The latest crime statistics reveal a sharp rise in offending across Cardinia, with almost 10,000 offences recorded in the year to June 2025 — up 27.6 per cent compared with the previous year.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA), 9,991 offences were reported across the shire, compared with 7,830 in 2024. Family violence remains one of the biggest challenges for the community. Family violence order breaches (1,375) increased as Cardinia recorded a total of 2,079 family violence incidents in the year ending June 2025, up from 1,699 in the previous year.
Theft-related offences surged across the board:
– Theft from motor vehicles rose to 1,328 offences, up from 801.
– Other thefts climbed to 994, compared with 556.
– Criminal damage rose from 546 to 669.
– Obtaining benefit by deception more than doubled, from 252 to 568.
Houses remained the main location for criminal incidents in Cardinia, with 2,283 reported in June 2025, up from 1,975 the previous year.
Car keys were the items most frequently targeted in aggravated home burglaries, while across Melbourne, number plates were also targeted, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of all theft from motor vehicle offences.
Some were hoping for good news, as Premier Jacinta Allan recently banned machetes, rolled out machete bins, and introduced Australia’s toughest bail laws in a bid to curb reoffending and keep Victorians safe. But despite these measures, knife crime remains a key concern for police and the community following several recent incidents.
CSA does not specifically record the number of knife related offences, but:
– Prohibited and controlled weapons offences (including knives and items such as knuckle dusters, batons and tasers) increased to 11,075.
– Victoria Police intelligence indicates that at the end of August, Victoria Police had seized almost 11,000 edged weapons in the previous year.
Offending by children remains a significant concern in Melbourne. While children only account for 12.8 per cent of all offenders processed, they are overrepresented in serious and violent crimes such as robberies (62.2 per cent), aggravated burglaries (47.7 per cent), and car theft (26.4 per cent).
Pakenham remained Cardinia’s crime hotspot, with 5,383 offences recorded in the past year, up from 4,609. Other suburbs also saw steep rises including Officer (1,617 offences), Beaconsfield (707 offences), Gembrook (321 offences) and Kooweerup (306 offences)
For the first time, the CSA has released bail statistics, following legislative changes allowing data collection from criminal courts.
Bail applications to the Magistrates’ Court increased 18.4 per cent in the last 12 months, driven by increased bail refusals and revocations.
Unsentenced receptions to Youth Justice remain well below the 10-year peak in 2020, but increased 35.0 per cent in the last 12 months.
CSA Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said that “this initial set of bail statistics collated from multiple agencies is a first step to helping us better understand the impacts of bail or remand decisions on an alleged offender’s pathway through the criminal justice system and further offending”.
Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Bob Hill said “as a society, we simply cannot allow the level of crime we are seeing to become normalised and accepted”.
“Our members are doing exceptional work to resolve these crimes. But it must be said – the number of arrests we are seeing reflects an unacceptable level of offending,” Mr Hill said.
“We will continue to make arrests and hold offenders to account, but we need to prevent and deter crime to reduce offending so that there are fewer victims in Victoria.
“Right now we are working on new approaches that will deter repeat offenders and help stop these crimes before they can occur. This includes a focus on how we can get more police out on the streets.
“And we will encourage the community to keep taking simple steps to help prevent crime, such as locking doors and considering anti-theft devices for vehicles.
“Victoria Police has set an ambitious target of reducing serious and violent crime by five per cent each year. There is no doubt this will be a challenge, but it is a fight we are up for to ensure our community remains as safe as possible.”
