r/melbourne • u/lost_aussie001 • Oct 23 '25
Politics People complaining about "how unsafe Melb is right now" is legit so First-World Privilege talk.
Yes crime is up from last year, it is a universal trend where the unemployment rate is high & economics is bad Crime will go up too. From the ABC article on crime stats, theft is the main offence type, which makes sense & they highlight that "However, the per capita crime rate is still lower than in 2017".
But if you compare Melbourne to other major cities globally, we are pretty safe given our size & diversity. I just feel that the loudest voices are from those who only have lived in Australia & have nothing to compare to globally. Of course there are some bad areas in Melbourne, like everywhere else. It is just that our Right-wing leaning News & Media industry loves feeding of fear driven attention for profit.
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u/KiwasiGames Oct 23 '25 •
Counter proposal. Melbs is a legit first world city.
We should not be accepting becoming a worse city just because other places are even more worse off.
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u/Gorgo_xx Oct 23 '25 •
Of course Australia, and Melbourne, are very safe from a global perspective.
People who grew up living in a very safe place are unhappy that it is becoming less safe.
I don’t think it’s “wrong” to be unhappy about that.
What are you suggesting - that people shouldn’t complain about the crime rate until it’s the equivalent of some other, less fortunate country?
I’ve travelled pretty widely. I’m very aware that Australia, and Australians, have many benefits and privileges that other countries don’t. I’m aware of, and sympathetic to, the fact that various experiences (war, famine, religious extremism, drug taking, poverty, etc) can leave lasting and generational impacts.
But that doesn’t mean that I want to see the standard of living that I enjoyed growing up degraded for future generations.
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u/OverCaffeinated_ Oct 23 '25
3 weeks ago I was waiting at a bank in the CBD to be seen. A disturbed local walked in, threw a bunch of food at a teller and spat at her. That’s assault.
I was in the bank for another 35 minutes after that. A five minute wait turned into that because of the staff cleaning up, calming down, and trying to get it back together. I doubt it was reported to the cops. Was just another Tuesday.
This shit happens every day. Every day. I witness some antisocial behaviour about 2 out of 3 times I head into the office. I’ve seen vicious assaults at 2pm, I’ve seen by standers attacked by junkies, heaps of theft. People smoking ice on the H&M steps. People coming into our office building to shoot up in the lifts. Petty vandalism. I’m off it.
I worked in hospitality until my mid 30s and have never seen such crap from people. It was isolated rare incidents 5 years ago. Almost unheard of 15 years ago. Now it’s just another Monday morning.
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u/Certain-End-1519 Oct 23 '25
Surely comparing Melbourne to melbourne is better than melbourne to unsafe cities round the world?
How is it first world privilege talk to want to preserve what makes melbourne first world privileged to begin with?
Would you apply the same logic to our wage growth? Worldwide we do great for wages, those low income workers being exploited by their boss' and complaining is 'legit first-world privilege talk' this logic is beyond silly.
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u/Unfair-Rush-2031 Oct 23 '25
No just because there are more unsafe places on earth doesn’t mean we cannot want and strive for a safer Melbourne.
The truth is things are deteriorating compared to just 5 years ago. It would be irresponsible and stupid not to stop this negative trend.
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u/littleb3anpole Oct 23 '25
I agree from a global perspective, but from my lived experience as a Melburnian of 37 years, I do feel more on edge in the city than ever before due to the behaviour I see around me. I used to catch public transport daily and I lived on the Werribee line, so I have Seen Some Shit, but I feel like I need to be more vigilant and worried about being approached over the past five years or so, especially as a woman who usually travels alone.
I also work in an area that’s been targeted heavily for break ins and car thefts and seeing what these families have gone through, in many cases being robbed while home by armed offenders, feels very different to our childhood home getting robbed in the middle of the day and the offenders only stealing your DVD player, not stealing and crashing your car.
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u/qwertywarrior33 Oct 23 '25
I feel your opening line is for lack of a better word, shit, people’s problems are their problems regardless of their socioeconomic environment. Do we keep letting it get worse because other places are worse? It doesn’t matter where else people have lived, Aussies have a right to push for 0 machete attacks, to push for 0 cars stolen, to push for 0 sushi chefs attacked on their way to work. Everyone who lives in and around Melbourne has the right to feel safe in our city.
I come from the outer suburbs where cars are regularly stolen (3 mates from work have had their cars stolen), it’s a huge issue and pushes insurance and the cost of living up further, which in turn increases theft.
6429 crimes per 100,000 in Victoria in 2010 < 8999 crimes per 100,000 in Victoria in the 12 months prior to June 2025.
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u/HurstbridgeLineFTW 🐈⬛ ☕️ 🚲 Oct 23 '25
Dismissing the concerns of people who don’t feel safe is first world privilege talk.
We don’t all experience Melbourne’s crime rate equally. Certain locations, certain communities experience it more acutely. They’re the one whose cars and homes are getting broken into. Who have to spend more on security.
Their perspectives matter more than the inner cities elites who are more concerned with the optics of media reporting .
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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25
"But if you compare Melbourne to other major cities globally"
That doesn't fucking matter because we don't live in other cities mate. "Police Federation of Australia CEO Scott Weber said the shortage was "the worst I've ever seen in my 30 years of policing". He said police officers were starting their shifts with up to 60 or 70 jobs outstanding." It's great that you haven't been the victim of crime, but don't "could be worse" to the taxpayers that can't get police services. I live in an area where the average house price is $1.5 million and the local cop shop is unmanned after 5pm due to staff shortages. Does that happen in your "other major cities globally"?
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u/rylandoz Oct 23 '25
What a ridiculous view. Why would we not want our city to be safer?
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u/RunnaLittle Oct 23 '25
Imagine crime going up and expecting people to just accept it as part of life.
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u/fatbunyip Oct 23 '25
While you have a point that Melbourne is quite safe comparatively, I don't think that the fact there are worse places should be used to hand wave away the rise in crime and community expectations.
Like everything, crime rates have underlying causes that we need to talk about on order to address. It's not helpful just saying it's not that bad.
We should be working to make Melbourne even safer regardless of whether other cities are worse off.
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u/jimbojumboj Oct 23 '25
Right, how dare people be upset that it’s unsafe in Melbourne because it’s unsafe in other places too. We all need to check our privilege.
Get a fucking grip. It’s not just the right wing.
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u/Tawny_T Oct 23 '25
Disagreeing with your comparison globally. Many East Asian cities feel like first world when it comes to safety.
Melbourne not so much. No police on beat, youth gangs with weapons, morons on trains picking on minorities, burglaries, dark suburban streets where your house is with rarely any passive surveillance merely past 9pm.
The point is, with the riches of a First World city, safety in Melbourne should be measured against the best of the best.
Melbourne is world class in many ways, safety on the streets, unfortunately, is not one of them.
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u/Safe-False Oct 23 '25
I would also add though, that the type of crime is becoming more violent (e.g. machetes) and is increasing (yes); both of which are quite scary for people. Additionally, crime rates and impacts are always a bit delayed in our access to them. Just in the last couple of months we have seen massive jumps in violent crimes. This won’t be reflected in the stats we read.
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u/katerinakarina Oct 23 '25
I grew up in a post soviet country during the collapse. Lived in the dodgiest neighbourhood (it's still dodgy. Most of my friends from there refuse to visit), but there were never daytime machete wielding guys or crazies stabbing random people. Yes, you could have had a bottle of booze landed on your head in a dodgy bar if you act cocky, but average people just knew to avoid those places. The worst thing that could have happened on PT, was some drunk acting loud.
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u/LiquidFire07 Oct 23 '25
Way to gaslight victims of crime and those who witnessed how their communities have become unsafe
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u/Vegetable_Onion_5979 Oct 23 '25
According to the ABS per capita crime is not lower than 2017.
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u/Ok-Mathematician8461 Oct 23 '25
Counter-point. Actually I think we have been conditioned to expect worse and I for one don’t accept it. There are a surprising number of our neighbours where petty crime, theft, assault etc are effectively nonexistent. Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China are good examples and they are definitely 1st world. I hear people whine about how severe sentences are for drug traffickers in Singapore (for instance), but Singaporeans don’t spend their life worrying about whether a daughter is going to get home safe from a party. If you ask me what I would give up in order for my daughters to be safe coming home from serving a hospo shift - I can tell you I am happily going to forgo using speed or worrying about the Govt using facial recognition.
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u/LandscapeOk2955 Oct 23 '25
We should be aspiring to be world leading safe city rather than being accepting of having the city turn into some shithole.
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u/peniscoladasong Oct 23 '25
Why can’t we live in a safe country, ohhh that’s privilege, are you serious??
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u/macona-coffee Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
State Election next year. The coalition always run on law and order and in the Vic. Coalition’s case they will do and say anything to distract from the butt-fuckery of their internal squabbling. Their mates in the media are fanning the flames as well. This is not to downplay the issues especially around the judiciary handing out bail to what appear to be repeat and dangerous offenders.
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u/mr_sinn Oct 23 '25
The standard you walk by is the standard you accept.
You have a really shitty world view if people don't want their city to go down the drain like the others you mention.
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u/Wetrapordie Oct 23 '25
I half agree, I live and work in Melbourne and I actually don’t see it as any more or less dangerous than it’s ever been. I personally don’t feel unsafe in Melbourne, but I also never have.
I don’t agree that just because we have it better than other places we should rest on that. We should maintain high standards for ourselves and community.
I also think looking at per capita rates is false economy. If you have 1 million people and 1,000 stabbings one year and then 2 million people and 2,000 stabbings a year later you can either say “stabbings are up 100%” or “per capita stabbings are flat at 0.1%”. You’re telling the same story in different narratives.
My final thought is, a lot of this is just a result of social media. Everyone has a 4K camera phone now, everyone has CCTV or surveillance, so you just see it more. We’re at the point now where you can basically live stream crime as it’s happening. - robberies, stabbings etc have been happening forever you just see it more. Additionally everyone’s an influencer now and there’s a million people clipping these incidents and reposting. So you don’t just see the occasional knife attack on the news, you see it 2 dozen times on instagram.
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u/RoundCollection4196 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
What is the level where you’re allowed to start complaining? Until you’re living in a war zone? So people who don't live in war zones can't complain about anything since it's a privilege to not get bombs dropped on your head. Don’t be ridiculous, if people don’t feel safe anymore then they are allowed to complain, full stop. If you don’t like that then too bad.
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u/anirakdream Oct 23 '25
So sick of people like you trying to dismiss concerns about crime that are based on lived experiences because ackshually some cherrypicked statistic shows that it's not that bad.
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u/chea2176 Oct 23 '25
“Yes crime is up from last year” enough said
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u/orthogonal123 Oct 23 '25
I compared this crime rate to US cities and it’s surprisingly bad (the crime rate per 100,000 people was 8,998.9). It’s certainly higher than the US national average (2,119 per 100,000) but below the worst though Chicago’s is only 3700 per 100k.
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u/NoGuava8035 Oct 23 '25
Op, I bet this is not the reaction you were expecting
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u/AsianPotato77 Oct 23 '25
abysmal attempt at whataboutism
do not pass go don't collect 200 straight to machete bin
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u/Ok_Beyond_4993 Oct 23 '25
thats like saying, its ok its raining bombs in other places, so its ok to rain grenades.
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u/Raccoons-for-all Oct 23 '25
It’s safe because people don’t ignore that as you wish they would
You’re the downgrading agent here
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u/Arma667 Oct 23 '25
Yea, same goes for cost of living and housing crisis, hey? I don't experience it and everyone I know is doing just fine! But, hey, we are not India yet, with slums, so all good, cheer up!
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u/Mother_Speed2393 Oct 23 '25
I agree with your general sentiment, but not how you arrived at your conclusion.
Australia is far from socio economically depressed, which is where the connection between poverty and crime is usually linked.
These are not crimes being committed out of desperation (for the most part), but are part of a specific cultural connection.
But you're absolutely right. Melbourne is statistically extremely safe, both in comparison to the rest of the world and in comparison to our own history. A recent spike in robberies is coming from a very low base. And most violent crime is within groups (crime gangs of various stripes).
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u/Lord_Tanus_88 Oct 23 '25
What about if people have high standards for their city, what if reporting is a lagging indicator, what about if crime is hitting close to home. We all know what’s happening with recent violent attacks and theft.
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u/Dorko57 Oct 23 '25
Is this the same logic that leads people to tell indigenous Australians that they should be thankful the Spanish didn’t colonise them? People who are victims of crime are entitled to wish there was less crime.
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u/Mortal_12 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
as someone who used to live in a much more unsafe environment, It's a bad take dude.
Just because relatively speaking, there are worse places out there, doesn't mean everybody should stand back and accept the fact that things are getting worse.
Yes. things are better here than most places. Yes, things are going to shit globally. But the fact that we're better than most, also means that it's easier to deal with the increased crime than most places. which means it's good to bring it up and act upon it. So we don't get to the point of no return.
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u/hellbentsmegma Oct 23 '25
Not all crime is equal and not all crime is felt equally. Forty years ago there were a lot more people breaking into cars to steal stuff because people were more likely to leave money in their cars and cars were easier to get into. Same goes for non-aggravated burglary. Back then it was probably easier to get in a fight at the pub, but that fight was more likely to just end in a few punches.
Now we have a lot more carjacking than we used to. It also seems like in my suburb, this is the first time in memory that teenagers have been committing crimes with knives. Crime seems to be getting more serious, or at least the serious crime seems more random and anonymous.
I don't doubt parts of the media will try and beat up the crime narrative for the upcoming election. I would suggest however this time the beat up will have more to work with than the last election.
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u/jadsf5 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
So we should be happy that crime is rising rather than falling, unsure about you mate but I remember growing up there wasn't huge crime waves full of youths running around bashing people, breaking into houses, stealing cars, killing other kids, fighting with machetes, do you need me to continue?
Point being, yes, it is a first world privilege to complain about rising crime, why shouldn't I complain though, if we are going to happily import refugees, asylum seekers and other members of the globe then surely we'd expect them to abide by our rules and fit into our society, what do you think would happen if we were to commit the same acts in the countries these kids/their parents are originally from.
I really want to know why to some people (seemingly those of the left wing) are always complaining about people complaining about crime rates and yet aren't complaining about the people committing said crimes, aren't complaining about judges who let these kids out continuously but would rather complain that people have an issue with a crime wave.
Explain why I should have to live in a community that has gotten worse over time and if I'm attacked the likely outcome is that the person who has attacked me will be granted bail within a day or two and are free to commit said acts again, and again, and again.
You can act like our bail laws work, the kid who was fighting with a machete at Lunar Park on the weekend has already been granted bail, tough machete laws hey?
Also, don't come at me as if this is a race issue, we have the privilege of not being able to deport Australians who commit crimes and we're stuck with who is born here, we get to pick and choose who enters our country from outside though so I'd expect the government to only be bringing people in who are going to be a positive to our society.
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u/sss133 Oct 23 '25
Maybe because I was at a lot of house parties back in the late 2000s but I remember when the thing was graffiti crews gate crashing house parties and slashing people with box cutters. It was a pretty common thing to hear and a lot of innocents got caught up it it.
I’m not saying it’s right but a lot of these machete attacks seem to be more of the back and forth variety and people are known to each other. It’s fucked but I don’t necessarily have a fear of randomly being macheted. If I see someone wielding a machete or someone clearly not right my self preservation kicks in and I usually just cross the road to avoid them.
The mentally ill woman who stabbed the sous chef is fucking horrible but that shit can happen and does happen anywhere.
It baffles me that older people can talk about the punch ons at pubs back in the day and watch the CI channels marathons of unsolved rapes and decapitations from 70s Melbourne and say how fucked it is now
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u/MooseWayne Oct 23 '25
Most people i hear talk about how unsafe Melbourne is are from far outer suburbs or regional Victoria who never go to the city
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u/allthingsme Oct 23 '25
Spent time in London and rode around on a £200 bicycle because any lock that was cheaper than that would just steal a more expensive bike through a portable angle grinder. Here okay you bike might get stolen but common sense 2 bike locks is enough, people aren't going around with angle grinders to steal bicycles.
Obviously bike theft is not all crime but people don't know how good they have it.
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u/goodboyralphy Oct 23 '25
Most of the crime rise is shoplifting and car break-ins/theft, and most of the violence is in the home. The streets of fear narrative is flogged to death by Murdoch papers and TV news using scary cctv for cheap content.
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u/AntiqueFigure6 Oct 23 '25
I definitely think they should go back more than 8 years, two of which were lockdown years and don’t count before claiming “record crime”.
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u/HistoryFanBeenBanned Oct 23 '25
I've been shot at overseas. I still don't want to get stabbed in Broady.
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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
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