The tense exchange, filmed and shared widely online, happened as Carroll visited PM’s Cafe with security and MP Nina Taylor; she pressed him on deporting offenders and making Melbourne safer, but he exited without responding in detail.
It highlights growing public frustration over youth crime, especially with new laws starting next week that favor cautions over charges for teens in serious offenses like home invasions and assaults.
The incident ramps up election pressure on Labor, as polls show One Nation surging in regional areas amid debates on bail, detention, and disproportionate South Sudanese youth involvement in custody.
Why not answer the question? There’s an election coming up and people want to know their communities will be safe. Melbourne deserves better, we’re fed up.
Next question: why do the “toughest bail laws in the nation” still end with people known to police, out on bail, committing horrific crimes?