The Victorian opposition has pledged to hire 3,000 additional police officers if elected, half of whom would be recruited from overseas.
The plan involves offering relocation allowances of $5,000 for recruits to move to Victoria to take up positions.
Half of the 3,000 recruits would be “experienced officers” from the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.
The opposition also plans to reopen more than 40 police stations they say are “closing or operate on reduced hours”.
Liberal leader Jess Wilson said her party would “reopen” 40 police stations. (ABC News)
Liberal leader Jess Wilson said the plan aimed to fill hundreds of vacancies at Victoria Police.
“Crime is at an all-time high, dozens of police stations are closed or operating on reduced hours and too many Victorians are unable to get a timely police response in their time of need,” she said.
“Our plan will get more cops on the beat, reopen closed police stations and restore community safety across Victoria.”
Shadow Police Minister Brad Battin said dedicated recruitment teams would be established to fast-track applicant checks.
“Whether it’s New Zealand, England, Ireland, where they can come across here into Victoria, obviously we all know people want to live here,” he said.
“It gives them the opportunity to come across but it also fills the void of recruiting in a shorter period of time.
“They’ll still have to do programs, they’ll still have to go through the academy for parts of their training.”
The opposition said overseas officers would be offered a relocation allowance of $5,000. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
The Liberals said the plan replicates a scheme used in Western Australia.
In 2024, WA Police reported it had fallen short of the scheme’s recruitment goal by about half of the 950 officers it wanted to recruit.
Some overseas officers who had applied to move to Australia under the scheme reported they failed to get a visa due to the Migration Act’s health requirement.
The requirement makes it difficult for some people who have children with disabilities or health conditions to obtain a visa.
Victoria’s Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny criticised the announcement, labelling it a “one-policy strategy” by the Coalition.
She said the government had already made a record $4.5 billion investment into police, including an additional 3,600 police officers.
Victoria’s Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny says the government is working with Victoria Police’s chief commissioner to ensure a healthy police force. (ABC News)
“We know that recruitment is up, we understand applications are now at a near-record high and we will continue to back in our chief commissioner of police,” Ms Kilkenny said.
“We have done significant work to reform and strengthen our bail laws and we know they’re having an impact.”