Tuesday, 14 November 2023

Responses

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Racing) (19:22): The member for Caulfield raised a matter for the Premier seeking action to release funding the government have committed to the Community Security Group and also to combat antisemitism. That was funding that was announced at the last election by the Labor government, and the Premier went to some of those matters in question time today. I will also ensure that there is a fulsome response from the Premier on those matters. I would like to just note that I have had the opportunity as Minister for Police to meet with the Community Security Group with the member for Caulfield and also with the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police. There has only ever been a very high regard for the work of the Community Security Group, for Justin Kagan and the team there and their advice, leadership and engagement across the community generally but particularly across the member’s electorate. The engagement of Victoria Police has been very welcome and plays a vital role in the significant community confidence, wellbeing and safety that people feel and need to feel, in particular the Caulfield community and surrounds at this time. I certainly welcome their work and their engagement and certainly understand through my own engagement on these matters that there is some significant funding that the government needs to make some commitments to and announcements about. I will ask the Premier to respond again on those matters to the member.

The member for Point Cook raised a matter for the Minister for Development Victoria, Minister for Precincts and Minister for Creative Industries to join him in a visit to the East Werribee precinct, including the Wyndham law courts. As the member would know, we visited the Werribee police complex, a very significant facility out there in the west. I would be more than happy to pass on those matters for the Minister for Precincts and Minister for Development Victoria to set foot on that turf with the member for Point Cook.

The honourable member for Gippsland East raised a matter for my good self in relation to ensuring that there is adequate policing at the Lakes Entrance station during the upcoming holiday period, when naturally, like in many popular centres and tourism destinations across Victoria, populations really do grow very significantly. There are also particular demands for additional police in relation to those matters. As the member will be aware, under section 10 of the Victoria Police Act 2013 I cannot direct where police resources are allocated, but I do understand the importance and know through many of the other operations that Victoria Police run, like the Summersafe operation in many communities, particularly across our waterways and coastal communities, that there will be a need to ensure that appropriate levels of police service and police personnel are available in communities like Lakes Entrance, where there is an explosion in the population over the Christmas–New Year period, not just the public holiday times but also right across the school holiday period. That is great for businesses and it is great for the Lakes Entrance community, but at the same time there needs to be adequate and appropriate coverage of police to support that community not just in waterways but right across the community at that time.

The member also did speak to some of the counter-suspension matters that Victoria Police have made determinations about. I do remind all members of this place that Victoria Police provide a 24-hour police response, seven days a week, to all Victorians. Police will always be where people need them most when they are needed most, and that will not change. We ask a lot of our police and our PSOs and expect the highest levels of service. We thank them for the amazing work they do to keep our community safe, but we also know that in the current period – no surprise – there are workforce constraints across many public sector organisations. While the police academy is full and since March we have had double squads of 48 recruits every fortnight in the academy, which shows that people want to join Victoria Police – they want to put their hand up and serve their communities, and we are thankful for that – we also know that police have to make some determinations at this time about how they are going to meet their resourcing capabilities to the community to keep communities safe. We have of course, as many people would know, our police assistance line. Online reporting is also available to people for non-urgent matters. But whenever you need police for urgent matters, 000 is who you call, and police will always respond – always. And they always have.

I would also make the point that our government has invested some $4.5 billion in Victoria Police since we came to office. We have funded 3600 additional police members, and 3100 of those are currently on the beat and serving in communities. We have also made sure through our continued investment in the Made for More campaign that our public advertising campaign to recruit more police officers is very successful, because the police academy is full, as I said, with double squads of 48 recruits a fortnight in the academy since March.

Again, the determination of the allocation of police resources is a matter for the chief commissioner, but I can assure everyone in the house and certainly the honourable member for Gippsland East that police will continue to provide a 24-hour response to his community. Understandably there will be determinations made from Victoria Police as to the need to provide additional resources in communities that will have growing activity centres through the summer period, and I am more than happy to make sure that the member for Gippsland East has briefings made available to him by his local police service area and leadership down there to make sure that he can have confidence that the police resources that are available to him and his community not only meet the needs and expectations of the community but provide him with the confidence that he can give his community that police will always be there when people in his community need them. So I will offer that briefing to the member in writing and any other further information that helps to satisfy his community’s concerns at this time.

The member for Bellarine raised a matter for me seeking an update on some measures that are being taken across her electorate, and I want to thank her for raising that matter. As the member knows well, we are heading into the summer period. As we just touched on, Victorians like to head to the beach, and that can often lead to a temporary surge in populations and an increased focus on the safety and wellbeing of locals and holiday-makers alike. Let me assure the member and her constituents that the planning for summer safety is in full swing. Just last month, the member and I met with local police at the Portarlington and Bellarine police stations, where they updated us on their latest achievements and key areas of focus for the upcoming summer period. We also caught up with the bSafe community reference group. Police will provide a highly visible presence across the Bellarine Peninsula, including extra community reassurance patrols across tourist precincts from Leopold to Portarlington. We know that water safety is more important than ever during the summer, and Victoria Police will be participating in multi-agency operations focusing on recreational boat users and people fishing on the bay. A lot of that has come from input from the member’s local community organisations, which has helped focus attention on where community concerns can be in those busy periods.

We have also seen, sadly, a tragic spike in trauma on our roads this year, and we know that the summer months are a high-risk time on our roads, particularly our country roads. Road safety is everyone’s responsibility, and I urge all Victorians this summer to slow down, to not drink and drive, to not be distracted on phones and other devices when you are in the car and to arrive at your destination safely. For those that do the wrong thing, be warned that police will be out in force, running dedicated road policing operations to target speeding and drink-driving. The message is clear: if you do the wrong thing, you will be caught and you will be held accountable. The Geelong police service area Eyewatch is a great resource for Bellarine community members, and it continues to deliver proactive messaging with current crime and crime prevention topics at a local level.

We know that Victoria Police cannot run those dedicated operations or provide highly visible patrols unless they are adequately resourced, and that is exactly what the Allan Labor government has provided. I touched earlier on that $4.5 billion investment and the 3100 additional Victoria Police officers funded and on the beat in our communities. That is very different to the $100 million that was cut by those opposite when they were last in office and the fact that they did not fund one additional police officer during their time in government. There were a few new recruits, because the previous Labor government had funded them, but they did not fund one additional police officer in their time in office. That work will continue. There are some announcements that the member would be aware of in relation to some additional police resources and police recruits moving to Geelong and across the Bellarine, not just for the summer but ongoing. We will have more to say about that as we get closer to that summer period, but I am pleased that we have been able to provide some briefing material to the member during our discussions with her local community, and that work will continue.

The honourable member for Bulleen raised a matter for the Assistant Treasurer, and the action that he sought was that contact in writing be made with the federal Assistant Treasurer, the Honourable Stephen Jones, who is also the Minister for Financial Services. The action that he sought was in relation to a person who is the subject of an ASIC investigation. The honourable member for Bulleen went into detail about those matters, and I will ensure they are actioned by the Assistant Treasurer.

The member for Laverton raised a matter for the Minister for Planning seeking updates on the works in the Braybrook rejuvenation project, and I will ensure that they are passed on to the Minister for Planning.

The member for Richmond raised a matter for the Attorney-General in the other place, and the action that she sought was that there be production of some time lines for the expansion of the anti-vilification laws that the government has committed to bringing to the Parliament in due course. Particularly she spoke to anti-trans violence and those elements in relation to anti-vilification laws. Can I say also that I, as the Minister for Police, and many of my colleagues – the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Minister for Equality and other ministers – are engaged in this work being led by the Attorney. Those anti-vilification laws are being refreshed to, I suppose, meet more community expectations and to provide the capacity for police around enforcement and for courts around accountability, and for communities to feel that the Parliament through its laws is better affirming our expectations and our values around anti-vilification and how we stamp that out. Our restorative justice processes and the like can hold people to account – not just to be punished but to understand what more they need to do to better understand the harmony in the community that we need to build and the destructive commentary and actions that some can make and do. I know that some of those consultation processes are complex. We have seen other examples, such as in the current conflict in the Middle East and how that plays out in an anti-vilification sense for people in the community. That has also added further complexity and expectation around how we continue our consultation to get those laws right. They will be very complex, and I think it is important that on all the different matters where anti-vilification laws need to meet community expectation and community values and be affirmed in this Parliament, the Attorney is leading that work – we can be sure of that. But I will make sure that the Attorney provides some further detail on the time lines of that work.

The member for Broadmeadows raised a matter for the Minister for Veterans, and the action that she sought was the attendance of the minister at the Glenroy RSL to understand the work and actions of the committee and the members there. In particular she talked about the work of Major General Pompey Elliott, which was referred to in relation to the Glenroy RSL and the conversations they had highlighting his contribution to our country during Remembrance Day services. Sadly, Pompey Elliott did take his own life. I can certainly recommend to the house Ross McMullin’s biography on his very substantial life and legacy – a short life but a great contribution made to our country and to so many servicemen that he led in terrible times across the world.

The member for Eildon raised a matter for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety about Heidelberg-Kinglake Road. When I think Heidelberg, I think my electorate, but Heidelberg-Kinglake Road is very much in the electorate of the member for Eildon. She did talk about action that is needed to implement road safety priorities, including safety barriers and the like, to make that road safe. I have travelled that road many times myself, more to visit other tourist and industry places in the member’s electorate.

Cindy McLeish: The Kinglake Pub.

Anthony CARBINES: Not only the Kinglake Pub, but there are some nice wineries up through the member’s electorate, and the best way to get there is often on Heidelberg-Kinglake Road. But they are very serious matters, and it is a road that over time has more and more traffic and commuter traffic as well, as we see an expansion of population to these great communities where people want to live. We will refer those matters to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety.

The member for Wendouree raised a matter for the Minister for Education. The action she sought was that she visit the electorate to see how record funding support for upgrades and capital investments, particularly through the hard work and advocacy of the member for Wendouree, is reshaping and investing in the futures of young people right across the Wendouree electorate, and I will be sure to ask the Minister for Education to follow up on those matters for the member for Wendouree.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The house stands adjourned until tomorrow morning.

House adjourned 7:37 pm.