Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Department of Justice and Community Safety

Report 2022–23

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (17:39): I rise to speak today on the Department of Justice and Community Safety annual report. We have certainly heard a lot about our justice system this week. We have certainly heard a lot about bail as well. I want to point the chamber’s attention to a few things.

Firstly, the shocking incidents we heard about this morning, where seven teenagers, including six who were already on bail, were arrested after a police chase across Melbourne’s west after a stolen car crashed into a tree. Among the youths aged 15 to 17, one of them had been released on bail dozens of times, said an officer with knowledge of the case who was not authorised to speak publicly. A white Škoda SUV, which police said was stolen in an aggravated burglary in Tarneit, was spotted driving at high speeds on Greens Road, Wyndham Vale, just after 11 pm on Tuesday. Police cars and a helicopter followed the vehicle through Werribee, Tarneit and Point Cook before it crossed the West Gate Bridge to the city. It continued back to the western suburbs where police said the offenders dumped the car in Featherbrook Drive, Point Cook, and jumped into a white Volvo. The second car is alleged to have been stolen in an aggravated burglary in Kalorama Street, Tarneit. The Volvo allegedly sped off along the Princes Freeway outbound towards Little River before returning to the Werribee area and then crashing into a tree in Truganina. Police said that weapons were found in both vehicles.

Emma Prespanoski, a Tarneit resident whose Volvo was stolen in a home invasion before it was crashed, said that she felt dirty and violated to learn that a group had broken into her family’s house while she and her family slept. We are seeing this over and over again: victims of crime suffering and incidents happening, with home burglaries, carjacking and weapons, only to find out that the perpetrators were on bail. She said:

You want to be shocked, and you want to be outraged, which I am, but you’ve got this other desensitisation hanging over your shoulder that this is just what you’ve become used to …

It’s a really big issue. There’s no change happening. There needs to be a real shift towards that.

Well, the real shift towards that starts this Saturday in Werribee. I mean, every single day you hear about another shocking story inflicting the good people of Werribee and the good people of the western suburbs and indeed the northern suburbs. The community up in Greenvale are really looking forward to having our Shadow Minister for Police and Corrections David Southwick up for a crime forum next week, which I know has gauged a lot of interest in the community, just like in the western suburbs, where people have been neglected in terms of crime.

But we see other reporting as well on Jacinta Allan. She started the sitting week promising a bail review. As it has been reported and briefed out by grumpy Labor colleagues, this so-called bail review was not mentioned in cabinet, was not mentioned in caucus and indeed was not mentioned at their recent caucus retreat in Healesville last week. It was not mentioned. You would think something of that significance, which made the front page of the Herald Sun would get a mention at their caucus retreat in Healesville. The only thing that gets a mention at their retreats is a karaoke machine – nothing else of significance. She did not seem to want to inform her colleagues about this. But we know it was just a headline. They are obviously very worried about Werribee. This is a Premier who does not actually care about people and does not actually care about the victims of crime. She only cares about her opinion polls when this suddenly becomes an issue. We know that she weakened the bail laws. Those opposite weakened the bail laws. Those opposite voted against our attempts to reverse their changes weakening the bail laws. Mr Galea said, and I quote him from Hansard, we were only ‘motivated by a headline in the Herald Sun’.

Well, this Premier is only motivated by a headline in the Herald Sun now that the opinion polls have gone against her – what a display. We had the Minister for Police Anthony Carbines having to clean up the Premier’s mess by saying that it is actually not a review into the bail laws, it is just a discussion and he is not interested in doing a review. This government is at war with itself. They are briefing against each other, and the people of Werribee deserve better.