1 day Ago By Olivia Ireland
Follow our live coverage of the 2025 federal election here . Peter Dutton has accused Jacinta Allan of presiding over a government in disarray that has failed to retain a police commissioner after acting top cop Rick Nugent ruled out applying to stay in the role. “It’s a sign that the government’s in real trouble, and the wheels are falling off,” Dutton told ABC Melbourne radio on Wednesday, suggesting Nugent had not been “encouraged to stick around”.
Peter Dutton has lashed Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s handling of crime in the state. Credit: James Brickwood “I think there are really very significant problems at the moment,” Dutton said. “Victorians feel it.
They can sense that with this latest change, that a lot of fundamental mistakes being made and problems at the core of the government.” Dutton said the federal government could help to address crime in states such as Victoria by coordinating national laws on things like knife violence and accused Albanese of failing to do so. “The government has huge levers to pull.
For example, we have control of our borders, so we through our policy, can be responsible for stopping drugs coming in. We can be responsible for stopping illegal tobacco coming in,” he said. “We can provide funding opportunities and incentivise state governments to pass laws, so there is an enormous amount the federal government can do if they want.
But at the moment the Labor Party has just absented itself from it.” Nugent, who previously served as Victoria’s emergency management commissioner, was appointed interim boss in late February after former chief commissioner Shane Patton resigned . Patton left after rank-and-file police officers overwhelmingly voted no confidence in his leadership.
A senior bureaucrat told him he would not be offered a new contract. The Allan government unveiled bail reforms in March to address concerns about youth crime. Children accused of serious crimes will be treated like adults when courts decide whether to grant them bail or release them into the community under the laws that passed state parliament late that month.
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