Labor at odds with Victoria Police on gangs threat

Federal Labor has come under fire for denying that Melbourne has an escalating problem with African street gangs.

Labor’s immigration and ­border protection spokesman Shayne Neumann. Picture: Jack Tran

Federal Labor has come under fire for denying that Melbourne has an escalating gang problem and blocking attempts to deport migrants and refugees convicted of violent offences, following Victoria Police’s admission that the state has an issue with African street gangs.

Amid a political storm over law and order in the state, the party’s immigration and ­border protection spokesman Shayne Neumann yesterday stood by Labor’s dissenting ­report to the recent migrant settlement outcomes inquiry in which it claimed there had been “minimal or no evidence” for a focus on “young humanitarian entrants from Sudanese backgrounds who engage in criminal activity”.

The report, signed by Mr Neumann and fellow Labor MPs Maria Vamvakinou and Steve Georganas and released on ­December 11, argued that the inquiry, chaired by Liberal MP and former police officer Jason Wood, had been hijacked to highlight issues specifically ­affecting Mr Wood’s own Melbourne electorate, “such as the Apex gang, which the Victoria Police ­described as a nonentity”.

The dismissive comments, which come in the wake of a fresh outbreak of vandalism, ­violent assaults and rioting across Melbourne, many involving young Africans, were criticised yesterday by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who ­accused Labor of “running the other way” on the issue.

“People are scared to go out to restaurants of a night time because they are worried about being followed by these gangs,” Mr Dutton said.

“(Premier) Daniel Andrews and Bill Shorten are as bad as each other on law and order ­issues: Andrews refuses to even acknowledge Victoria has African crime gangs and Bill Shorten votes against tougher laws in the federal parliament. Labor is soft on law and order. They always have been.

“People are getting hurt in Victoria and Premier Andrews doesn’t have the answers or the leadership to sort it out. He is scared to deal with the problem or it is just plain incompetence.”

Victoria-based federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also hit out at Labor for denying the problem. “It’s the No 1 issue in Victoria,” he told 2GB radio. “Now Victoria Police acknowledge it. Frankly the answer is simple … tougher sentencing, tougher bail laws and better ­resources for police and calling it for what it is.”

Concerns over African crime emerged almost two years ago with the Apex gang, a group of youths from Melbourne’s outer east. The gang has also been linked to a rise in aggravated burglaries and carjackings.

The extent of the issue, however, has been subject to much debate. While Victoria Police has long insisted that recent violent ­attacks were not gang-related, acting chief commissioner Shane Patton acknowledged the issue earlier this week. “There is an issue with over-representation by African youth in serious and violent offending as well as public disorder issues,” he said on Tuesday.

“They’re behaving like street gangs, so let’s call them that.”

The migrant settlement outcomes report, released last month, recommended cracking down on visa holders found to have committed violent crimes. That included a recommendation to amend the Migration Act requiring the mandatory cancellation of visas for offenders aged between 16 and 18 years convicted of a serious offence.

Labor members dissented, ­arguing that “migrant youth and newly arrived migrants are not ­involved in criminal activity, with less than 10 per cent being overseas-born offenders”.

“Labor members were concerned with the focus in the report on youth crime which incorrectly implied that there is a serious crime wave by migrant youth across the nation,” the report says. “Anecdotal evidence of youth crime and ethnic gang activity was received from a small amount of geographically aligned submitters, based in Victoria only.

“The inquiry received no evidence from victims of crime in Victoria ... Labor members acknow­ledge the chair’s determination throughout the inquiry to target minors and his persistent questioning on perceived gangs.”

Committee chairman Mr Wood yesterday accused the Labor members of “cherrypicking” data to justify their position and ignoring the evidence of the Crime Statistics Agency, which produced statistics showing the number of Sudanese-born unique offenders had risen substantially in the past three years. In 2016, there were more than 800 offenders from Sudan, including 132 ­minors, up from 632 in 2014.

“If we can’t admit to this problem, we can’t do anything to fix it,” he said.

Mr Dutton said federal Labor remained weak on immigration and law-and-order issues. “The Turnbull government has cancelled a record number of visas and we are trying to get tougher on criminals but Shayne Neumann doesn’t have a clue.”

A spokesman for Mr Neumann said: “The migration committee report ... was informed by evidence presented to that committee from security agencies, including Victoria Police. Victoria Police testified at the time that Apex was a nonentity.”

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek declined to comment on the report.