Melburnians Buying Bollards and Bulletproof Glass — While Labor Looks Away
A car stolen every 42 minutes. Retirees spending $20,000 to secure their homes. Victoria has become the car-theft capital of Australia on the Allan government’s watch, and Jane Foreman says Victorians shouldn’t have to live like this.
Data from the Insurance Council of Australia reveals Victoria now accounts for more car-theft insurance claims than every other state and territory combined — with $243 million in payouts last year alone, up 37 per cent year-on-year. Since 2022, car thefts in Victoria have nearly doubled. The rest of Australia is trending in the opposite direction.
Today’s reporting in The Age tells the human story behind those numbers: a retiree in Ashburton who has spent $20,000 installing bollards, tungsten-framed steel doors and bulletproof glass to protect his home. A Muslim couple whose car — a 50th birthday gift saved for over five years — was stolen in the early hours of the morning while they were breaking their Ramadan fast. Thousands of ordinary Victorians who now park differently, lock up differently, and live differently — because they no longer feel safe
“Victorians should not need bulletproof glass and steel bollards to feel safe in their own homes and streets. This is a failure of government, not a failure of the community”
Family First has consistently argued that Victoria’s crime surge is the predictable result of a decade of weak bail laws, inadequate consequences for recidivist offenders, and a government more focused on ideology than on the safety of ordinary families. Queensland faced a similar trajectory — and reversed it through serious bail and sentencing reform. Victoria has refused to follow suit.
The Allan government’s response this year — toughening sentences for violent young offenders — is welcome but incomplete. Car theft is rarely classified as violent, yet it funds organised crime, enables firebombings and drive-by shootings, and destroys the livelihoods of working Victorians. A contractor who loses his tools loses his income. A retiree who loses his sanctuary loses his peace of mind. These losses are real, and they deserve real answers.
“Every Victorian who has ever had a car stolen, a window smashed, or a home broken into has paid the price of this government’s failure. Family First will not accept that this is simply the new normal”
Family First is calling on the Allan government to extend its sentencing reforms to encompass property crime and car theft, introduce mandatory consequences for recidivist offenders regardless of age, and restore the principle that bail is a privilege — not a right — for those who repeatedly offend.
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