Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Minister for Police

Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier have confidence in the Minister for Police?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:01): The answer is yes. In the time available to me to expand on that answer, lest the Manager of Opposition Business get a bit distracted by the answer, the answer is yes because the police minister is working incredibly hard to back in the hard work of the men and women of Victoria Police. We value the work of Victoria Police. We not only value the work of Victoria Police but we back that in every single day. We back that in with additional resources – $4.6 billion in additional resources to Victoria Police, which has resulted in there being 21,950 police officers on our streets.

David Southwick: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was not about the hardworking efforts of Victoria Police. The question was about the work ethic of the police minister. I ask you to bring the Premier back to the question about the work, or lack of, from the police minister.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Caulfield will resume his seat. There is no point of order. The Premier answered the question at the outset, and she has 2 minutes left to answer.

Jacinta ALLAN: As I was saying, because of the work that we do as a government, led by the Minister for Police in working with Victoria Police, we have more police here in Victoria compared to any other jurisdiction in the country. But it goes further than that. It also goes to backing Victoria Police with the resources and the equipment that they need, and that comes from working with Victoria Police. It goes further than that as well. It goes to working incredibly hard, as the Minister for Police has been doing, and bringing to this place legislation to give police additional powers. Whether it is to strengthen the powers for Victoria Police on being able to search for dangerous knives – we know there is no reason for anyone in this state to carry machetes and knives, which we know are deadly. The member for Melton knows this from the huge amount of work he has done in his community. We are strengthening those powers, doing the work to crack down on criminal organisations and the work to make sure that there is legislative reform that includes, can I say, giving police additional powers to crack down on hate.

I will not anticipate what is on the notice paper, but that is what comes from working with and listening to the men and women of Victoria Police, listening to the community. We know we need to do more, and that is what the police minister is working incredibly hard on as well. The answer to the Leader of the Opposition’s question is yes, and that yes comes with a very strong understanding that the way you support the men and women of Victoria Police is not by cutting funding, as those opposite did, not by interfering with the office, but by backing the men and women of Victoria Police.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, imputations on members on this side generally are disorderly.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.

Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): Does the Premier have the same level of confidence that the Minister for Police had in the former chief commissioner just days before sacking him?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:06): In answering the supplementary question from the Leader of the Opposition I draw the Leader of the Opposition to the answer I gave to the substantive question. I do not think I could have been clearer for the benefit of the opposition, and so I will go through it again: absolutely I support the work that the police minister is doing engaging with police and, most importantly, backing the men and women of Victoria Police. We value the work of Victoria Police, and the way we demonstrate that we value the work of the Victorian police is by, through the work of the police minister –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House! Leader of the Opposition!

Jacinta ALLAN: backing them with the tools and the resources and the powers that they need to continue to keep our community safe.

The SPEAKER: I remind members at the table to cease interjecting across the table while the Premier is on her feet, or indeed while any member is on their feet.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was very narrow about the sacking of the former chief commissioner by the Minister for Police. Could you ask the Premier to come back to that very narrow question?

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier was being relevant to the question. The Premier has concluded her answer.