Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s excuse for her 48-hour delay in addressing the gruesome alleged machete attack on two youths in Melbourne over the weekend has been called into quesiton by the opposition.
On Saturday night, Dau Akueng, 15, and his friend Chol, 12, were slain in a brutal alleged machete ambush in Cobblebank, near Melton, in Melbourne.
In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Ms Allan said she had taken 48 hours to publicly discuss the horrific incident because she was focusing on supporting grieving communities.
“My focus in that past day or so has been to support communities that are grieving, supporting the grief that is very real for the members of the Victoria Police family and spending time with members of those families, hearing their grief, listening to their grief” she said.
“Listening to the community leaders. And I make no apologies for spending time and listening to people. Understanding their pain and their grief and their anguish. And hearing from them directly about what they want to see the further action their Premier and their Government take.”
Ms Allan took aim at Opposition Leader Brad Battin, who posted about the alleged attack on the night it happened.
Mr Battin said the level of crime in Victoria was “beyond crisis” and vowed to fix the justice system the Allan government had “weakened.”
The Premier accused Mr Battin of “political point-scoring”.
“I will not act in a reckless, politically point-scoring way like the Leader of the Opposition does time and time and time again. That is not leadership,” Ms Allan said.
“That is not looking at addressing the challenges that are being faced by many in our community. That is just reckless-based political behaviour that is all about political point-scoring, not about supporting communities and not about understanding what is driving this dangerous, violent behaviour that we all need to address together.”
Opposition Leader Brad Battin released a statement following Question Time on Tuesday during which he was expelled from the chamber after asking “repeated questions” about Victoria’s crime crisis.
“Jacinta Allan has no answers when it comes to the crime crisis, so she is shutting down the questions,” Mr Battin said.
“Labor is trying to deflect attention from their failures to protect Victorians, but people can see through the political spin.
“Victorians just want to feel safe in their homes and they just want a government that will act on crime.”
Mr Battin accused the government of doing “nothing” despite crime victims “demanding action”.
Shadow Police Minister David Southwick told SkyNews.com.au the fact two young Victorians were hacked to death last weekend says “everything Victorians need to know about the effectiveness of Jacinta Allan’s weak on crime approach”.
Mr Southwick said more than 660 days ago the Allan Labor Government voted against an Opposition proposal to ban machetes and make them a prohibited weapon with real penalties, including jail time, but instead had “sat on its hands”.
The Shadow Minister said the Allan government had “wasted” $13 million on 45 machete bins in the hope crooks will “stroll into police stations” to hand over their weapons.
“This is not community safety, it’s government negligence,” he said.
“In times such as these, Victorians look to their leaders for hope, reassurance and comfort. Jacinta Allan provided none of this to the community generally or to the Sudanese community specifically.”
Asked whether Ms Allan’s excuse was good enough under the circumstances, Mr Southwick said the Premier had failed at addressing the problem.
“Whether or not the Premier has done what she has said she has done, does not excuse her from her responsibility to show leadership in reassuring the community, and providing hope and comfort. The reality is the Premier has no answers and no solutions to the crime crisis,” Mr Southwick said.
The Premier, one week before the horrific machete attack, made a social media post in which she asserted that machetes would be “banned across Victoria” on Monday, September 1.
It comes as the Herald Sun reported that frightened migrant parents have resorted to sending their children back to Africa because Melbourne has become too dangerous.
Ms Allan is still yet to release a statement on the tragic attack, which occurred less than one week after her state banned machetes.