The record of Daniel Andrews on crime is atrocious

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Victorian government frontbencher Lisa Neville could well be to police ministers what former Victoria police chief Christine Nixon was to chief commissioners.

Only last month she was boasting the state had the second-lowest crime rate in the country. “The minister,” reported Geelong radio station 93.9, “told a parliamentary hearing other states are now starting to look [to] Victoria to find out the secret to our success.”

In one sense Neville is correct. Other states that want to prevent an enormous rise in violent crime indeed look at the Victorian example with great interest, if only to study the long-term effects of governments favouring social engineering over public order or playing down crime demographics and trends despite all the politically incorrect evidence to the contrary.

Premier Daniel Andrews and his government’s record in containing crime, particularly offences of violence, is an atrocious one. Elected in 2014, Andrews promised to be tough on crime. Two years into his premiership, The Age reported that Melbourne was the “murder capital” of Australia. In 2016, statistics revealed that robberies had increased by 25 per cent, and aggravated burglaries by an alarming 40 per cent. That same year carjackings rose by an incredible 80 per cent.

By far the government’s greatest abrogation in this area is its failure to address the prevalence or even existence of Sudanese criminal gangs. According to the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency, Sudanese-born people — who comprise only 0.15 per cent of the state’s population — are responsible for 1.1 per cent of crime. They are 57 times more likely than an Australian-born person to be charged with aggravated robbery, and are responsible for 4.9 per cent of riot and affray charges. Only last weekend 19-year-old Melbourne woman Laa Chol was stabbed to death at an out-of-control party held in a short-stay CBD high-rise rented by a group of young African-Australians.

This week the government belatedly announced anti-consorting legislation that will apply even to children as young as 14. Not surprisingly, Neville rejected suggestions this was in response to crimes committed by people of a particular culture, instead claiming it was aimed at outlaw motorcycle gangs and organised crime elements that cultivated youths. Her stubborn insistence was a pathetic attempt to save face. As former chief commissioner Kel Glare observed this week: “I don’t think they want to acknowledge the severity of the issue now that they’ve denied it for so long.”

In vain, Andrews portrayed himself as a decisive strongman cracking down on crime. “For some, that means spending some time in the youth justice facility, I make no apologies for that,” he said this week. When a politician says “I make no apologies”, you can be sure he is frantically trying to hide the fact that his incompetent and weak leadership aggravated the crisis in question. It was a line used incessantly by former prime minister Kevin Rudd. “Our job, and I make no apology for it, is to take a hard line approach in dealing with the challenge of illegal immigration,” he said in 2009 in response to the resumption of people-smuggling following his dismantling of the former government’s ‘Pacific Solution’. Remember how that turned out?

Victorian Minister for Police Lisa Neville.

Andrews is also bristling at what he sees as interference by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton, both of whom have goaded him by highlighting Sudanese gangs and the Victorian government’s denial of them. Undoubtedly Turnbull and Dutton are politicising this for their own gain, but there is another factor. Only two years ago Andrews, in a grandstanding attempt to undermine the federal government’s border protection policies, offered publicly to take would-be deportees.

“Please, Prime Minister: it doesn’t have to be like this. Let’s do the right thing by these children and their families. Let’s prove that we really are a fair and decent society,” he sanctimoniously implored in an open letter. Two days later Andrews accompanied two of the children facing deportation to the zoo, a public display of maudlin opportunism. Surely he did not expect either Turnbull or Dutton to forego payback for his meddling?

As expected, the Greens were also indignant. “Memo to Peter Dutton: Please Minister, Go back home. We don’t need your nasty politicking over refugees here in our welcoming Adelaide Hills community,” tweeted Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Monday.

Memo to Peter Dutton: Please Minister, Go back home. We don’t need your nasty politicking over refugees here in our welcoming Adelaide Hills community.

— Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) July 24, 2018

Greens MP Adam Bandt shrilly accused both Turnbull and Dutton of using race “to win votes and whip up hatred”.

Former independent MP Tony Windsor angrily tweeted that Turnbull was out to “demonise the black man in Melbourne”.

Turnbulls travels ...demonise the black man in Melbourne , ingratiate his great selfie in Tennant Creek , ignore the way forward and insult the leaders at Uluru .

— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) July 23, 2018

Perhaps this pious blowhard thought we had forgotten that only last November he slandered indigenous commentator Warren Mundine, saying “he has made himself into a token aborigine as a means of making a living”.

I have sent a message to Warren Mundine apologising for a tweet posted by me last night . If it has offended anyone I apologise . On rereading the tweet I can understand how it could be taken to offend .I have also deleted the tweet .

— Tony Windsor (@TonyHWindsor) November 28, 2017

Last week The Project host Waleed Aly scoffed at the mere suggestion of gangs. “I live in Melbourne and the only place I’ve heard concerns about Sudanese gangs is on talkback radio,” he smugly observed.

It's time for our politicians to be honest about ‘African gangs’. #TheProjectTV | Written by Waleed Aly and Tom Whitty (@twhittyer) pic.twitter.com/5GFGKkyGUh

— The Project (@theprojecttv) July 19, 2018

Oh well, a single observation of confirmation bias settles this issue once and for all I suppose, especially from a sophisticate of inner-city Richmond.

“I live in Melbourne,” tweeted comedian and former columnist for The Age Catherine Deveny on Sunday. “We have no problems with African gangs. You know what we have a problem with? White c**ts.”

Presumably Aly and Deveny are unaware of polling conducted last December in 14 metropolitan marginal seats which revealed law and order is the number one issue for voters. Admittedly we are talking about less enlightened citizens who live in locations such as Cranbourne, Sunbury and Narre Warren South, including those ill-bred types who prefer talkback radio to The Project.

You could be forgiven for thinking the only people who cop severe penalties from the law in Victoria are the ones who obey it in the first place. Last week the right-wing Canadian commentator Lauren Southern’s speaking tour was disrupted by violent far-left protesters who blocked the Hume Highway in Melbourne and even attempted to assault her on stage. Police charged her $68,000 for committing their resources despite the fact she herself committed no offence.

The decision to bill Southern for a substantial amount is a disconcerting precedent. By doing so, the traditional role of police as neutral keepers of the peace has shifted to one which imposes a chilling effect, at least among conservative commentators. It is a huge incentive for violent activists to appear en masse and obstruct, intimidate and assault those with opposing views. Furthermore, this policy disproportionately penalises speakers with conservative views. For example, when did you last hear of conservative demonstrators shutting down the members of the so-called Campaign Against Racism and Fascism?

It is a fetter upon free speech yet the left wing Andrews Government permits such measures, in effect tacitly endorsing a state-sanctioned repression of conservative views under the guise of cost-recovery. It is also an act of gross hypocrisy considering Labor has no intention of repaying the moneys spent in its unsuccessful taxpayer-funded legal challenge to shut down Ombudsman Deborah Glass’s inquiry into rorting of funding by 21 Labor MPs in 2014. Using nearly $400,000 in public allowances that were allocated for electorate officers, Labor instead diverted these funds to its political campaigners. Those allowances have now been reimbursed, but Andrews has contemptuously dismissed calls for Labor to repay the $1m spent in challenging the Ombudsman’s inquiry, even though a former minister from his own Cabinet, Jane Garrett, supports such a move.

How much of this hypocrisy, arrogance, and abrogation will Victorians tolerate? We will know in November come the election. In the meantime it is not only Andrews who needs to dramatically improve the impression he gives on the crime reduction front. Last month his police minister blithely announced that she had “recently attended a Neighbourhood Watch meeting where interstate police showed plenty of interest in what Victoria’s been doing.”

I have no doubt they did. As they say, there are plenty of people who can teach you nothing, but you can learn a hell of a lot just by observing them.