"Nasty, bigot": Victorian Liberals Sentenced for Gang Warning Leaflets | News from Australia

The Victorian liberal opposition defended the distribution of election leaflets warning that "gangs were hunting in packs" in Melbourne, which Labor denounced as "wicked and fanatical".

The leaflet, featuring opposition leader Matthew Guy and Keysborough Liberal candidate Darrel Taylor, was handed out Thursday morning in Keysborough. It comes amidst a violent reaction to a recent Channel Seven story, suggesting that the city was plagued by a crisis of "African gangs".

The pamphlet states that "only the Liberals will: stop gangs chasing in packs", and is accompanied by a dark image of five young men gathered in a hoodie.

The picture was not taken in Victoria. It was published in London's Evening Standard newspaper in 2012 to illustrate a story about gangs in London, but has since been used by a number of media outlets. Liberal pamphlet makes no reference to race

Phantom police minister Ed O & Donohue told ABC radio that Liberals "will prosecute the case every day to reform the Judiciary "

by host Jon Faine, if the pamphlet allowed people to" make the connection "between the mention of gangs and the recent coverage of the African community, O 'Donohue said: "I do not join the points, Jon."

We are concerned about gang violence and the gang behavior of anyone, no matter where they come from, "he said

.

Nyadol Nyuon, a South Sudanese-Australian lawyer, said in a tweet that the pamphlet used language and symbolism, but it's not hard to say, especially after the Channel Seven report, to which they refer to. "

The Keysborough electorate, in southwestern Melbourne, includes the suburbs of Noble Park, which is home to a large Afro-Australian community.

The Victorian Attorney General, Martin Pakula, who represents Keysborough, accuses the opposition of having tried to scare his "

"I think it's a sign of things to come – an unpleasant and sectarian campaign by Matthew Guy and the Liberal Party," he said in a statement to Guardian Australia.

Taylor, the candidate of Keysborough, was contacted to comment

Pamphlets occur while the two main parties expect the law and order to be a key issue in the November elections.

In January, Guy warned that Melbourne could soon become "Johannesburg South Pacific", causing a reprimand from the African National Congress of South Africa.

Asked Friday how the Coalition would stop what it describes as the city gang crime O Donchhue said that a big problem in the state was a "loss of respect." for the police and institutions ".

The Coalition would reintroduce the police program in schools to rectify this, he said. Following Channel Seven 's controversial Sunday Night report, leaders of the South Sudanese community told Guardian Australia that they were preparing for more negative attention and harassment.

Members of the South Sudanese community plan a demonstration in front of the Channel Seven offices in Melbourne next Friday.

"You scare people for no reason," organizer Titan Debirioun said in a video posted on Facebook.

"You make people look at us as if we were monsters, as if we were not people, we are like anyone else, we have dreams, we have aspirations. "

The Commissioner of Racial Discrimination, Tim Soutphommasane, said on Twitter that the promotion of this segment was" hysterical and racist. "

Data from the Criminal Statistics Agency from the state, released in June, showed that the number of criminal cases recorded by the police as of March 31, 2018 was 380,150, a reduction of nearly 9% over the previous 12 months. [19659002] The Coalition argues that the offense rate per 100,000 people remains higher than when the Labor Party came to power in November 2014. But the offense rate also tended to rise during the last government. coalition, according to statistics. 59007]

The allegations of the opposition to a gang crisis are also at odds with the public position of the Victoria Police Chief Police Commissioner, Graham Ashton, saying that "there is no such thing as a". it was "absurd" to suggest that Melbourne was a dangerous place. .