Thursday, 20 September, 2018

Crime has fallen again in Gippsland following the Andrews Labor Government’s record community safety investment.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing today welcomed the latest statistics from the independent Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) but also said more work needs to be done to continue to drive crime down further.

The crime rate across Gippsland fell on average by 6.9 per cent in the year to 30 June 2018

The rate of burglary and break and enter offences has declined by 23 per cent and the rate of aggravated burglary fell 18.3 per cent.

Across Victoria, 64 local government areas across Victoria’s 79 that have experienced a decrease in their crime rate compared to the previous 12 months.

Importantly, the CSA data also shows that family violence continues to be one of the most significant contributors of violence against the person in our state.

That’s why the Labor Government has funded 415 new family violence police around the state, 33 of which have already been allocated to Divisions in the region. These specialist frontline police work in communities to prevent this crime and identify risk early to protect Victorian families.

This is in addition to the Labor Government’s historic $2.6 billion investment into the prevention of family violence. Recommendations from the Royal Commission are currently being rolled out to boost police capability and powers.

The fall in crime comes as we give police the biggest boost to its numbers in history, with a total of 35 new police already allocated to the Region this year.

Our record $2 billion investment into Victoria Police funded 3,135 frontline police to be deployed by 2022, along with new technology, state-of-the-art equipment and facilities and stronger laws to crack down on crime.

This is in stark contrast to the Liberals who cut $100 million from Victoria Police, did not fund a single new police officer and sacked 350 Victoria Police staff – which coincided with a 13.5 per cent increase in crime during their term.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Police Lisa Neville

“Our unprecedented investment in Victoria Police is making a difference with the crime rate continuing to fall – quarter on quarter – as more frontline police hit the streets.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing

“There’s still more work to do – we want to drive the crime rate down in Gippsland as low as possible.”

“We back Victoria Police and we will continue to give them the resources, technology and the equipment they need to respond to and crack down on crime in our community.”