The Victorian Comparison

This chapter conducts a comparative analysis of Victoria, drawing on open source data. Put simply, the Victorian experience is dramatically different to Queensland. There was a very early law enforcement focus rather than community engagement. Second, there has been consistent concerns with racialized policing. Third, in response to a decade of complaints and concerns about racialized policing the Victoria Police undertook four years of review of training, evidence of institutional recognition of the need for significant change. However, this has occurred under the shadow of increasingly permissive police powers legislation. While this legislation is equally present in Queensland, the outcomes in Victoria have been significantly different as the ‘ecological context’ in Victoria is one of a relatively closed organisation that has not been subject to systemic review such as was the case in Queensland under the Fitzgerald Inquiry.