Call for Balmoral police presence

Member for Lowan Emma Kealy has called on Police Minister Lisa Neville to ‘urgently’ reopen Balmoral Police Station.

Ms Kealy has spoken in State Parliament on the issue. She said the station had been closed for more than nine months.

“The Balmoral district community is feeling vulnerable and concerned about police response times in the event of an emergency,” she said.

Ms Kealy said Victoria Police had undertaken a recruitment process to fill the permanent position at the one-man station but had failed to fill the position.

“With another recruitment round looming it is unlikely Balmoral will have its police station open for at least another three months,” she said.

“It is completely unacceptable that the Balmoral and surrounding community will have their local police station closed for over a year.

“Under the Andrews Labor government the one-man Minyip Police Station was closed for 18 months and the three-man Kaniva Police Station operated with only one officer for 12 months and was closed when the sole officer took an extended well-earned break.

“Labor put a freeze on police recruitment when they formed government in 2014. Since then we’ve seen country police stations struggling to recruit, simply due to lower police numbers in Victoria due to Labor’s cuts.”

Ms Kealy said Victoria’s top police officer, Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, confirmed last month that during 2015-16 the number of police per capita was cut, increasing by just 159 members.

“Local police are doing an amazing job, particularly considering they are covering a bigger region with fewer police on the beat,” she said.

“The problem is there are simply not enough police being trained by the government, hitting country regions the hardest.

“It is essential the Balmoral station be reopened as soon as possible.”