Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes has welcomed a recent announcement by the Deputy Premier Peter Ryan on the formation of a Livestock and Farm Crime Specialists Group within Victoria Police.
“Livestock theft and other farm related crimes such as machinery and equipment theft are significant issues and causes real financial hardship and distress to honest, hard working farming families.
“Many farmers in this electorate have livestock with impressive bloodlines, which can only be achieved through years of diligent management. The theft of livestock in these situations can be devastating to the ongoing quality of stud herds and flocks and the farm enterprise.
“The Benalla Electorate has a large number absentee landowners and farming families who work away from their properties. This creates opportunities for thieves and often means theft can go without detection for long periods.”
Dr Sykes said with livestock theft and farm crime an increasing problem in regional Victoria the establishment of a specialist group to target the problem is good news for farmers.
Dr Sykes said livestock theft was a unique crime and required good local knowledge and specialist investigative skills and a good partnership between government, police and agricultural groups to catch those responsible.
The initiative includes;
• A statewide network of police investigators undertaking extensive training to form the Livestock and Farm Crime Specialists Group and act as a point of contact by farmers;
• A committee, chaired by Victoria Police, and including representatives from the Victorian Farmers Federation, Department of Primary Industries, the Municipal Association of Victoria, the Stock Agents Association of Victoria and other agencies, will meet regularly to discuss emerging trends and issues relating to livestock theft and farm related crime;
• An online intranet ‘investigation hub’ will be launched and sit within the Victoria Police website; and
• The Victoria Police Crime Department will conduct a six monthly Livestock and Agricultural conference to be conducted by the Victoria Police Crime Department to look at current trends and how they relate to specific regions.

Tougher penalties for drug and drink drivers have been welcomed by Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes.
Speaking in Parliament this week on the Road Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill, Dr Sykes said that the community throughout the Benalla Electorate has had a gutful of irresponsible people driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol putting at risk the lives of other people as well as their own.
“At long last the penalties are being brought into line with community expectations,” Dr Sykes said.
The bill introduces mandatory licence cancellation for at least three months for a first drug driving offence and six months for subsequent offences, with no set maximum disqualification period.
Currently a court is able to impose a licence cancellation of up to six and 12 months respectively.
“The basis for the community concern in relation to the effects of alcohol and drugs whilst driving is the role that they play in accidents. Young males aged between 18 and 24 make up a disproportionate percentage of the fatalities and injuries in motor vehicle accidents and often drugs and/or alcohol are involved.
“These penalties needed to be toughened and this is why I agree with these tougher laws.”
Dr Sykes raised the issue of the importance of education programs to highlight the horrific impact of motor vehicle accidents, especially amongst young people.
“Locally we have had a wonderful initiative by the Benalla College students over the last few years where year 11 students have been conducting ‘surviving driving’ forums.
“This year the forum was organised for all the year 11 and 12 students by Hayley Brock, Stacey Dennis and Scarlett Spencer with speakers including members of the State Emergency Service who told of their horrific experiences of going along to accidents often caused by people affected by drugs and alcohol.”
In spite of these kinds of education programs road toll fatalities in country Victoria have remained unacceptably high.
“Whilst there has been a reduction in the overall road toll in Victoria over a number of years, the road toll in country Victoria has not reflected the decrease in deaths that have been generally seen in Melbourne.”
Dr Sykes said that a contributing factor, as well as drugs and alcohol, is the poor overall standard of country roads.
He said the Victorian Nationals Party initiated the ‘Fix Country Roads, Save Country Lives’ campaign in 2007 and is disappointed by a lack of action on the part of the State Government to provide funding to properly upgrade country roads.
“It is a sorry state of affairs to have funding upgrade requests knocked back because there has been no fatality on a particular section of road.
“There is now movement, for example, to upgrade the Midland Highway after a fatality and a number of serious accidents.”
Dr Sykes concluded, “We need more money spent on roads as well as addressing the issue of drugged and drunk driving and the Brumby Government must ensure that these measures are put in place immediately.”

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Nationals Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes has sought clarification on recent changes to knife laws after contact from farmers concerned about the potential impact of the new laws on their livelihoods.
Dr Sykes said, “Farmers throughout my electorate including the Mansfield and Myrtleford areas reacted strongly to recent newspaper advertisements which stated ‘new police powers to search anyone for weapons…anywhere…anytime’.”
Dr Sykes said many farmers, hunters and tradespeople who needed to use knives as part of their daily work were concerned changes to knife laws had made carrying a knife illegal.
Under the new laws people aged 16 years and over who are caught carrying a knife illegally face an on-the-spot fine of $1000 or $2000 if inside or within 20 metres of a licensed venue.
Dr Sykes said that this only applies if the person cannot demonstrate a lawful excuse for carrying a knife or other controlled weapon such as a cattle prod. Flick knives were a prohibited weapon and cannot be carried at any time.
A lawful excuse includes;
• The pursuit of any lawful employment, duty or activity;
• Participation in any lawful sport, recreation or entertainment; and
• The legitimate collection, display and exhibition of weapons.
Dr Sykes said however that farmers should be aware that if they were in a licensed premises and carrying a knife in a pocket then the same lawful excuse may not apply – that would depend on the determination of any police involved in a search.
If deemed an infringement then the courts would decide validity of excuse.
“I would encourage farmers and tradespeople who may find themselves in a pub after finishing work to be aware that they are not carrying any tools of the trade with them that may not meet with the lawful excuse rule.
“These laws have been designed to halt the culture of knife crime in urban centres and not to affect how farmers and tradespeople go about their work.
“However it is important that people are aware of their obligations under the law.
“From January next year it will become illegal to sell knives to people under the age of 18.
“There are also hefty penalties if knives are not carried safely and some knives such as flick knives, daggers and throwing blades, are prohibited,” Dr Sykes concluded.
Descriptions and examples of prohibited and controlled weapons are available on the Justice Department website at www.justice.vic.gov.au/weapons.