Mernda police station campaigner Tom Joseph left the Liberal Party to take up a community cause that contradicted ‘the party line’.
So it came as no surprise when, two weeks ago, Denis Napthine stuck to the ‘party line’ of ‘no new police stations’ on his first visit as Premier to Melbourne’s north.
“The ‘Mernda Needs a Police’ station campaign is totally disappointed with the Premier’s visit,” Mr Joseph said.
“Residents have every reason to be concerned about lack of policing because the latest crime statistics show overall crime in postcode 3754 rose a whopping 16.9 per cent over the past year.”
Mr Joseph said Labor’s pledge of $15 million to build a new 24-hour police station at Mernda had raised hopes that the Premier would “snatch the electoral momentum” and give Liberal candidate Sam Ozturk a better chance of winning the line-ball seat of Yan Yean.
“The Liberal government has shown disrespect to Mernda and Doreen people, especially the more than 5000 campaign supporters who liked the campaign’s Facebook page,” Mr Joseph said.
“And more than 4000 Mernda and Doreen residents signed a petition to Parliament clearly showing their concern. We’ll be intensifying our campaign in the days ahead with rallies, letter-boxing and door-knocking to inform voters of the policing policies of both parties.”
