Former Victoria Police commissioner Graham Ashton will lead an urgent review of service centre security following a brutal stabbing at a Melbourne Centrelink.
Joeanne Cassar, 55, remains in a stable condition after allegedly being stabbed in the back by Elijah Chase, 34,
On Wednesday, Chase fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court where it was revealed he had been wanted on multiple warrants and for breaching a community corrections order.
Joeanne Cassar, 55, had tried to lock her attacker out of the Centrelink building
Police swarmed on the Centrelink in Airport West, Melbourne on Tuesday
Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten said Mr Ashton and his team would examine what could be done better to prevent and deter future incidents.
‘This review will be carried out as a priority. The impact of this terrible incident on staff is obvious. Some were too distressed to return to frontline work today,’ Mr Shorten told Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
‘I think it is important, and I briefly mentioned this to the Shadow Minister, that this Parliament expresses its support for all of our public servants, in particular the person who was assaulted yesterday.’
A source told Daily Mail Australia Ms Cassar had asked Chase to leave the welfare agency on Louis Street in Airport West in Melbourne’s north-west that morning before he returned about 1.30pm with a knife.
Chase had previously been banned from the Centrelink office after another alleged attack on a female staff member.
Charge sheets reveal Chase had been let loose in the community after another alleged rampage at a JobFind Centre in Geelong, south of Melbourne.
Police charged Chase with multiple counts of assault over the December 17, 2020 incident, including recklessly causing injury.
The documents reveal Chase was charged over alleged assaults against two men, one of whom is believed to be an employee.
It is understood that employee sustained a broken collarbone in the alleged attack.
Joeanne Cassar was brutally stabbed while at work
Joeanne Cassar, 55, was stabbed while working at Centrelink in Airport West
Victorian police rushed to Centrelink Airport West after Ms Cassar was stabbed inside on Tuesday
Chase, from Essendon, has been charged over the latest incident with intentionally cause serious injury, recklessly cause serious injury, reckless conduct endangering life, common law assault, and use and possession of controlled weapon.
The court heard Chase required full psychiatric review upon being taken to prison.
A lawyer acting as a ‘friend of the court’ said Chase had refused to speak with Victorian Legal Aid lawyers and was ‘delusional’.
‘I was not keen to talk at the time,’ Chase said from the prison dock within the courtroom.
Chase had expressed an interest in making an ‘in person’ bail application himself, but changed his mind after speaking to the lawyer.
He will return to court next week over multiple offences.
Mr Shorten said he travelled to Melbourne to visit the Airport West service centre on Wednesday morning.
‘I met many amazing but traumatised co-workers who were present yesterday and others who were there today to support their colleagues,’ he said.
‘I know the House joins me in expressing shock at this incident. We send our thoughts to the staff member who was injured, her family and the staff and customers who witnessed this assault.’
Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton will head the review
A 34-year-old man from Essendon was arrested and is assisting police with their investigation into the horrific stabbing on Tuesday
His visit came as Daily Mail Australia reported staff at the Airport West Centrelink remained terrified.
‘Everyone is just so scared and really don’t know what to do about it,’ a source within Centrelink told Daily Mail Australia.
The incident reignited calls for Centrelink staff to be better protected.
Protective screens, similar to those used in banks, were removed years ago in an effort to make staff seem ‘more approachable’.
A former Centrelink worker, who asked not to be named, said staff were now protected by a ‘panic button’.
‘I saw someone get a computer ripped off their desk and thrown at their head once,’ the ex-worker said.
‘And the amount of angry people we’d have leaning over us and shouting in our faces because we wouldn’t give them an emergency payment was ridiculous and dangerous. But they wanted us to look more friendly.’
The ex-worker claimed Centrelink staff were reluctant to even hit the panic buttons when threatened.
‘No-one uses them because the abuse is so rife they’d be clicking the button everyday if they did it for every incident,’ the ex-worker said.
‘I worked next to a colleague one day who was so terrified of an abusive customer she couldn’t even find the button she was shaking so badly.’
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