Return ‘force’ to Victoria Police: PM Scott Morrison
PM Scott Morrison has called for a tougher approach to policing in Victoria following another brawl involving African-Australians.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for a tougher approach to policing in Victoria following another violent brawl involving African-Australian youths.
More than 200 African-Australian and Pacific Islander youths rioted in the streets of Collingwood after an album launch on Saturday, and the night ended in a terrifying car attack which left one 18-year-old male with serious leg injuries.
The Prime Minister told Melbourne’s 3AW radio today that Sydney does not have the same problems the Victorian capital does with South Sudanese youth.
“We have the highest proportion of Sudanese population in NSW, we don’t have these problems, they are not happening in other cities,” he said. “Why are they happening in Melbourne?”
‘This is a law and order problem. When you don’t have that control or rule of law imposed, people will take advantage of it … they have to be restrained by a police ‘force’.”
Mr Morrison, in his first Melbourne interview as Prime Minister, said Victoria Police should follow the example of former NSW police Andrew Scipione and put the “force” back in the police force.
“He changed of the police service to the police force,” he said, “Law and order means something in NSW … in my home city, we have a police force that is a force.”
Mr Morrison’s comments echo those of former Victoria Police chief Kel Glare, who told The Australian after the Collingwood brawl that “rough work” may be needed to curb youth crime and that arrests need to be made on the spot.
Victoria Police are under increasing pressure to change their current policy to disperse crowds, rather than make on-the-spot arrests, following Saturday’s riot.
Officers were called to Smith Street in Collingwood soon after 2.45am yesterday after reports of a fight between African-Australian and Pacific Islander youths leaving the “66 Records Label Launch” at the Gasometer Hotel.
The teens reportedly ran riot down Smith Street, jumping on cars and brawling as they went, before congregating on nearby Mater Street.
Police are calling for witnesses and more footage as their investigation continues, and they have released more details about those injured in the brawl.
North West Metro Commander Tim Hansen told reporters yesterday that the perpetrators, including a driver who pinned a man between two vehicles and crushed his leg, fled the scene before police arrived.
An 18-year-old Cranbourne man was arrested and interviewed yesterday following a search warrant but he had been released pending further inquiries.
The 18-year-old man who was hit by the speeding car is from Fitzroy. Fairfax Media is reporting he is connected to a 17-year-old male who was arrested in July over the murder of 19-year-old South Sudanese woman Laa Chol.
An 18-year-old male from Richmond, a 21-year-old man from Footscray, a 21-year-old man from Cranbourne, a 18-year-old man from Cranbourne North, and two males of no fixed address (aged 26 and 18) sustained minor injuries from the affray.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke up about Victoria’s African youth crime problem during his last months in office. And Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has been a constant critic of the state Labor government’s handling of law and order.
Federal Liberal MP for La Trobe Jason Wood has previously called on federal police to intervene and set up a youth gang squad.
But Mr Morrison said community policing was a matter for Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
“It is up to the Premier of Victoria … to make sure the police force is a force … they are responsible for community policing,” he said.
Gay conversion is “not an issue I’m focused on at all”
Mr Morrison was asked about a petition signed by 43,000 people calling on him to ban gay conversion therapy.
Greens Senator Janet Rice has today backed a letter sent to Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten by survivors of gay conversion therapy calling for a multi-partisan crackdown on the practice.
Asked whether gay conversion therapy works, Mr Morrison said he had “never really thought about it”.
“It’s not an issue I’m focused on at all,” the Prime Minister told 3AW.
“People should abide by the law, and if they’re not abiding by the law then they should abide by the law.
“If people aren’t breaking the law, that’s a matter for them.”
Asked whether he believed people could be converted to heterosexuality, Mr Morrison said he respected people of all sexualities.
“I respect people of all religions, all faiths. I love all Australians, and what I sometimes get frustrated by is when people say they love Australia, but they don’t seem to like Australians very much,” he said.
Challenged over his opposition to gay marriage, Mr Morrison asked what it had to do with him loving all Australians and said he “loved gay people too”.
“Of course I do. I love you too, Neil,” Mr Morrison told 3AW host Neil Mitchell.
“Oh I doubt that. That won’t last,” Mitchell joked.Pressed again for his view on gay conversion, Mr Morrison said he believed people should make their own choices about their own lives.”That’s always been my view. I’ve never been involved in anything like that, I’ve never supported anything like that, and so mate, it’s just not an issue for me, and I’m not planning to get engaged in the issue,” he said.
“I mean people should abide by the law, and people should respect everybody else’s choices, faiths, sexuality, lifestyle, their own choices.
“I mean I’m a Liberal so I’m pro people having the right to make their own decisions about their lives.”
Mr Morrison said China’s decision to ban the ABC’s website was a matter for that country.
“The ABC is funded to broadcast in Australia, so we’re in control of that,” he said.
“I mean China’s a sovereign country. They make decisions about what happens there. We make decisions about what happens here.”
‘When placed in command, take charge’
Asked how he could “reunite the rabble” of his divided party, Mr Morrison said he was getting his colleagues to focus on their job.
“I remember many, many years ago going along and hearing from General Norman Schwarzkopf, you’ll remember him, and he had this great line and it’s true, and I’ve always tried to apply this: ‘when placed in command, take charge’, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said.
“The circumstances of a few weeks ago, I know they appalled all Australians.
“I mean the parliament looked like The Muppet Show, and people should feel rightly angered about that, but what I want them to know now is, I’m restoring control, I’ve been placed in command by my party, by my colleagues, and that means taking on the important responsibility of Prime Minister, and I will be taking charge.”
Women egged in anti-Semitic attack at Bondi Beach
Three men allegedly set upon a number of women on Saturday night in Sydney's east, throwing eggs at them, with police believing they were targeted because of the clothes they were wearing.
Nation ‘must not go down road’ of faith-based parties: PM
Parties founded on religion would undermine social cohesion, according to Anthony Albanese, as he reminded rogue senator Fatima Payman that she owed her election to Labor pre-selection.