In this interview, Mia Schlicht appeared on 10 News Plus Channel Ten Sydney to discuss the IPA’s research on Criminal Justice.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview.
Amelia Brace:
You are with 10 News +. Just 24 hours after a carjacker armed with what looked like a handgun shut down the Centre of Melbourne. The Federal opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has taken aim at Victoria’s growing crime crisis.
Denham Hitchcock:
She’s accused the state’s premier of failing to keep the public safe. Bob has been accused of taking a page straight out of Peter Dutton’s playbook. Sam Butler explains.
Woman 1:
They were running. Yeah, it was scary.
Man 1:
I see this guy in a maroon jacket sort of waving a gun at me. Looked at him, and then I just took off.
Woman 2:
And I said, “What’s going on?” And he pulled out a gun.
Man 2:
Driving on the footpath and trying to ram people.
Man 3:
Felt like 20 police guns drawn.
Police Officer:
They safely secured the arrest of the offender.
Woman 3:
Having gun pointed at you trying to get a car. And my life, my life flashed by before my eyes going, what about my kids? What about my husband?
Sussan Ley:
Melbourne has gone from the most livable city to the crime capital of Australia.
Samantha Butler:
24 hours after an accused Carjacker allegedly led police on a wild chase through Melbourne terrorising members of the public with an imitation gun. The federal opposition leader entered the ring.
Sussan Ley:
And when you consider that there’s a thousand young offenders that are cycling through the bail system, being released continually onto the streets to commit more crimes, you realise that this labour government has not got the situation under control.
Samantha Butler:
Visiting a PCYC in St. Kilda, Sussan Ley took aim that the Prime Minister and Victorian Premier over the state’s escalating crime.
Sussan Ley:
There’s a labour government here, in Victoria, and there’s a labour government in Canberra, and they both need to address this.
Samantha Butler:
Jacinta Allan fired back likening Sussan Ley to her predecessor, Peter Dutton.
Jacinta Allan:
That she’s following this same anti-Victorian pattern of behaviour that the federal liberal party have perpetrated on Victoria year, after year, after year. She’s not focused on what’s best for Victoria. She’s only focused on bringing politics and division, which is so typical of the liberal party.
Brad Battin:
Sussan Ley is only pointing out the facts. And the facts are crime is up. We’ve got 106,000 victims here in this state in the last 12 months. More and more people are afraid in their own homes. Car thefts are at the highest level, double that of New South Wales.
Samantha Butler:
Mia Schlicht is a criminal justice reform researcher. She says The state government could benefit from taking a leaf out of the US President’s playbook.
President Donald Trump:
Chicago’s a great city where there’s a lot of crime, and if the governor can’t do the job, we’ll do the job.
Mia Schlicht:
Trump’s certainly made it quite clear that a key part of his agenda is stamping out criminal behaviour, and that’s after a long time in the United States where the population just became fed up with the rise in criminal activity. And we can see some similarities here in Victoria where the community is also quite rightly fed up with the rise in criminal activity and offenders not being held accountable. There are some reforms that the United States has imposed for a while now, particularly in conservative jurisdictions like Texas and Georgia who have implemented this reform to say that prisons need to be used to violent criminals, but perhaps there are other ways that we could punish our non-violent criminals and then reinvest that money into putting more police on the beat.
Samantha Butler:
Earlier this week, Victoria’s top cop, Chief Commissioner Mike Bush, announced the biggest operational shake-up of the organisation in more than a decade to free up officers stuck behind a desk and get them back out on the front line.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush:
In one year, when we do this, we will free up 1.4 million personnel hours of frontline officers time.
Samantha Butler:
But critics say sentencing reform is desperately needed, and early intervention for youth offenders is the most effective way to tackle the situation. The numbers don’t lie. Criminal offences surged by almost 16% in the 12 months to June, driven by thefts and home invasions, largely perpetrated by repeat youth offenders. Machete bins like this one are now outside police stations across the state with the island government, hoping there’ll be enough to take the dangerous weapons off our streets.
Jacinta Allan:
And we know there is more to do. There’s more to do in terms of understanding what’s behind this pattern of behaviour, preventing it before it starts. Toughening consequences and supporting every day, the work of Victoria Police.
This transcript with Mia Schlicht talking on 10 News Plus Channel Ten Sydney 15 October 2025 has been edited for clarity.
