all subject to the commissioner deploying the resources to where he sees fit.

Richard WELCH: Sure, but haven’t some of your own press statements and your own commentary and government commentary about this been that it will get more police out on patrol?

Enver ERDOGAN: That is the whole purpose of the bill.

Richard WELCH: But now you say you do not know.

Enver ERDOGAN: What I am saying is I am not going to go into ratios. We are giving the resources. Common sense says if someone is doing the desk job, the person doing the desk job is freed up to do something else. That is what is going to happen in practice. But in terms of where those resources are deployed or the ratios in terms of out in the van on the road compared to the burden of administrative work, these are really detailed operational matters that I will leave to the chief commissioner to decide where he thinks they are best allocated. We are giving 200 extra staff to assist with that workload. How he chooses to deploy them I think is a matter for the chief commissioner.

Richard WELCH: I will not pursue it any further beyond this question. I will try to make my statement sound like a question too. That seems to me quite bizarre, because how then did anyone arrive at the figure of 200 if you do not know what the operational impact is going to be? You are funding this program. The funding is to provide 4000 hours, but you do not know, have not had it described to you, have not received advice and have not asked questions as to the operational impact of it. That seems very vague, very loose. Why wasn’t it 500? Why wasn’t it 100?

Enver ERDOGAN: Mr Welch, I think 200 is a strong starting point. It means 200 extra staff, because obviously we know it is –

Richard WELCH: How do you know? You don’t know.

Enver ERDOGAN: Two hundred is a strong starting point. We know that there are vacancies in Victoria Police, but Victoria Police do have strong burdens of administrative work. So that is –

Ingrid Stitt: On a point of order, Deputy President, can you bring the member to order, please? The minister has been very generous in taking the same question over and over. It would be nice if he was given the opportunity to answer.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you. I think there was getting to be a bit of a conversation or a debate there between the minister and the member. I would ask the member to direct their comments through the Chair.

Enver ERDOGAN: Having 200 is a strong starting point. The Victorian police commissioner will have those resources. He will deploy them as he sees fit. He knows where the issues are and where the greatest need is, and I am sure he will make those deployment decisions.

Renee HEATH: Sorry, Minister, but one of your answers raised another question. When you said that the capacity or potential of these 200 reservists was to free up 4000 hours per day – 4000 divided by 200 is 20. Are these reservists doing 20-hour days, or have you potentially made a mistake?

Enver ERDOGAN: I will get clarity.

I understand the 4000 hours was the administrative work that could potentially be relieved from frontline police per day. That was what I was informed.

Renee HEATH: It is extraordinary that you are expecting reservists to do 20-hour days, and that is based on – no, it is, Minister. That is exactly why I clarified. That is extraordinary – that you are saying the potential is for 4000 hours per day. That is literally based on every single one of those 200 doing 20-hour days every day, never having a sick day. In the bill it literally says that these reservists will be available on a full-time basis, a part-time basis, a fixed-term or an ongoing basis. Those are the four provisions. Yet now what we are hearing is in order to meet your expectations or the potential, every single one of those 200 reservists will have to do 20-hour days every day. Surely there is a mistake in the drafting here or the calculations – and I would say a major one. In fact I would say the Labor Party would argue that it would be unlawful to work that much.

Enver ERDOGAN: I think that is more of a statement than a question. I think the goal is clear. The goal is to free up people to do more frontline work and that the additional 200 staff will provide the flexibility for the chief commissioner to better allocate resources.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Minister, perhaps if I can be of assistance, you might seek some advice from the box, because you did tell the member before that it would provide 4000 hours per day. The member is quite correct. If you divide 4000 by 200 people, they have to work 20 hours per day. Perhaps the box could give us some advice on that.

Katherine Copsey: On a point of order, Deputy President, far be it from me to question, but I think it is the role of the members to ask the questions of the minister and not the Chair.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No, I am just suggesting to the minister that he may like to seek some clarity, because it is important that we get things right in the committee stage.

Enver ERDOGAN: I think it is asked and answered.

Renee HEATH: I am just confirming that under this legislation 200 reservists are expected to work 20-hour days every day to reach the goal. Yes or no? I am being quite serious; I am not being facetious.

Enver ERDOGAN: I think it is clear that Victoria Police shows that 4000 hours a day are spent doing reception or counter work, and it is envisaged that these 200 will go a long way to making sure that a lot of that work is done by the reservists and support relieving those 4000 hours.

Renee HEATH: I will just point out that that just completely undermines what we have just been questioning and talking about. I understand it was a mistake, but these details surely matter. Therefore there is absolutely no way that this legislation can take the burden of 4000 hours per day; there is no possible way that that can happen.

Enver ERDOGAN: The deployment of resources is a matter for the police commissioner, but I think these 200 staff will go a long way to assisting in a lot of those 4000 hours being done by reservists instead of frontline policing.

Clause agreed to; clauses 2 to 13 agreed to.

Reported to house without amendment.

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Environment, Minister for Outdoor Recreation) (17:44): I move:

That the report be now adopted.

Motion agreed to.

Report adopted.

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Environment, Minister for Outdoor Recreation) (17:44): I move:

That the bill be now read a third time.

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The PRESIDENT: Pursuant to standing order 14.28, the bill will be returned to the Assembly with a message informing them that the Council have agreed to the bill without amendment.