DAN Andrews’s vision for Victoria is looking more troubling by the day. While the state’s crime rate is soaring, due to a dramatic surge in offences such as assaults, aggravated burglaries, theft, family violence and drug dealing, the Andrews government appears preoccupied with trivial guff such as non-gendered birth certificates. A total of 535,826 offences were committed in Victoria during the past financial year, 13.4 per cent more than in the previous year. In some regional areas the crime rate has more than doubled. Yet police officers continue to be taken off the streets, and operating hours at some police stations continue to be reduced. It will surprise no one with an IQ above room temperature that many of the areas in which police stations have been closed, or in which station hours have been reduced, have experienced a surge in crime. These include Ashburton (up 52 per cent), Tatura (up 35 per cent), Endeavour Hills (up 30.1 per cent) and Carrum Downs (up by 47.3 per cent). The police union continues to plead for greater police numbers, and a greater presence on the streets, to counter the spike in reported offences. “Logic tells us that having more police on the front line out on patrol, providing a highly visible presence, prevents crime from occurring in the first instance,” said Police Association assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie. Andrews might make all the right noises at the appropriate times but his government’s actions demonstrate it is soft on crime. Whether it’s weakening the youth bail laws, so violent gang members can breach bail again and again with no penalty, or rejecting proposals that put the rights of victims ahead of that of crims, this government seem incapable of comprehending just how devastating the level of crime is for the people they govern. Remember how Premier Andrews vowed to get tough on youth violence after the Moomba riots, in which scores of young thugs wrought havoc in the streets of Melbourne? “Those who perpetrated these crimes will feel the full force of the law,’’ Mr Andrews said back in March. “I am not interested in any of these ‘poor me’ stories.” The Premier certainly talked the talk and told the electorate what they wanted to hear, but when it came to the crunch he failed to deliver. Instead of toughening youth bail laws, the government poured more than $2 million into a Community Harmony Program to run forums and sports programs and fund mediators: precisely the type of response favoured by the ideologues of the Left who’ve never heard a sob story from a crim they haven’t loved and accepted uncritically. These policies cost the taxpayers a fortune and achieve nothing other than making progressives feel all warm and fuzzy. More on Herald Sun article. Rita Panahi, Herald Sun October 3, 2016 6:41am