Thursday, 20 March 2025

Western Metropolitan Region crime

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (23:41): (1543) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Police regarding today’s crime agency statistics, which reveal several alarming statistics for my constituency. The action I seek is for the minister to put together a comprehensive plan to tackle crime for the western suburbs of Melbourne. With every LGA in the Western Metropolitan Region seeing a massive increase in instances of crime, I first want to emphasise that crime in Wyndham Vale has gone up by a whopping 25.4 per cent across the board compared to the previous year, where crime was up 6.7 per cent. In just two years crime has gone up by over 30 per cent. Specifically in Wyndham Vale we see that theft of motor vehicles has gone up by 45.9 per cent in the past 12 months. This has been particularly felt in suburbs like Werribee, Tarneit, Hoppers Crossing, Point Cook and Truganina. In Hobsons Bay crime has gone up by 35.8 per cent in areas like Williamstown, Altona North, Altona Meadows and Newport, all affected by the crime crisis.

At the same time as crime is spiralling out of control, the Premier is reportedly forcing Victoria Police to find almost $2 billion in savings across the next four years. It is no wonder Victorians do not feel safe in their homes under the Allan Labor government. Over the past decade under Labor aggravated burglaries have increased by a staggering 169 per cent. Stealing in retail stores has gone up by 37 per cent. These figures are devastating. While crime is inevitable and will always need to be tackled, Victorians should feel safe in their home, in their car and in their business. But under Labor crime is out of control at the moment, and we see that day in and day out. Communities in the west are suffering and people are feeling unsafe, so I ask the Minister for Police to prepare a comprehensive plan to tackle crime in the west, in my region, which has the capacity to tackle, fight and lower these threatening statistics.