Tuesday, 14 November 2023

Ministers statements: community safety

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Racing) (14:28): I rise to update the house on the role Victoria Police play every day to keep our communities safe. Every Victorian has the right to be safe and to feel safe. This house has been very clear that we condemn hate and prejudice in all its forms. We know that for many in both the Jewish and Islamic communities, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has heightened concerns around community safety in our neighbourhoods. Everyone has the right to come together and support one another, and everyone has a right to peacefully protest but not at the expense of the safety and wellbeing of others.

Victoria Police is actively engaging with Jewish and Islamic community leaders and rally organisers to ensure that police can plan an appropriate response to uphold community safety and commit necessary resources. Today there have been a total of 89 community rallies involving police presence and engagement in recent weeks alone. Victoria Police also established Operation Park to coordinate the ongoing statewide police response and stood up the state police operations centre. Operation Park includes the allocation of police resources for rallies, ongoing community reassurance patrols and the flow of intelligence that can determine assessments for the investigation of alleged offences that may have occurred in community. On Sunday 250 members of Victoria Police were present in the CBD at one of eight community rallies that occurred across the weekend, and we thank them for their work.

Victoria Police records show there have been over 1200 taskings of police units to increase the number of community reassurance patrols at schools and places of cultural significance for the Islamic and Jewish communities. There will be an additional 29 police units rostered to continue this work over the next two weeks, particularly in the Glen Eira, Kingston and Bayside police service areas. I thank every member of this house for the work they are doing to ensure their local communities have the continued confidence to practise their faith and celebrate their culture without fear. The priority and safer communities division of Victoria Police are also leading this work. Let us continue to advance and protect all that we value in multicultural Victoria in these testing times.