Just two years ago when in opposition, state Labor MPs representing Wyndham electorates threw their support behind residents’ call for more police.
Now they’re in government, the MPs appear to be less vocal.
In September 2014, a month before the state election, Werribee MP Tim Pallas (who was then the MP for Tarneit) and Altona MP Jill Hennessy joined residents and the Police Association in a rally calling on the state government to fund more police for Wyndham.
Earlier that year, Mr Pallas spoke to Star Weekly about low police numbers in Wyndham.
“Wyndham deserves better than a government that’s too dysfunctional to keep our community safe,” Mr Pallas said at the time.
Tarneit MP Telmo Languiller-Tornessi (then MP for Derrimut) met with residents in 2013 petitioning for a higher police presence across the western suburbs.
This week, only one of the three politicians supported the call for additional police when questioned by Star Weekly. Each MP was asked whether they supported residents’ call for more frontline police, whether they supported the Police Association’s call for an additional 159 to bring the area up to the state’s average, and what they had been doing behind the scenes as a local MP.
Ms Hennessy said she supported the call for more police, and she was working hard to ensure Point Cook received a fair share of the 300 frontline police funded in this year’s state budget.
“This is an issue I have raised with the Minister for Police [Lisa Neville] and I will continue to work closely with her to ensure the safety of Point Cook residents continues to be a priority for the government,” she said.
But Mr Pallas and Mr Languiller-Tornessi’s offices responded with almost identical statements, spruiking the funding of the additional 300 officers and proposed new legislation around car-jackings and home invasions.
Neither said whether they supported the call for more police.
