Reduce crime.

Under Labor, crime is at record highs:

• Every 50 seconds a crime is committed.
• Every 12 minutes there is a theft from a retail store.
• Every 27 minutes there is a serious assault.
• Every week there are 8 carjackings across Victoria.
• There are more than 1,300 police vacancies.
• More than 40 police stations have closed or have reduced hours.

Source: Crime Statistics Agency.

These statistics aren’t just numbers on a page. Behind every crime is a victim who is left traumatised.

Victorians are rightfully worried about their safety at home, businesses face increased break-ins and theft, and parents are anxious that they could be a victim of a carjacking with their children in the back seat.

Victorians expect criminals to face real consequences. Only by restoring community safety and breaking the cycle of crime can our community thrive once again.

Our Plan invests in our police force, to retain officers, recruit more police and reopen stations closed by Labor. We will boost frontline safety by:

• Recruiting 3,000 more police
• Reopening police stations and restoring public access
• Putting police back on the frontline

More police on the beat

Our Plan will put 3,000 more police on the beat, by recruiting to fill existing vacancies, and funding an additional 1,500 officers.

We will do this by streamlining recruiting to reduce the time from job offer to appointment and expanding training to boost the pipeline of new officers. We will also recruit officers from other jurisdictions like New Zealand. And we will invest in improving retention of current officers.

Reopening police stations

We will reopen more than 40 police stations that have been closed or had their hours reduced. This will provide greater access to policing services around the clock.

More police and reopened stations means more visible law enforcement in local communities and more consistent protection for Victorians, regardless of where they live.

We will return Protective Services Officers (PSOs) to train stations. Independent Crime Statistics Agency data shows crimes against people at train stations have risen by 59% between 2021 and 2026. Despite this, the Labor government has stripped permanent PSOs from 119 stations across Melbourne.

Our Plan ensures a visible safety presence, reduces crime, and provides greater certainty and reassurance for commuters and local communities. We will:

• Recruit 200 additional PSOs
• Return PSOs to all 119 stations where they have been removed
• Work with Victoria Police to deploy PSOs to high-risk shopping centres and precincts

Victoria’s retail crime crisis

Retail crime has exploded across Victoria, with more than 95,000 offences recorded in the past year, and machete-related violence has become disturbingly common in major shopping centres.

To tackle this dangerous behaviour and help keep workers and shoppers safe, our team will introduce strengthened Workplace Protection Orders (WPO) to ban violent and abusive offenders from shopping precincts.

We will also establish a new dedicated digital platform through Victoria Police to enable workers and employers to more easily report incidents, upload evidence and apply for a WPO.

PSO strike teams

PSO strike teams will patrol high-risk shopping centres and precincts, delivering a visible safety presence. An additional 200 PSOs will be empowered to detect and remove knives and machetes before they are used.

Our Plan guarantees no PSOs will be removed from train stations. The strike teams will send a clear message to offenders: weapons, intimidation and violence will not be tolerated.

Under the Liberals and Nationals’ Break Bail, Face Jail plan, bail laws will be strengthened to put victims ahead of criminals. If you break bail, you will face jail.

Our Plan will ensure that sentencing reflects the crime and convicted criminals serve their time.

Break Bail, Face Jail

A Liberal and Nationals Government will end Labor’s revolving door bail system by:

• Introducing a one-strike rule for the expanded list of 25 offences captured under our strengthened Adult Crime, Adult Time policy, so that repeat offending while on bail automatically results in refused bail for both youth and adult offenders
• Uplifting bail applications for these 25 offences to the County Court, aligning bail decisions with where these matters are ultimately heard
• Upgrading the breach of bail offence from Summary to Schedule 2 offences, requiring offenders to demonstrate compelling reasons to be granted bail
• Removing the youth exemption for breach of bail conditions, so that repeat youth offenders face exactly the same consequences as adults

Adult Crime, Adult Time

We will expand adult sentencing provisions to cover a broader range of 25 serious offences including arson, home invasion, carjacking, burglary and serious assault.

We will commit to a further staged expansion, where needed, by progressively incorporating additional offences from the list of crimes currently captured under effective Queensland legislation (where relevant to Victoria).

A new Court of Criminal Appeal

A lack of consistency in sentencing in Victoria has contributed to a broken justice system under Labor. A Liberal and Nationals Government will restore consistency and balance by creating a specialist Court of Criminal Appeal to build consistent consequences for serious criminal offending in Victoria.

No more jail discounts

Under Labor, prisoners have received unjustifiable sentence reductions because of lockdowns, industrial disputes and a range of other disruptions through Labor’s Emergency Management Days (EMD) regime. A Liberal and Nationals Government will end Labor’s EMD approach and ensure prisoners serve their full sentences, with no discounts.

As part of Our Plan to reduce crime in Victoria, a Liberal and Nationals Government will invest in early intervention and crime prevention programs. We will:

• Invest $100 million in early intervention and rehabilitation
• Support proven programs like Youth Activating Youth, working with Victoria Police

Our Restart program will be a Victorian-first residential responsibility and discipline program targeting serious, repeat offenders aged 12 to 17. This live-in initiative will provide a pathway out of crime through intensive discipline, education, counselling and community support.

Our Youthstart initiative will invest in proven community-based interventions such as Youth Justice Hubs, risk-based diversion, trauma-informed therapy, mentoring, and family-based case management.

This is a balanced plan, but it starts with a simple principle: community safety comes first.

Prevention that works. Real consequences where needed.

Police-recorded family violence incidents continue to increase under Labor, reaching over 100,000 incidents in 2024-25. Our Plan will introduce Right to Ask, Right to Know laws so women have the right to ask and the right to know if their partner has a history of domestic violence.

Right to Ask, Right to Know

We believe at-risk women and men have the right to ask and the right to know if their partner has a history of domestic violence. That’s why we will introduce Right to Ask, Right to Know laws, creating a mechanism that allows people to find out if their partner has a known history of domestic abuse.

Based on Clare’s Law from the UK, it creates a “right to ask” police about someone they believe may pose a risk, and a “right to know” mechanism that lets police disclose information where they judge someone to be at risk.

Overdue reforms

Labor have had 12 years to legislate a Right to Ask, Right to Know framework. They have failed to act. Only a Liberal and Nationals Government can be trusted to take these critical steps to help combat and prevent family violence across Victoria.

If you or someone you know is in danger, call 000. For confidential support, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.