Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

As I travel around the Deakin electorate one of the things that I'm hearing about more and more from local residents is the growing fear they have in their own community. Whether they are out and about or at home, they simply don't feel as safe as they used to. Unfortunately, they're right to feel that way. More and more evidence has been continuing to come to light confirming that Victoria is in the grip of a crime epidemic that is rapidly spinning out of control.

Earlier this year, the ABS released data showing that, while crime rates are trending downwards in other parts of Australia, double digit increases are occurring across all categories in Victoria. These figures also confirm that they coincide with the election of the Andrews Labor government in 2014. Since the election of that government, the rate of crime in Victoria has increased by 18.2 per cent, while the rate of violent crimes has surged. Murder is up 19 per cent, common assault is up 34 per cent, rape is up 14 per cent and aggravated robbery is up 33 per cent. Even Daniel Andrews's own police minister recently admitted that Victorians no longer feel safe in their own homes. At a local level, we've seen police and police station numbers cut back under Labor, with the Nunawading police station in my electorate being forced to close its doors to the public altogether.

I want to assure all residents of Deakin that this government and I will continue to work with police, local traders and the local Maroondah and Whitehorse city councils to continue improving safety in our area. As part of the federally funded Safer Streets Program, we're rolling out important crime-fighting initiatives like CCTV and better lighting in key crime hotspots. This year, we saw $200,000 put towards CCTV in Ringwood East, and that was recently switched on, and a further $435,000 is also being made available to upgrade existing cameras and to install new cameras in the Croydon town centre, two areas that have seen their fair share of violent crime, as local residents will attest. South Croydon's Cheong Park also recently had CCTV installed to deter the ongoing vandalism that had been occurring to those clubrooms. Finally, cameras are being funded in Central Ringwood, to the tune of $200,000, again to deter crime in that very busy area. So we've made huge investments into crime deterrence in Deakin, but we need the state government to step up. We need them to start properly manning our police stations. We need them to ensure that there are tougher sanctions for violent criminals in our courts and through our parole system. Until that happens, sadly, Victorians will still feel unsafe in their homes and in the community.

See this speech in context