Victoria has become the ‘Criminal’s dream state’. By Eli Greenblatt and Ben Wilmot in The Australian.

Shopping centre property developer Chris Garnaut has labelled Victoria a “criminal’s dream state” after it topped national crime statistics with 263 offences every day.

Mr Garnaut — whose Fawkner Property has a $5bn mall network — says the theft rate is running at the highest ever levels at the group’s shopping centres in Victoria.

And it is making the state, which goes to the polls November 28, uninvestable.

“It is 50 per cent higher in Victoria than in all other states,” he said. “Criminals are not being charged or are immediately let off.

“The worst crime rate is in our Coles and Woolworths supermarkets in Victoria. Victoria is a criminal’s dream state; steal, bash security guards, walk off, don’t get charged, and on the rare occasion the criminal is charged they are not convicted, and if they are on bail, the bail is typically extended,” he said.

The commercial property investor and financial adviser is going on an investment strike. …

Billionaire Solomon Lew says retail crime is the worst he has seen in his 60 years of retailing, remarking he was shocked to see expensive steak in a Coles supermarket stapled with a security tag, while the Woolworths’ head of violence prevention argued Victoria’s weakened anti-retail crime legislation left supermarket staff “exposed to ongoing harassment and violence”.