PM says Victorians have ‘real concerns about Sudanese gangs’

Malcolm Turnbull says Victorians have “real concerns about Sudanese gangs” and he knows plenty of people are afraid to go out in Melbourne.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Malcolm Turnbull says Victorians have a “real concern about Sudanese gangs” and while he was not personally frightened to go out to dinner in Melbourne, plenty of members of the public clearly were.

“The fact is there is a gang issue here and you are not going to make it go away by pretending it doesn’t exist,’’ Mr Turnbull said. “At some point you have to be fair dinkum and you have to acknowledge that there is a concern, people are concerned about it, it is a community policing issue, it is an issue for state government, for state leadership.’’

He told Melbourne’s 3AW radio this morning that colleagues had been relaying to him the concerns of Victorians about violent street crime as he dismissed criticisms of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton by the state’s equality commissioner.

“I have heard people, colleagues from Melbourne; say that there is real anxiety about crime in Melbourne,” Mr Turnbull told host Neil Mitchell. “There is real concern about street crime. There is real concern about Sudanese gangs.”

The past fortnight has seen a renewed focus on crime perpetrated by youths of African appearance after a slate of recent bashings and wild parties.

At a later press conference in Melbourne, Mr Turnbull said: “It is critically important that people are not afraid to go out and not afraid to walk the streets and it is important that the police have the full backing of a government which (Victorian Liberal Opposition Leader) Matt (Guy) will lead, when he is elected …

“That’s critically important. That’s what Victorians are entitled to expect from their government.”

Mr Turnbull defended his references to Sudanese gangs in his 3AW interview. “You have to be honest, there are Sudanese gangs in Melbourne. It is an issue,’’ he said.

“No one is making any reflections about Sudanese migrants, Sudanese in general. I have spoken about the enormous achievements of Sudanese migrants to Australia, in every respect, you know, on the sporting field and academia and including in my own home town of Sydney.’’

Mr Guy said it had been Victorian police minister Lisa Neville who had first raised the issue of “African gangs” in January.

“It was a police minister who mentioned African gangs, so this contention in the last 72 hours that the Labor Party is trying to run that it is the Liberal Party talking about African gangs, it was their police minister in January this year,” Mr Guy said.

“If there is a problem I don’t care what someone’s ethnicity is, we need to make the criminal justice system apply to everyone.

“Whether it is gangs of Sudanese, Irish or Ukrainian descent, it doesn’t matter, the point is we have a criminal justice system that works for everyone,” said Mr Guy, who is of Ukrainian descent.

The state Liberals have also put out flyers in the electorate of Keysborough saying they were the only party that would “stop gangs hunting in packs”.

Mr Turnbull’s comments come after Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, Kristen Hilton, said racial discrimination complaints had risen as a result of political debate and media reporting of African-linked youth crime last summer.

“This sudden jump in race-related discrimination reports should be a wake-up call for politicians who have made racially divisive statements,” Ms Hilton said on Monday.

“The majority of Victorians who champion multiculturalism should not have to put up with journalists and politicians undermining their communities and workplaces with racially-divisive rhetoric.”

When Mitchell asked Mr Turnbull if this was a reference to Mr Dutton in January saying that Melburnians were too frightened to eat out in restaurants, the Prime Minister dismissed the idea.

“Well, that is nonsense. Peter Dutton is simply seeking to do the best job as Minister for Home Affairs,” he said. “There is concern about the state government’s failure to uphold the rule of law on the streets. There is a real concern about that.”

Mr Turnbull said all Australians had to uphold the law and there could be no special treatment based on ethnic background.

“It doesn’t matter what your ethnic background is, or where you’re from, or what language you speak, you have to obey the law.”