Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Crime down in Victoria

Victoria remains Australia’s safest state, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures.

1998 was the fourth consecutive year in which Victoria’s crime rate was the lowest in Australia.

The ABS figures show that in 1998 Victoria’s crime rate was 23% below the national average. Victoria experienced a decrease of 0.3% in its crime rate.

Nationally, the ABS reports that the number of victims of crime recorded by police rose for all categories between 1997 and 1998, with the exception of murder (which decreased by 12%) and blackmail/extortion (which decreased by 17%). The most commonly reported crime was theft other than theft of a motor vehicle.

Murders recorded in 1998 were the lowest in six years. Police Australia-wide recorded a total of 284 victims of murder, a rate of 1.5 victims per 100,000 people.

Although armed robberies increased by nearly 20%, the number of armed robberies involving a firearm decreased to a six-year low of 18%, compared to a high of 38% in 1993.

Nationally, there were 565,214 recorded victims of theft (other than theft of a motor vehicle), a rate of 3015 victims per 100,000 people.

Western Australia recorded the highest theft rate with 4472 victims per 100,000 persons, compared to Victoria, which recorded the lowest rate of 2694 victims per 100,000 people.

(News Releases, Office of the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 16 1999)