Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise again to speak of my great concerns about the crime wave which has been going through Melbourne, particularly in my electorate of La Trobe.

I've raised this on numerous occasions in recent times. We had an awful incident where during daylight hours we had 10 young males, armed with baseball bats, break into a house. In the house at the time were an elderly pensioner and her son, who is autistic. The elderly pensioner is also wheelchair-bound and has multiple sclerosis. She was in absolute fear; I've spoken to her about the incident. I congratulate Victoria Police, who ended up arresting 10 young people for breaking into that house.

There was also another incident in March 2018. Again, young Sudanese connected to the Apex gang broke into a house in Collingwood and attacked a disabled pensioner. The reason I highlight those two incidents is that both were actually captured on video and we got to see firsthand how frightening it must have been for the occupants of these premises.

Young people in our youth justice centres are some of the most disadvantaged young people in Victoria. Sixty-two per cent have been suspended or expelled from school, 63 per cent have been the victims of trauma, abuse or neglect and 24 per cent have issues concerning their intellectual ability. I have become increasingly concerned about the escalating youth violence in Melbourne and I have no doubt many Melbournians will share my concerns.

We need a new approach, and the overwhelming message that came through to the migration committee, which I chaired, was that early intervention is the key. So if we can do everything we possibly can and at the earliest stage in someone's life we can prevent them going down the wrong path and getting involved in gangs and in home invasions. There are simply no winners with that.

So it gives me great pleasure to talk about the Les Twentyman Foundation. Les, as we all know, is just an amazing guy from the western suburbs in Melbourne. His foundation has support programs and services for at-risk young people and their families. His programs and services cover education support, recreation, counselling, personal development, arts and drama and life experience. The Les Twentyman Foundation has been going for 35 years. It's a great privilege to have been able to get to know Les and, in particular, one of his programs, the EMBRACE program. This becomes a vital cog, acting as an outreach resource for schools. It focuses on providing support to kids at the greatest risk of going down the wrong path.

One thing that Les and his organisation have done very well is to identify the need to train up youth workers who are going to be specifically relevant to the needs of children. As I mentioned before—and I haven't shied away from this—sadly, we are finding in Melbourne that out of all the home invasions by those under the age of 18, 12 per cent were committed by those born in Sudan. So through the EMBRACE program, the Les Twentyman Foundation specifically trains up Sudanese youth workers. There are people like Gum, who I've met and who has appeared before the committee, who go and help young people at school and ensure that they don't go down the wrong path.

The great news is that I took the Les Twentyman Foundation proposal to government and spoke to the Prime Minister—and I must also give a very special thanks to Minister Dan Tehan—and we've been able to have a $1.5 million commitment over the next three years, starting on 1 July this year. I say to state Labor: you need to get on board and match this, because it's in your area in the western suburbs. It's all about early intervention. If we want to get on top of crime, then the best way is by helping young people at the start of their lives.

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