Bendigo residents demand action on bail laws amid home invasions, car thefts and daylight attacks

Bendigo residents tired of out of control youth crime have demonstrated outside the Premier’s Mollison St office, calling for bail reform.

Fed up residents demonstrated outside the Premier’s office on Tuesday, chanting “lock them up, keep us safe” as youth crime rages out of control in Jacinta Allan’s backyard.

Holding signs reading “adult crime = adult time”, dozens of demonstrators marched from Jacinta Allan’s Bendigo office on Mollison St down to the Bendigo Law Courts protesting bail laws that have seen repeat youth offenders released on bail to commit almost nightly home invasions and car thefts.

Andrew Lethlean, the National Party candidate in the upcoming federal election, said the state Labor government had let the Bendigo community down “so badly that no one feels safe in their homes anymore”, saying that change has “got to happen now”.

Ms Allan previously conceded the state’s bail laws were not strong enough and she denounced the behaviour of youth criminals in her home town as “absolutely appalling”.

Demonstrators gather outside the Premier's Bendigo office. Picture: Gianni Francis

“I hear and understand the concerns of Bendigo locals, and am acting on those,” the Premier said.

Cailah Brady one of the demonstration organisers said bail laws needed to be reformed to stop repeat offenders amid the home invasion crisis plaguing the state to “protect our children and protect our safety”.

“I’ve got two little boys and I don’t want to have to live in fear that they’re going to get bashed at the shopping centre or I have to worry about a home invasion,” she said.

“These young thugs are carrying machetes

“I’m hoping for stronger bail laws so repeat offenders can’t keep doing this

“I don’t want to be the next victim and I don’t want my kids to have to go through this either.

“It’s getting beyond a joke now.

“Jacinta Allan has got to stand up for Victoria or stand down if she’s not going to do anything about bail reform.”

“No one cares about her train journey that she’s on,” Ms Brady said about the Suburban Bail Loop project.

Bendigo residents are fed up with the increasing amount of youth crime. Picture: Gianni Francis

It comes as frustrated residents bombard the Premier with letters putting further pressure on the Member for East Bendigo through multiple letters addressing the “urgent action needed” on the town’s “youth crime crisis”.

Residents expressed “deep concern and frustration” regarding the “alarming rise in youth crime across Victoria”, the letter drafted by resident Aura Jane.

“Your government’s decision to weaken bail laws has made it easier for repeat offenders to reoffend, putting innocent people at risk and fuelling the current crime crisis,” the letter states.

“Because of these failed policies, I, like many others, no longer feel safe in my own community.”

“This is a direct result of your government’s choices. If action is not taken to strengthen bail laws and address this crisis you can forget about being re-elected.

“The people of Bendigo are losing any remaining respect they had for you, and once it’s gone, you won’t be getting it back.”