Crime continues to fall in the macedon ranges

Crime has fallen again for the Macedon Ranges Shire following the Andrews Labor Government’s record community safety investment.

Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas, today welcomed the latest statistics from the independent Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) but also said more work needs to be done to continue to drive crime down further.

The crime rate in the Macedon Ranges Shire fell 7.3 per cent in the year to 30 June 2018.

The rate of burglary and break and enter offences has declined by 9.6 per cent per cent. Across Victoria it fell 18 per cent and is now at the lowest level on CSA record.

The Macedon Ranges Shire joins another 63 local government areas across Victoria’s 79 that have experienced a decrease in their crime rate compared to the previous 12 months.

Importantly, the CSA data also shows that family violence continues to be one of the most significant contributors of violence against the person in our state.

That’s why the Labor Government has funded 415 new family violence police around the state, 10 of which have already been allocated to the Bendigo Division, which covers the Macedon Ranges Shire. These specialist frontline police work in communities to prevent this crime and identify risk early to protect Victorian families.

This is in addition to the Labor Government’s historic $2.6 billion investment into the prevention of family violence. Recommendations from the Royal Commission are currently being rolled out to boost police capability and powers.

Our record $2 billion investment into Victoria Police funded 3,135 frontline police to be deployed by 2022, along with new technology, state-of-the-art equipment and facilities and stronger laws to crack down on crime.

This is in stark contrast to the Liberals who cut $100 million from Victoria Police, did not fund a single new police officer and sacked 350 Victoria Police staff – which coincided with a 13.5 per cent increase in crime during their term.

Quotes attributable to Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas
"I’m proud that the Macedon Ranges remains one of the safest places to live in Victoria."

"Our unprecedented investment in Victoria Police is making a difference with the crime rate continuing to fall – quarter on quarter – as more frontline police hit the streets."

"There’s still more work to do – we want to drive the crime rate down in the Macedon Ranges as low as possible."

"The Andrews Labor Government is making record investments in combatting family violence, which is still the number one community safety issue for our state."

"We back Victoria Police and we will continue to give them the resources, technology and the equipment they need to respond to and crack down on crime in our community."