New data from the Insurance Council of Australia shows Victoria has become the country's car theft capital for a second consecutive year, with a car stolen or broken into somewhere in the state roughly every 43 minutes. The figures matter because they come just weeks before Victoria's state election on 28 November, giving the Opposition fresh ammunition to accuse the Labor government of failing to control crime, while the government points to falling burglary numbers as evidence its policies are working.

In the last financial year, Victorian insurers paid out $244 million on 12,300 car theft claims and $56 million on 3,900 property theft claims, with a home broken into roughly every two hours. While property theft claims and payouts fell from the previous year, Victoria still far outstripped second-placed Queensland, which recorded 2,300 property claims worth $31 million. Opposition Leader Jess Wilson pledged to hire 3,000 more police and toughen crime laws, while a government spokeswoman cited tougher bail laws, "adult crime, adult time" measures and 400 new police reservists as proof its approach was already reducing incidents.