Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Ministers statements: youth justice system

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:08): I want to see every young Victorian do well in life. I want to see them go to school, get a job, stay out of trouble and make a great contribution to our great state. I also want to see an environment where kids who make mistakes as they grow up – and from time to time they do – have the opportunity to turn their lives around, and that is exactly what we are focused on. But we also know that, having community safety as our priority, there remain a small group of young people in our state, offenders who are out there today, who think that their actions do not have consequences, and that is why today we are saying: enough. We are saying that the reforms that our government has announced today – reforms to the youth justice system, reforms that can pass this Parliament this week – are strengthening the bail test, creating a dedicated crime for those who offend on bail and a dedicated magistrate to speed up the process with additional police prosecutors so that those actions have consequences sooner and also auditing our youth crime programs to see what is working and what is not. And, yes, we will also amend the Bail Act 1977 to specifically call out alarming crimes such as aggravated burglary or robbery, dangerous driving, carjacking or home invasions.

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, in relation to comments on a bill before the house that has not been debated, just be mindful of not debating the bill and anticipating debate.

Jacinta ALLAN: Certainly. And, yes, we also remain committed – the only state in the nation to be so – to raising the criminal age of responsibility to 12. These changes build on a strong suite of reforms that are being debated this week, because we know that if we can stop crime before it starts that is the best community safety outcome, and that is why there is an opportunity this week for the opposition to join us in strengthening community safety in our state.