Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the people of Lang Lang, I want to refer to the risk that that wonderful town may lose—and has already partially lost—full police presence. Lang Lang has traditionally had a 24-hour police presence. However, not that long ago, due to reasons unrelated to the performance of an excellent local police officer, the officer was moved for reasons of safety. Since then Lang Lang has had partial police representation only. Against that background I have written to the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Mr Overland, requesting that Lang Lang immediately be given a full 24-hour police presence. The reason for that is very simple.

The Lang Lang Community Emergency Response Team, the CERT, is a group of dedicated ambulance volunteers who act as a first response until paramedics arrive. Mr Comber of the CERT made it clear to me that, with no police presence in town, recently one evening he was confronted by a mentally disturbed woman armed with a knife. Along with other CERT members, Mr Comber was forced to try to placate the woman and defuse the situation while waiting for police to arrive. There is no criticism of police; it is simply that the distance needed to be travelled was considerable. The CERT members were at risk for between 30 and 45 minutes. That has meant that they are constrained to a significant degree in what they can do to take care of people who may suffer from mental health conditions but have a violent tendency. This situation has been backed up by Mr Comber advising of another incident in which a young man was running amok through the town, smashing shop windows, damaging the community hall, vandalising the bus stop and destroying street lighting. I am also advised that other forms of vandalism and local crime have increased.

As a consequence of this, I have written to the police commissioner. I believe that it is wrong, inappropriate and unacceptable for Lang Lang to be without a police officer on a 24-hour basis. This situation must be remedied. My approach will be to stand up for the people of Lang Lang to make sure that we have a full police presence and that the 24-hour police role that has traditionally been associated with this town is returned and that it is done as a matter of urgency. I will not rest until Lang Lang has a 24-hour police presence.