Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Victorians deserve the right to feel safe in their own homes, on their streets and in their communities, but right now they don't. Carjackings, home invasions, gangs, gang warfare, youth offending and youth reoffending—these are not headlines from overseas; this is happening in Melbourne's suburbs.

Just last week there was the most horrific home invasion in the suburb of Kew. At 4 am five offenders smashed their way into a family's home, armed with a machete, a knife and garden shears. The father of this family was stabbed 11 times in the face, the neck and the arms. His elderly parents, aged 70 and 69, were also injured as they tried to protect their son. His wife and his children were forced into a bedroom, terrified in what should be the safest of all places—their own home. A day later there was more crime in the headlines. Two teenage boys allegedly terrorised staff with machetes in five different shop locations, all within the space of two hours. Those two offenders were freed on bail the very next morning.

What has been the Allan government's response to this? They have sat on their hands. They cut $50 million from the police budget and spent $13 million on—wait for it—40 machete bins. That's a grand total of $325,000 per bin that they have spent, only for a three-month period.

What we're seeing in Victoria is atrocious. It's the result of a tired Labor government that is weak on leadership and soft on crime. Victorians should not be forced to live in fear of being attacked in their own homes, at the shops or walking down the street. Enough is enough. My message to the people of Victoria is very clear: you deserve to feel safe and you deserve better than what this terrible Allan government is offering you.