Question details
Protective services officers
(1445) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Police, and the action I seek is an assurance that Labor’s plans to redeploy protective services officers to major retail precincts will not involve PSOs stationed at Traralgon. PSOs have been one of the state’s most effective community safety initiatives for more than a decade, since their rollout under the former coalition government. PSOs have provided a trusted and visible presence at train stations. But unfortunately, while all these Melbourne train stations have a dedicated PSO presence, just four stations in the whole of regional Victoria are staffed by PSOs. I support the additional security in busy shopping centres, but any shift of PSOs without proper resourcing, particularly from Traralgon and other regional centres, risks undermining the safety of our already troubled rail network.
The government must explain how its deployment of PSOs will operate and provide a clear guarantee that PSO coverage at Traralgon will not be reduced. My electorate, including Traralgon, has the highest rate of criminal incidents in the state outside of metropolitan Melbourne. We cannot afford to lose our PSOs through deployment just because Labor cannot manage money and chooses to prioritise the city over the regions.
Retail crime in my electorate increased at an unacceptable 65 per cent in the year to June 2025. Under a coalition government 200 additional PSOs will form strike force teams to patrol high-risk shopping centres, including Morwell, Traralgon and Moe, to protect retail workers and shoppers. Backed by Jack’s law, they will have the authority and technology to remove knives and machetes from criminals before they are used to commit violent crime. Our plan is fully budgeted and, unlike Labor’s disastrous thought bubble, will not see a single PSO removed from our public transport system.
I have been pleading with Labor to deploy more PSOs across regional Victoria for nearly three years, and for three years these pleas have fallen on deaf ears. It is absolutely criminal that these pleas are being ignored. It is worse again and almost unthinkable that we face cuts to already chronically under-resourced PSO numbers in the regions in Victoria because of the government’s incompetence. Minister, will you assure residents in the Latrobe Valley that no PSOs will be taken from Traralgon under Labor’s redeployment?
All Victorians have the right to feel safe when travelling through the state. The Victoria Police-designed new intelligence-led deployment model will see PSOs in more places for more hours.
This is all part of Victoria Police’s plan to deliver a safer Victoria and a new-look Victoria Police – ensuring PSOs are deployed where they are needed, when they’re needed, based on real police intelligence.
As part of this deployment model:
- PSOs will be deployed to stations based directly on police data and intelligence
- PSOs will start clocking in at key stations from as early as 9am, not 6pm
- PSOs won’t be confined to the platform – they’ll now patrol trains and around stations to keep people safe
- No station and no train will be unpatrolled while PSOs are on shift, with officers constantly moving around the network to detect and deter crime
Victoria Police designed this model to detect and deter more crime, be more visible, and keep more people safe. And the Allan Labor Government is backing it - with $44 million in this year’s budget to deliver 50 additional PSOs to boost their frontline presence.
Unlike the Liberal Nationals, the Allan Labor Government understands that operational decisions, like the deployment of PSOs, are made by Victoria Police – not politicians.
The Government has also provided almost $9 million in funding to Victoria Police as part of Operation Pulse, a successful new solution to keep Victorians safe. Operation Pulse sees police and PSOs patrolling shopping centres to keep families, workers and shoppers safe. Data from the Shopping Centre Council of Australia showed 84 per cent of customers at a Victorian shopping centre felt safer with police and PSOs on patrol.
Anyone suggesting that PSOs are being taken off train stations to patrol shopping centres is wrong.
The Opposition have no solutions – they cut funding from Victoria Police, failed to invest in a single additional police officer and now are proposing an $11 billion budget black hole.
Only the Labor Government is backing the Chief Commissioner in his plan to deliver a safer Victoria and a new-look Victoria Police.
Minister for Police
Minister for Community Safety
Minister for Victims
Minister for Racing
Leader of the House