African-Australian crime figures blamed on Labor, weak courts

Alan Tudge hit out at Daniel Andrews after figures showed Sudanese-born people are more likely to be charged with robbery.

Tudge said crime data told the story of a “significant problem” in Melbourne. Picture: AAP

Crime statistics showing Sudanese-born people are 57 times more likely to be charged with aggravated robbery in Victoria than their Australian-born counterparts have sparked ­renewed calls for a law-and-order crackdown by the ­Andrews government.

Figures from the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency, to the end of March, also show Sudanese-born people are 33 times more likely to be charged with riot and affray compared with Australian-born counterparts.

Despite just 0.15 per cent of the state’s population having been born in Sudan and modern-day South Sudan, figures for the past five years show the African country has consistently been among the top two or three places of birth for offenders charged with crimes including aggravated burglary, serious assault, motor vehicle theft, aggravated robbery, and riot and affray.

Picture: The Australian

Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge seized on the figures yesterday, arguing the same level of crime was not being seen in Sudanese communities in NSW and Queensland, and blaming the Andrews Labor government for the problem.

The African gangs debate was reignited at the weekend following the death of 19-year-old Melbourne woman Laa Chol, who was fatally stabbed at an out-of-control party held in a city high-rise by a group of young African-Australians.

Police confirmed late yesterday they had arrested a 17-year-old male who was being interviewed by the homicide squad over the attack.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton described Ms Chol’s death as “proof of a major law-and-order problem” in Victoria, but Premier Daniel Andrews and the commander of Victoria Police’s African-Australian community taskforce, Stuart Bateson, denied that was the case. Mr Tudge said crime data told the story of a “very significant problem” in Melbourne, blaming the Andrews Labor government and “weak” magistrates and judges.

“Basically the crime data is kept by country of origin, and what it shows is that typically the Australian-born commit most of the crime, naturally, because three-quarters of Victoria are Australian-born,’’ Mr Tudge told Sky News. “But often now, Sudanese-born is No 2 or No 3, despite them being a tiny proportion of the population, so there clearly is an issue going on there, and the Victorian public know this.

“The interesting thing, though, is that there isn’t the Sudanese problem in NSW, nor in Queensland, despite the fact that there is a similar-sized Sudanese population in Sydney, so to me that says it’s actually a law-and-order problem right here in Victoria.

“We know they are weak on crime here in Victoria, and I think that many of the gang members know they can get away with it, and consequently continue to commit it.”

Mr Andrews refused to ­address Mr Dutton’s comments, telling ABC radio: “You can ask me as many questions as you want about Peter Dutton. I am not ­responding or becoming a commentator on him.”

The Premier said he did not ­accept Ms Chol’s death showed Victoria had an “African community problem” with crime.

“No, I don’t accept that at all because the evidence, the data, the facts would tell you a different story,” he said. “In relation to the very tragic death of Laa Chol, I don’t think her family will be getting much comfort from this sort of discussion.

“We’ve had the terrible ­tragedy of Eurydice Dixon’s murder, we’ve had terrible tragedies in Perth, in Sydney, closer to home in Cranbourne, Hampton. This is as much a violence against women issue as it is anything else.”

Picture: The Australian

Police Minister Lisa Neville and Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott were approached for comment but referred The Australian to Mr Andrews’s comments. Commander Bateson said Ms Chol’s death was not related to African gang violence.

The Crime Statistics Agency figures, which detail principal ­offences where offenders may have committed multiple crimes, show Sudanese-born offenders come second to Australian-born offenders for aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, and rank after Australians and New Zealanders for serious assault and riot and affray.

Sudanese-born offenders ­accounted for 8.5 per cent of ­aggravated robbery offences and 4.9 per cent of riot and affray ­offences in the year to March.

Earlier agency data showed Sudanese offenders were responsible for 1.1 per cent of all Victorian crime, despite representing 0.15 per cent of the population.

Australian Bureau of Statistics jail population figures show Sudanese are the most over-represented ethnic group in prisons.

Victoria has a higher South Sudanese population, and a higher overall Sudanese population, than NSW and Queensland.