On Sunday, pro-Palestine protesters marched through the city to the National Gallery of Victoria. Security closed the entry while police monitored the rally outside.
There has been fierce debate about what constitutes hate speech by attendees, who have repeatedly been heard chanting “Death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” and “Death to the IOF [Israeli Occupying Force]“.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Melbourne on Sunday.Credit: Luis Ascui
Former Victorian governor Linda Dessau said last week the slogans were hate speech and that those who use them should be prosecuted.
In his first interview with The Age since arriving from New Zealand, Bush also insisted he had the “utmost confidence” in the protracted police investigation into the firebombing of a Ripponlea synagogue last December, an attack which drew international condemnation.
Speaking on a wide range of issues, Bush warned that serious youth offenders would face prison if they continued to endanger community safety, that organised criminals and outlaw motorcycle gangs would “feel the heat” under his watch and that a taskforce established to investigate underworld infiltration of the CFMEU was making progress.
The 65-year-old has spent most of his first month in the top job consulting community groups and government departments, while also visiting more than a dozen stations from Warrnambool to St Kilda.
Bush at a station visit in St Kilda.Credit: Victoria Police
Lured out of retirement by the Allan government, Bush is keenly aware of the challenges ahead but hopes to replicate his success while serving as New Zealand’s police commissioner from 2014 until 2020.
Restoring public trust in the force will be one of Bush’s most pressing concerns, following an unprecedented slump over the past three years.
Just 55 per cent of Victorians were likely to have confidence in Victoria Police, according to an annual survey released in May, which was 20 per cent lower than the previous financial year.
Bush insists that figure needs to be above 80 per cent.
Bush and Premier Jacinta Allan.Credit: Eddie Jim
“We are taking that survey on the chin, we are not hiding from it, we know what we need to do,” he said.
“We have to be operationally excellent, we have to be out there preventing crime, we’ve got to respond properly, and our investigations have to be first-class,” he said.
Bush says there needed to be a “hard edge and a soft edge” in the response to youth crime, which has soared to the highest rates since records began, and sparked widespread community anger.
“At the hard end, there has to be a consequence, and they must know there is a consequence. They do things that risk their own lives and risk the lives and safety of others, so at the tough end there has to be a consequence, and sometimes that consequence will be the loss of their liberty,” he said.
He declined to discuss whether bail laws in Victoria were too lenient, but confirmed he had spoken with the state government over the past week regarding further reforms.
The soft edge, according to Bush, will involve widespread community and government engagement, with a focus on crime prevention.
He concedes the approach will take some time.
“We come to work to make a difference, so if you’re not stopping stuff before it starts, you’re really just turning up after the act. There is a massive obligation on us to prevent crime and harm, and we’ll be changing the way we work to make sure we do a lot more of that,” he said.
During his tenure as a senior officer in New Zealand, Bush was credited with implementing a crime prevention model that helped reduce offending by 20 per cent between 2010 and 2014. Public satisfaction with policing also rose 5 points to 84 per cent at the same time.
However, in Victoria he has inherited a force that is struggling to fill 1100 vacant positions, has morale issues and is expected to lose a further 300 senior officers by the end of the year, when a golden handshake deal from the previous enterprise bargaining agreement expires.
Bush recognises the urgent need for more boots on the ground.
“We are going to streamline our recruitment process and make it quicker for people to come into the business. It’s quite a protracted process to find resilient people who are committed to the cause, but we have to attract the right people,” he said.
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His blueprint for retaining existing officers includes the removal of duplication of paperwork and forging a partnership with New Zealand police to bolster the force’s technological capabilities.
Bush has the demeanour of someone from a military background: a man who might relish cold showers, hard beds and rigorous gym sessions before dawn. He has a stern warning for Victoria’s crooks.
“Bikie gangs and other organised crime groups really need to feel the heat from law enforcement. The community should not tolerate the behaviour that they bring to the state … they need to be clearly in our sights.”
He confirmed he was also reviewing the efficacy of Victoria’s asset-confiscation laws. Such laws were beefed up in New Zealand when he was commissioner.
Bush would not discuss Iraq-based underworld figure Kazem “Kaz” Hamad, widely considered to be responsible for more than 100 arson attacks on tobacco outlets and several murders, other than to say that Victoria Police was working closely with global law enforcement agencies.
‘Bikie gangs and other organised crime groups really need to feel the heat from law enforcement.’
Mike Bush, police chief commissioner
Operation Hawk – the police taskforce established after The Age’s Building Bad series exposed allegations that gangland-linked figures were receiving large payments from companies on publicly funded projects looking to gain favour with figures within the CFMEU – was also adequately resourced and making headway, according to Bush.
He has been a regular visitor to Melbourne over the years and has settled in quickly. He has found an apartment in the city’s inner-east, discovered new restaurants and cafes, and thrown his support behind the Richmond Football Club.
Previously based on Auckland’s north shore, Bush seems to have a genuine affection for his new home.
“I just think it’s a brilliant, dynamic city with a focus on sport, and theatre and restaurants. It has so much going for it.”
But it remains to be seen whether Bush can improve the city’s much-vaunted liveability, by curbing crime rates and restoring public confidence in the force.
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