GUNBOWER residents feel that they are under siege from the criminal activity in the community.
Residents are no longer walking around the small town because they fear for their safety, Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh has told State Parliament.
Mr Walsh, the Nationals leader, said that there was a “law and order crisis” in Victoria because of government policies and insufficient police resources.
“The Andrews government is failing one of the basic tenets of any government—that is, the responsibility of a government to keep its population safe,” he said.
Mr Walsh said that Gunbower’s bakery, the butcher and the coffee shop have all been burgled, the container at the racetrack was broken into and all the alcohol was stolen before the trotting meeting and the bakery and hotel at Leitchville have also been broken into.
Mr Walsh said that there is talk of forming a vigilante group in Gunbower, although he pointed out that he was not advocating such action, during a grievance debate address in the Legislative Assembly.
“There are a number of families or households that are well known to the community as being where the perpetrators of these crimes come from,” he said.
“The police do not believe it, or they do anything about it.
Although people in the community feel so disaffected by the lack of police presence, there is also concern that someone will get hurt if a vigilante group is formed.
“The letters that I have had from those in that community say that people no longer feel safe in their own homes,” he said.
“In a small country community of about 260 people they no longer feel safe in their homes because of that particular criminal element in their community.”
One of the letters he received says that young mums are no longer walking or riding their bicycles for fitness because they do not feel safe in that community and that people are now too scared to be walking their dogs because of that activity and that the elderly in the community are petrified.
“I seriously grieve for all Victorians and I grieve particularly for country Victorians who are suffering this crime wave under the Andrews government,” he said.
“It all comes back to the fact that police recruitment has stalled under this government. There are not enough police out there to fill the rosters; there are not enough police out there to make sure that the police stations are manned all the time.
Police are using Echuca-based officers to patrol the town and district while the lone local police officer is on leave.
Mr Walsh said that many people in the community are saying that even when these perpetrators are caught, they are let out on bail and “just given a slap on the wrist”.
