By KATRINA BRANDON
AFTER her daughter was attacked twice in two years at Moe train station, a Latrobe Valley mother is taking action to try and help make the community safe.
Latrobe Valley mother Nicole Appleyard met with Shadow Minister for Police, Brad Battin, Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron and Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath, to talk about getting more feet on the street.
“My daughter was assaulted at the Moe train station in February 2025, and again in May 2026,” Ms Appleyard said.
“For both of the events, she was travelling home. For the first incident, she was assaulted just outside of the Moe train station … which (the incident) is now in court. The second incident, it was on the railway station out on the platform, where she was assaulted to the head and into the stomach. We attended the local hospital, who assured us that she was okay.”
Ms Appleyard’s daughter was age 12 for the first attack and 13 for the second.
Now, Ms Appleyard’s daughter struggles to go to school every day, saying she is hesitant to take a bus or train. There is no school bus available.
She told media that since the incident, she worries constantly for her child’s safety.
“They’re all kids. There’s no parents. There’s no adults,” she said of students catching public transport.
“We need more police presence, more PSO’s.”
Under a Coalition government, Mr Battin announced that the Liberals will deliver mobile CCTV trailers across the Latrobe Police Service Area, in addition to PSOs at Morwell and Moe train stations.
“The reality is, when you hear from Nicole, you’re hearing from someone who’s the mother of a victim, and people have to stop thinking of these as crime statistics,” Mr Battin said.
“They’re people. Every time we have a new statistic. It’s another victim, and here in Victoria, we’re above 700 victims each and every day when it comes to crime. A crime is committed every 50 seconds, but the one thing we do know is crime doesn’t stop at the tracks.”
The opposition has also declared it will introduce Jack’s Law, giving police more stop-and-search power to ensure they can take knives off the street.
The Liberal-Nationals aim to recruit 3000 more Victoria Police officers, add PSOs to public transport and expand CCTV.
“We’ll work with the chief commissioner, not just to have the PSOs standing on the station in between trains, but being available to work in the areas like these shopping precincts around the station themselves as well. We’ll make sure they’re there at the hours the trains are operating and when the highest crime has been happening, because people who have been assaulted at the stations during the day deserve to feel safe,” he said.
In addition to boots on the ground, Mr Battin also announced additional support for youth crime prevention and community connection.
Mr Battin said the Coalition has already committed $100 million to youth crime prevention programs across the state, redirecting youth into employment opportunities and fresh starts.
A recent Herald Sun report said the state government has implemented a program for police to “go softer” on youth offenders. In response, Mr Battin said that giving more warnings will only make things worse.
“Police can only work with the powers they’ve got, and when the government actually changed the law with the Youth Justice Act, they have effectively said, give them the lowest penalty possible when you arrest them here in Victoria,” he said.
“The problem with that is, when Labor weakened the bail system, crimes went up and more violent crimes increased. We’re not even taking them to court. We need a system that holds every child accountable for the offences they commit. If we don’t have that, these kids are going to get more and more violent, and the outcome is what we’re seeing today, which eventually leads to people dying on the streets.”
