Tuesday, 23 June, 2026
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Record climber inspires
Double strike actions
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Rowville shows no mercy
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Wintry delight for all Meikho the husky dog with handler Nnamdi E-Smith from Howling Husky Sled Dog Tours brought an Arctic experience to festival goers in Springvale on Sunday 21 June. The annual Springvale Winterfest - once known Springvale Snowfest - returned without its fabled real snow, but with plenty of attractions. More pictures on page 14 (Gary Sissons: 559887)
Crime still rising Crime continues to rise in Greater Dandenong and Casey, defying a long-awaited statewide drop in the crime rate. Victoria Police and the State Government welcomed the latest Crime Statistics Agency data for the 12 months to March, which reported the state’s first overall crime-rate decrease in four years. It equated to a 1.9 per cent per capita decrease in offences across the state. In contrast, Greater Dandenong recorded a 1.1 per cent rise – and 23 per cent higher than 2019 levels.
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Even worse, Casey recorded a 9.1 per cent rise in criminal incidents for the year. Acting Commissioner Bob Hill, of Victoria Police, said it was “pleasing to see a stabilisation” in the state’s crime rate after many double-digit rises in recent years. But there was “still a long way to go” to reduce it to “acceptable” levels or at least, pre-Covid levels, he said. “Victorians do not feel safe – that is clear to me,” Asst Comm Hill said. “That’s the challenge for us as an organisation
– that they not only are safe but feel safe.” Asst Comm Hill said the drivers of elevated crime levels remained – the cost of living, organised crime, drugs and repeat offenders. The stats also include alarmingly steep rises in family violence offending. The State Government celebrated the statewide drop in crime “thanks to Labor’s tough laws”. It stated that bail revocations were up nearly 50 per cent and bail refusals up by 63 per cent. “There’s more work to do but crime is down, youth offending is down and more people are
being jailed not bailed,” Police Minister Anthony Carbines said. Opposition police and corrections spokesperson Brad Battin said Victorians were “sick of being told everything is fine” with crime still up since the start of Premier Jacinta Allen’s reign. “People talk to me about this every day. They are concerned about vacancies on the police rosters, no police at the Clyde North Police Station, and the general feeling of a less safe place to live,” he said. More stories, turn to pages 2 and 3