Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We cannot be silent on crime in Victoria any longer. It's time to call out the shocking crime rise in Melbourne which is costing not only the thousands of Victorians who are victims of violent criminal incidents but also the broader population through rising costs of insurance premiums. Not a week passes by without another report of a carjacking or a brazen violent daylight robbery by crime gangs here in Victoria. Families living in usually safe suburbs tell me they feel threatened in their own homes and while visiting their local shopping villages.

Disappointingly, Victoria has shot to the top of the table as Australia's worst state for claiming insurance for home thefts and for burglaries. Victoria has twice as many claims as New South Wales, despite having two million fewer people. Now, I am a proud Victorian, but this is something that we all should be deeply ashamed of.

Statistics from the Insurance Council of Australia reveal an across-the-board jump in car thefts, in burglaries and in home thefts over the past 12 months. Claims relating to car thefts in Victoria are up an extraordinary 62 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2017. Burglaries and home theft claims in Victoria were worth $92 million, almost twice as much as any of the other states. Vehicle theft in Victoria has resulted in $72 million in claims, higher than any other state. Home and contents claims are up almost 25 per cent in Victoria, compared with just nine per cent in Queensland and two per cent in New South Wales. With people already very sensitive to cost of living pressures, Victorians cannot afford this extra burden.

The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency also shows that crime has significantly increased in suburbs throughout Higgins. While law and order is predominantly a state issue, the federal government is doing what it can within its powers to help fight crime, and I will not shirk my duty as a local member.

In my electorate of Higgins, we have delivered funds for CCTV cameras in South Yarra, Prahran, Carnegie, Ashburton and very soon Malvern. We have done this throughout Victoria. We have also cancelled the visas of a number of members of the Apex crime gang and will continue to do so where members are not Australian citizens. But it is clear that we need more urgent action from the state government, which has weakened bail and sentencing laws, and reduced frontline police numbers. The Andrews government must act. They must act to safeguard our citizens in their streets and in their homes, and they must act to protect their hip pockets, because they are paying. They are paying, and it is not right.