House debates
Monday, 1 July 2024
Statements by Members
Menzies Electorate: Crime
4:12 pm
Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source
Criminal gangs are targeting my community, and the residents have had enough. I picked up the paper two days ago and noted that Doncaster police were noting that criminals were impersonating them. The scammers make a phone call pretending to be from Doncaster police. To the residents of Doncaster or anywhere else in my electorate: if you get a call like that, ask for a reference number and then call the police station back to check.
But this isn't the first time. In April we saw criminals pretend to be police officers, break into a house and then hold hostage, for want of a better term, a family with a five-year-old while they stole $400,000 worth of jewellery. The five-year-old had to sit on the couch while they robbed the home. A neighbour heard the commotion, and the family fought back against the attackers, with even the five-year-old punching the attackers. But this isn't a laughing matter, because months earlier a young doctor, Ash Gordon, also confronted intruders in a Doncaster home, in January 2024, and he died.
Crime is out of control in Doncaster, and we need to do something about it before other people are injured or killed.