Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Police resources

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:20): (1371) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Police. The attrition rate for police members in Victoria is currently sitting at approximately 5.5 per cent – far too high. On any given day in the 18,000-strong force there are around 1100 vacancies, positions unfilled, and 700 members on long-term sick leave. If we add in the casual sick leave, there are roughly 2000 members missing from frontline policing in Victoria every day. The reality is under Labor there is a net negative flow of personnel, a net drain. More Victoria Police members are certainly leaving than finishing the academy.

Speaking with members in my electorate recently at stop-work meetings, they are hugely frustrated by the lack of resources – staffing shortages that are impacting their ability to tackle crime and ensure that there is a greater level of public safety. Nowhere are these challenges more felt than in rural and regional Victoria. Let me place on record my immense gratitude for the incredible work that our police members perform every single day to keep us safe, and often at significant political and personal risk. I understand from a very sensible and reliable source that rural stations are often used to backfill when police numbers are short in metropolitan Melbourne. While resourcing pressures in the regions are stretched, that thin blue line is certainly getting thinner. The statistics are alarming. In a 10-year period of the Allan-Andrews Labor government and averaging the LGAs of Latrobe, Bass Coast, Baw Baw, Cardinia, South Gippsland, East Gippsland and Wellington, here are some of the crime stats; assault up 23.5 per cent; residential aggravated burglary up 210 per cent; motor vehicle theft up 108 per cent; justice procedures, including intervention orders and breaches of family violence intervention orders, up 72 per cent; and family violence and harassment up 51 per cent. Behind all these statistics are people. Indeed there was a tragic case of Mr Wright suffering from an aggravated burglary in Latrobe Valley recently. He paid with his life, and his family are bereft. These are real people.

Clearly there is workload burnout and there is the natural attrition which occurs, but there needs to be a suite of resourcing support for our force. My ask is: will the minister provide a budget for an advertising campaign for new recruits, particularly in rural and regional Victoria? We know that country recruits feel comfortable returning to country stations. We need more police in our regions.