News

Emergency Services | August 29, 2023

One-person police stations under threat

One-person police stations across Victoria are under threat, with a new proposal seeing police officers from one-person stations in small towns being forced to work out of larger regional centres.

The Lowan electorate has seventeen stations under threat – Apsley, Balmoral, Branxholme, Cavendish, Dartmoor, Dunkeld, Goroke, Harrow, Jeparit, Lake Bolac, Merino, Minyip, Natimuk, Penshurst, Rainbow, Rupanyup and Willaura.

Deputy Leader of The Nationals and Member for Lowan Emma Kealy said the move would take yet another essential service away from small country towns and undermine the security of rural communities.

“Many of these small country towns are too far away from a major centre for police to respond to an emergency situation within a reasonable timeframe”, Ms Kealy said.

“The Nationals fiercely oppose any diminishing of police resources in our rural areas - we need more cops not less.

“Locally based police officers are more than just the local officer – they are a trusted and integral part of the community proactively maintaining community safety.

“The community of Minyip have long held concerns around the future of their police station, particularly with plans progressing for mineral sands mining operations and an influx of workers and therefore local residents. 

“This is yet another example of small country towns being sacrificed in the name of bureaucracy with inappropriate and unworkable decisions being made out of Melbourne.

“Our rural communities should never be punished for Daniel Andrews’ failure to maintain staffing in 24-hour police stations.

“Labor’s secret plans to shut small police stations have now been revealed, and it’s our smallest communities that will pay the price for Labor’s incompetence and mismanagement of state resources. 

“The Andrews Labor Government needs to fix its issues with police recruitment and retention and keep its hands off our single officer rural police stations.”