Influencer Bec Judd and Victorian premier Dan Andrews are seemingly at war again as they clash on yet another major issue.
Judd, recently took to Instagram to express her safety concerns in the affluent Bayside area in which she and her family reside.
“So sick of the rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of gangs in Bayside,’’ she wrote.
“I personally know 2 women who have experienced home invasions in Brighton in the last few weeks while they were at home.”
Andrews, retaliated by saying that Judd might have “missed” the decision in the May State Budget to deploy 500 additional police officers, 70 of which he believed were in the Bayside area specifically.
“The most recent crime statistics released by an independent agency would not support those sweeping assessments about patterns of crime,” he continued in a statement.
James Newbury, who represents Brighton in the Victorian state parliament, said that Andrews was dismissive of women’s concerns which he deemed valid and reasonable.
“There has been an extraordinary number of women who have frankly been offended by the way he dismissed those comments and those feelings,” he said.
“His behaviour in the press conference showed, in my view, that he has a problem with women. I mean, it was clear when he pretended to not remember Bec Judd’s name (at the press conference).”
Mr Newbury later accused Andrews of victim-blaming, arguing that people should be able to voice their safety concerns regardless of their post code.
“It doesn’t matter who this woman is or what’s her postcode, when she raised the fact that she was scared because a home invasion occurred in her street, the Premier dismissed her and victim blamed her,” he said.
“It’s a deeply disturbing way for a Premier to respond to a woman’s concern about her safety.”
Judd, who lives in a house valued at $7.3 million with her husband and four children, has accused the Victorian government of letting crime get out of hand in the area. Speaking to the increased police patrolling deployed across the state, Andrews hoped that this would put Judd’s ‘mind at ease’ but said that he appreciated her ‘personal feelings’ and ‘sense of safety.’
This isn’t the first time that the influencer and premier have come to blows. If you cast your mind back to the 2020 lockdowns, Judd widely criticised Andrews’ ‘draconian’ decisions around keeping people at home.
In a sponsored Instagram post, Judd wrote:
‘@the_little_cardboard_co perfect for iso and upcoming school holidays as it seems Dictator Dan will be locking Victorians in our homes even longer.’
Judd then deleted the post after receiving significant backlash from supporters of the premier and has since remained quiet when it comes to critiquing Andrews. That is, until now, when she feels the safety of herself, her family and her neighbourhood may be in jeopardy.
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