A Melbourne resident says she is so terrified about living in her crime-ridden suburb that she is moving out of her house and putting it up for rent.
Kiwi woman Chrissy Skye said she was ‘getting the f*** out’ of her Altona home, in south-west Melbourne, after she was left feeling ‘unsafe at night’.
She claims three cars have been stolen and that her house was broken into.
Ms Skye said that a group of five boys made off with her $100,000 car.
‘I’m going to go live in an apartment because I’m sick of it,’ she said in a TikTok video.
‘I feel so unsafe at night because of the crime in Melbourne. It’s disgusting, and the government doesn’t care.’
She claims the bail laws were too lenient and that the group of thieves had been released.
Social media users slammed the crime rate in Melbourne.
‘I’ve been offered a job transfer from NZ to Melbourne. I said hell no,’ one wrote.
Another added: ‘Wake up , our women and children should be safe in their own homes.’
Ms Skye shared her experience as Libertarian MP David Limbrick vowed to overhaul Victoria’s self-defence laws to give homeowners greater powers to protect their houses.
‘People tell me they are worried about their safety and confused about what they are allowed to do, so I think it’s high time we strengthened and clarified the laws about self-defence,’ Limbrick told the Herald Sun.
‘There have been disturbing cases where people protecting their families have been jailed while awaiting bail, and nearly ruined by legal costs, even though they were exonerated.
‘The government should not tie residents’ hands behind their backs.
‘I want criminals who fool around to find out that you can vigorously protect yourself and your family in your own home.’
Limbrick intends to move a motion in parliament this week demanding the Victorian Law Reform Commission review current self-defence laws.
The UK’s ‘castle doctrine’ could also be examined as a possible solution.
The doctrine allows residents to defend themselves against intruders and use ‘reasonable force’.
‘If you have acted in reasonable self-defence, as described above, and the intruder dies you will still have acted lawfully,’ a published guidance note states.
The number of break-ins has soared in Melbourne over the last decade.
In 2015, there were 2,300 break-ins, with the figure soaring to 5,000 in 2024.
The number of thieves using weapons also rose from 36 in 2017 to 65 in 2024.