Protective Services Officers Bill 2011

It gives me pleasure to stand here today to talk about the Justice Legislation Amendment (Protective Services Officers) Bill 2011. This bill is a very important bill as it delivers a key election promise that we made around safety and security going into the election. We went to the election very clearly with this policy, and the voters commended the commitment by putting us into office.

It is quite evident from what we have heard today from a number of opposition members that they have now realised that safety is paramount and is a key and important element that got us into office and put them into opposition.

Unfortunately when it comes to delivering on detail the opposition is lacking. Safety on trains and on public transport generally is a key issue. I find it very interesting that Labor members can talk about social policy, they can talk about the environment, but -- --

What we are looking at delivering with this bill is protective services officers and allowing them the power to arrest; the power to enforce breaches, certainly when it comes to the weapons act; the power to seize illegal substances of detail, including helping young people in protecting them when they are in any circumstance of needing help; and also looking at infringement of issues such as graffiti, which we all face -- we all have graffiti problems on our train stations -- and finally, having some proper protection at our stations, we might be able to now do something about it.

I was talking previously about the social and environmental policies of the opposition, whose members are very keen to talk about it but are very unclear when it comes to detail. One of the key things we would like to do in government is get more people using public transport. That is absolutely paramount. If you are really keen about helping the environment and if you are keen on social policy, then let us deliver. Let us get more people using public transport.

How are we going to fill our trains? The only way we are going to fill our trains is if the public feels absolutely safe. I talk to a lot of people in my electorate, and they say to me that they feel unsafe travelling on public transport at night. They do not use public transport after 6.00 p.m. because they do not feel safe. Putting protective services officers on train stations after dark from 6.00 p.m to midnight allows us to ensure that the public will use public transport because they feel safe. There are good sound economics in doing what we are doing in delivering safe, effective and clean public transport, because, as I said earlier, graffiti issues and littering and a whole range of other things which can be monitored by our protective services officers will now be able to be monitored.

I hear interjections from the opposition. What I would like to do is to pay tribute to our protective services officers who serve the Parliament every single day -- we have them in the house -- and who unfortunately the opposition take for granted.

We have heard them make mention of the protective services officers being plastic police, which I think is an absolute disgrace. We should all be very thankful and grateful that we have these people at our service protecting us every day.

We heard the member for Narre Warren North mention the Labor policy at the last election of upgrades to premium stations. Let me talk briefly about this great policy which Labor marched into the previous election with saying, 'We are going to make train stations safe'. Labor was going to make train stations safe by putting staff behind glass windows. What sort of training would the people behind glass windows have apart from how to issue a ticket and being polite?

Those are very important attributes for a customer service officer at a train station, but those staff members would be powerless when it came to assisting people in distress. That is the sort of commitment we had from the Labor Party, and that is why it is now in opposition and we are in government.

It is very clear that we are tough when it comes to crime. We make no apology for that. I would like to acknowledge somebody in the gallery today, Menachem Vorchheimer, who was a victim of crime in my electorate of Caulfield a number of years ago when he stood up against a hate crime. He is a perfect example of someone in my electorate who has felt the brunt of crime. That is why we in government are doing something about crime. We have a $212 million commitment to law and order. We are showing that we are serious and we are delivering, and that is why the public has every confidence in this government and has absolutely no confidence in the opposition.

I would like to refer to a couple of incidents in my local area, if I may. On 23 February 2010 at Elsternwick train station two men attacked a gentleman and stole his wallet. This gentleman had to be taken to the Alfred hospital for treatment. A number of traders have said they are fed up with vandalism and violence at Elsternwick station, and they want something done. Incident reports and highlighted assaults have increased, particularly after 9.00 p.m., at Caulfield, Bentleigh, East Ringwood and Ringwood stations. If there is any argument about doing something about this, then the figures speak for themselves. On Wednesday just gone a young person was detained at Caulfield station for not having a ticket. He went on to smash the furniture in the office.

The staff at the office did everything that they could, but unfortunately, without the proper training and without having PSOs on the station, we had vandalism.

We are fixing that. These PSOs will have 12 weeks of training, they will have weapons training and they will be just as prepared as any police officer would be to deal with these issues on train stations. That is why it is so important to ensure that we do something about it. I highlight an incident from the last 12 months in Caulfield where five youths assaulted a Caulfield North man because he asked them if they could please refrain from smoking. He ended up needing hospital care. This sort of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. Malvern station, my apologies.

The member for Malvern is in the chamber. We have too many incidents like this that keep recurring. We can do everything to talk about it, but we need some action. The Victorian people should make no mistake: the opposition is not opposing this bill but it does not support it either, and if the opposition ended up in government, PSOs would be removed from train stations and we would be back to where we are with unsafe train stations and forget about trying to get people to use our trains. If the opposition was serious about getting people to use public transport, it would support our actions of safety, support our actions to ensure that law and order is paramount and do everything possible to support this bill.

This is a good bill. We are delivering on our election promises. We are ensuring that the Victorian public feels safe and secure and that we do away with the sort of behaviour we have had for too long, for at least 11 years, thanks to the Labor government. I commend this bill to the house.