Turnbull lashes Andrews over gangs

Malcolm Turnbull lashes Daniel Andrews for allowing gang-violence to escalate, backs plan for stricter bail conditions.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP.

Malcolm Turnbull has lashed the Victorian Premier for allowing gang-violence and lawlessness to escalate and backed a bold plan to introduce stricter bail conditions and impose minimum 10-year jail terms for violent reoffenders.

In a strident intervention, the Prime Minister said yesterday he was “very concerned at growing gang violence and lawlessness in Victoria’’ and accused Daniel Andrews of lacking “the political leadership and the determination’’ to tackle the issue.

He said Victoria Police had the capacity to do the job but needed “the leadership, the direction, the confidence of the government to get on with the job and tackle this gang problem on the streets of Melbourne’’.

His comments came as senior Victorian federal cabinet minister Greg Hunt explicitly backed Liberal Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s plan to toughen bail conditions and sentencing.

Mr Hunt, the Health Minister, who The Australian revealed yesterday was among Victorian federal politicians to have lobbied the Prime Minister on the issue, described gang crime in parts of the state as “out of control”.

His colleague Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg, who holds the Melbourne-based federal seat of Kooyong, said the rise of ethnic gangs and related crime had become “the number one issue” in Victoria.

With a state election scheduled for November, Mr Turnbull is understood to have told his Victorian colleagues that the gang problem is fundamentally a state issue and that Mr Andrews should not be permitted to shirk responsibility. “This is a failure of the Andrews government,’’ Mr Turnbull said yesterday, adding that community policing was a “state issue’’.

Calls for action on gangs have come on the back of a recent outbreak of violence, vandalism and affray from groups of youths from African backgrounds, largely ­focused around Melbourne’s western suburbs, where some parts, including community facilities and parks, have been declared “no-go zones” by locals.

State coalition's law & order plan.

Data from the Crime Statistics Agency, provided to the recent federal inquiry into migrant settlement outcomes, revealed the number of Sudanese-born offenders had risen 27 per cent since 2014, and the number of Sudanese allegedly involved in ­incidents of aggravated burglary had increased almost fivefold over the same period to 98 last year.

It is understood the Prime Minister also backs Mr Guy’s “tough-talking” approach to crime The plan would see reoffenders convicted of aggravated home invasions, carjackings, armed robbery or causing reckless or serious injury, serve minimum 10-year jail terms. Those convicted of murder would see their minimum sentences increase to 20 years, and 15 years for rape.

Under a bail system overhaul there would be a presumption of remand rather than bail, a “one-strike and you’re out” policy for anyone breaching bail and the ­offence of breaching bail by a juvenile would be reinstated. A high-security detention facility for violent youth criminals is also planned.

Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville declined to comment on the federal intervention, but said she was confident the recent addition of new police members and a specialist task force would put an end to gang violence, which was being perpetrated by a “small group of young people”.

“While the federal government cut funding to the AFP, we have provided record funding to Victoria Police that has seen ­additional gang squad police, specialist operations group members and more frontline police in Victoria than ever before,” Ms Neville said. “We have full confidence in the capacity and resolve of Victoria Police to disrupt and stop these criminal thugs.”

Federal member for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson, supported mandatory sentencing and urgent reform of current bail laws, which allow minors to escape charges for breaking their bail conditions. Ms Henderson said she had become increasingly concerned by a spike in gang-linked crime in coastal towns of Barwon Heads and Torquay.

State of crime in Australia.

“All Victorian federal MPs are deeply concerned about how the criminal justice system has run off the rails,” she said. Victorian upper house member Rachel Carling-Jenkins, a member of the Australian Conservatives, said the state was losing the battle, with families in Melbourne’s west installing dead bolts and CCTV cameras. “People are barricading themselves in their homes at night because they’re scared of what’s going on outside,” she said.

An update from the CSA yesterday confirmed recent crime trends, with sex offences, robbery, dangerous and negligent acts endangering others and deception incidents on the rise, while arson, property damage, drug dealing and trafficking and theft have fallen.

In mid-December a house party held in Werribee spiralled out of control when dozens of ­African youths gatecrashed the event and later attacked police, forcing them to retreat. Graffiti in the house made reference to the Apex gang and another group called Menace to Society.

Also last month, CCTV footage emerged of wild scenes at St Kilda beach as hundreds of youths brawled. Police struggled to contain the situation as young people of African appearance fought each other and assaulted bystanders. While crime across the state has fallen slightly overall, there are several violent offences, such as aggravated burglaries, that have continued to rise at an alarming rate.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman John Pessuto said the fact Victoria’s gang problem was attracting national attention demonstrated a lack of leadership by the state government. He said although police were doing the best job they could, they needed better leadership and stronger laws. “These gangs don’t fear the police, they don’t fear the community and they certainly don’t fear the consequences,” he said.

“With the election 11 months away, we’re offering Victoria a new way, a stronger way of tackling these gangs.”

Mr Hunt said the Victorian government had “dropped the ball”. “The solution is very clear: It’s Matthew Guy’s plan,” Mr Hunt said. “Call it out for what it is. Tougher sentencing laws and giving the police ... the resources they need to do the job.”