By Aneeka Simonis
A FEDERAL politician – soon to chair an inquiry into immigration – has spoken for the first time about a brazen aggravated burglary at his family home.
La Trobe MP and former national security police officer Jason Wood – who is known for his tough stance against youth gangs – was home asleep with his wife and two and a half year old daughter when offenders raided his home, stealing the keys to his house and his wife’s car.
His electoral building in Berwick was also targeted.
Mr Wood is chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration. He has revealed the committee is currently working out the terms of reference for an upcoming immigration inquiry.
He also confirmed two youths with suspected links to the Apex Gang are to be deported after their visas were cancelled by the government, and that “others are on the way” under tough migration laws.
The soon-to-be exiled men make up two of the 173 foreign criminals living in Victoria whose visas were cancelled during the 2015-16 financial year.
Those convicted of an offence involving a jail term of more than 12 months, or who fail to pass a character test, can have their visas revoked as part of migration law amendments made in 2014.
Mr Wood – who described the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne as a “hot spot” for crime – welcomed the visa cancellations.
“As far as I’m concerned, if these people commit these types of crimes, they give up their rights to live in Australia,” he said.
Police have so far been unable to locate the offender/s that broke into Mr Wood’s home.
Mr Wood believes he and his wife were being watched by the offender/s for some time before they struck, as he and his wife, Judy Cheung, were up all night trying to soothe their sick daughter, Jasmine.
“We believe they were watching the house,” he said.
Mr Wood, who was a senior sergeant in the Counter Terrorism Co-ordination Unit from 2003-’04, said his crime enforcement career had trained him to react in threatening situations, and whoever was in his house was lucky not to have awoken the former policeman.
“If I bumped into them in the middle of the night, it would have been on for young and old. There was no way that person would be leaving the house,” he said.
“I’ve been trained to react.”
He did not wish to disclose the date of the aggravated burglary, or the location of his home, for fear of reprisals.
“The scary thing is, I’m away from home in parliament a lot so it’s just my wife and Jasmine in the house,” Mr Wood said.
His destroyed car was found five days later in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and was thought to have been involved in a number of other burglaries and break-ins.
His house keys were not located.
Mr Wood has taken a strong, public stance on cracking down on youth gang-related crimes in Victoria as rates of home invasion and carjackings increase.
He called for the National Anti-Gang Squad to be deployed to Victoria to hone in on youth offenders, as well as advocating for a national gang database to be developed to help track movement and growth of violent street gangs, including the notorious Apex Gang.
He has also previously spoken in support of deporting convicted foreign youth gangsters on non-permanent visas.
Mr Wood is convinced his home was locked the night of the break-in, but has since spent approximately $10,000 upgrading his home security including changing the locks, installing alarms and surveillance cameras.
“Our home security has gone up tenfold. It’s like Fort Knox,” he said.
Mr Wood’s electoral building on Langmore Lane, Berwick, was broken into weeks before his home was burgled.
Offenders did not manage to get into his office.
He said his personal experience had further highlighted the need for harsher penalties.
In August, the State Government introduced new pro-remand home invasion and carjacking legislation.
Those convicted of either crime would face longer jail terms, and would need to justify why they should not be remanded.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection confirmed of the 173 visa cancellations in the past financial year, 23 belonged to convicted child sex offenders, two cancellations related to murder convictions and a further 23 related to drug offences.
Anyone with information about a crime is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
